Items related to Earth Story: The Shaping of Our World

Earth Story: The Shaping of Our World - Softcover

 
9780563487074: Earth Story: The Shaping of Our World
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 
By describing the remarkable forces that formed and shaped our everchanging world, Earth Story gives us a new understanding of the planet and our place within its evolution. When and how was the Earth formed? What is the link between earthquakes, volcanoes and the creation of the continents? How do mountains affect our climate? What triggers Ice Ages? Earth Story answers these and many other questions, and tells the amazing story of our planet and its constantly changing nature. Two centuries ago, scientists began to investigate the history of the Earth by examining the rocks beneath its surface and began to formulate the astonishing concept of geological time. Using this discovery as their starting point, the authors of Earth Story unravel the fascinating history of the Earth from its earliest beginnings to the dawn of human civilization. Two themes emerge as this compelling story unfolds. Firstly, from its molten core to the outermost reaches of its atmosphere, our planet operates as one vast interlinked system.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:
The subtitle to Earth Story is to be taken literally. This remarkable book and the accompanying TV series set out to explain with imagination and scientific rigor The Shaping of Our World. No other planet in the solar system exhibits such frenetic geological activity. The Earth's mass is in continual flux as heat from the mantel, rising to the comparatively cool surface, stirs the tectonic plates upon which the continents ride, shuffling constantly. Lamb and Sington show how the climatic effects this shuffling engenders make life possible--but they go further. Without life, they argue, there is no temperature control mechanism on the planet's surface. Without that, there can be no oceans--Earth would, like Venus, lose its water to evaporation. And without oceans to act as a lubricant there can be no movement of tectonic plates. According to this argument only a planet which can sustain life can be geologically frenetic. The Earth's geology and biology, then, are part of a single mechanism.

Earth Story is no mere TV tie-in; its erudition is the equal of the best popular science, and its full-colour illustrations have the clarity and precision of classic school and college texts. On the other hand the photography, as one might expect from a documentary tie- in, is frequently breath- taking. If all this makes Earth Story sound like a chimera, well so it is--but as a medium for such an all-encompassing theory of geological and biological change this concatenation of popular science, college illustration and gosh-wow photography could hardly be bettered. --Simon Ings

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherBBC Books
  • Publication date2003
  • ISBN 10 0563487070
  • ISBN 13 9780563487074
  • BindingPaperback
  • Number of pages240
  • Rating

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780563387992: Earth Story: The Shaping of Our World

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  0563387998 ISBN 13:  9780563387992
Publisher: BBC Books, 1998
Hardcover

  • 9780912333588: Earth Story: The Shaping of Our World

    Golden..., 1998
    Hardcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Simon Lamb; David Sington
Published by BBC Books (2003)
ISBN 10: 0563487070 ISBN 13: 9780563487074
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
BennettBooksLtd
(North Las Vegas, NV, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 1.9. Seller Inventory # Q-0563487070

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
£ 78.97
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: £ 4.35
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds