Enjoyed this. If I'd followed up on my undergraduate affection for geology, I might (might!) still be in academia. I also know what you mean about different levels of belief--or maybe it's ways of believing.
You might like Simon Winchester's "Map That Changed the World" or his "Krakatoa." The first is more geology-focused; the second, more engaging. Some people find his writing overly discursive, but with Winchester I consider this less a bug than a feature.
Thanks for reading. I think it helps to have a grounding in the actual science of it before reading books like Winchester's (which I haven't yet) – for me at least. I tried several times to read Earth: An Intimate History, by Richard Fortey and Life on a Young Planet by Andrew Knoll, and failed to finish either, even though I think they're good. I found it difficult to use my brain in two different ways (science vs. travelogue and history).
Your piece earns that sixth star- “must read again later.” As an aside, at my university the professor who taught the class jokingly referred to as “Rocks for Jocks” wasn’t having any- his course was notoriously difficult. Another aside- have you read John McPhee’s In Suspect Terrain? I warmly recall his describing the landscape of my youth. So Auden was right: that kind of landscape does, indeed, “form the one landscape that we, the inconstant ones, are consistently homesick for.” Just listened to a BBC “In Our Time” podcast on the moon. Did you know that the current theory about the genesis of the moon is that it is the Earth’s lithopedion? Another word for a lithopedion is a “stone baby.” Scientists now think the Earth and the Moon were separate planets that came together. One lived; the other died. Roger Caillois’s voice sounds interesting. Thanks for the tip.
Thank you, I'm very glad you enjoyed the piece. I had read that about the moon but never heard that word before. I think I also remember that it used to be much closer and is receding from the earth at the rate of a few inches a year.
I've read Basin and Range, by John McPhee. He's great. I didn't find it an easy read, although it made me appreciate the splendors of the US West by pointing out the geological bounty to be studied there.
I love this, thank you. I'm reading Otherlands right now, by Thomas Halliday, beautiful. It's more on the deep time biology side, though this is really inseparable from geology. You might enjoy it. I cannot recall one single anecdote about scientists.
Enjoyed this. If I'd followed up on my undergraduate affection for geology, I might (might!) still be in academia. I also know what you mean about different levels of belief--or maybe it's ways of believing.
You might like Simon Winchester's "Map That Changed the World" or his "Krakatoa." The first is more geology-focused; the second, more engaging. Some people find his writing overly discursive, but with Winchester I consider this less a bug than a feature.
Thanks for reading. I think it helps to have a grounding in the actual science of it before reading books like Winchester's (which I haven't yet) – for me at least. I tried several times to read Earth: An Intimate History, by Richard Fortey and Life on a Young Planet by Andrew Knoll, and failed to finish either, even though I think they're good. I found it difficult to use my brain in two different ways (science vs. travelogue and history).
Your piece earns that sixth star- “must read again later.” As an aside, at my university the professor who taught the class jokingly referred to as “Rocks for Jocks” wasn’t having any- his course was notoriously difficult. Another aside- have you read John McPhee’s In Suspect Terrain? I warmly recall his describing the landscape of my youth. So Auden was right: that kind of landscape does, indeed, “form the one landscape that we, the inconstant ones, are consistently homesick for.” Just listened to a BBC “In Our Time” podcast on the moon. Did you know that the current theory about the genesis of the moon is that it is the Earth’s lithopedion? Another word for a lithopedion is a “stone baby.” Scientists now think the Earth and the Moon were separate planets that came together. One lived; the other died. Roger Caillois’s voice sounds interesting. Thanks for the tip.
Thank you, I'm very glad you enjoyed the piece. I had read that about the moon but never heard that word before. I think I also remember that it used to be much closer and is receding from the earth at the rate of a few inches a year.
I've read Basin and Range, by John McPhee. He's great. I didn't find it an easy read, although it made me appreciate the splendors of the US West by pointing out the geological bounty to be studied there.
I love this, thank you. I'm reading Otherlands right now, by Thomas Halliday, beautiful. It's more on the deep time biology side, though this is really inseparable from geology. You might enjoy it. I cannot recall one single anecdote about scientists.
Thanks, this looks very interesting!