Notes From Deep Time

Gordon, Helen(Freelance

£20.00

From the secret fossils of London to the 3-billion-year-old rocks of the Scottish Highlands, and from state-of-the-art Californian laboratories to one of the world’s most dangerous volcanic complexes hidden beneath the green hills of western Naples, set out on an adventure to those parts of the world where the Earth’s life-story is written into the landscape. Helen Gordon turns a novelist’s eye on the extraordinary scientists who are piecing together this planetary drama. She gets to grips with the theory that explains how it all works – plate tectonics, a breakthrough as significant in its way as evolution or quantum mechanics, but much younger than either, and still with many secrets to reveal.

Out of stock

Publish Date: 18/02/2021

Description

‘Astounding … To call this a “history” does not do justice to Helen Gordon’s ambition’Simon Ings, Daily Telegraph’Awe-inspiring … She has imbued geological tales with a beauty and humanity’Shaoni Bhattacharya-Woodward, Mail on SundayThe story of the Earth is written into our landscape: it’s there in the curves of hills, the colours of stone, surprising eruptions of vegetation. Wanting a fresh perspective on her own life, the writer Helen Gordon set out to read that epic narrative. Her odyssey takes her from the secret fossils of London to the 3-billion-year-old rocks of the Scottish Highlands, and from a state-of-the-art earthquake monitoring system in California to one of the world’s most dangerous volcanic complexes, hidden beneath the green hills of Naples. At every step, she finds that the apparently solid ground beneath our feet isn’t quite as it seems. Join her to meet the unusual characters who are piecing this vast story together. Grapple with the theory that explains how it all works – plate tectonics, a break – through as significant as evolution or quantum physics but much younger than either, with many secrets still to reveal. And look ahead to the worlds to come, when only our traces will remain, enigmas for those who follow us. ‘In deep time,’ Gordon finds, ‘everything is provisional. Bones become rock. Sands become mountains. Oceans become cities.’ And life goes on.

Additional information

Weight 645 g
Dimensions 240 × 162 × 34 mm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Hardback

Pages

320

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

551 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K