Planet Earth: A Beginner's Guide

Description

Planet Earth: A Beginner's Guide is an expedition into the origins, evolution, and workings of our home planet in which John Gribbin does what he does best: takes 4.5 billion years of geological history and digs out the essential bits, from the physics of Newton and the geology of Wegener to the environmentalism of Lovelock. Along the journey, he uses stories from history and more current events to bring the science to a human level. Gribbin's introductory guidebook - very much a first step into geology and geography for the uninitiated - is filled with his lively voice and unique view, as he takes on the subject of the Earth from an astronomer's perspective.

John Gribbin is the bestselling author of In Search of Schroedinger's Cat, The Scientists, Deep Simplicity, and In Search of the Multiverse. He trained as an astrophysicist at the University of Cambridge and is currently Visiting Fellow in Astronomy at the University of Sussex, England.

"Concisely, authoritatively, and very clearly, John Gribbin has produced an engaging and very up-to-date picture of how the Earth and its organisms have developed over time. A wonderful narrative."-- "Andrew Goudie - Emeritus Professor in Geography at the University of Oxford" "Here really is everything you might want to know about the bowels of the Earth - and inevitably about plate tectonics, the atmosphere, and more ... An intimate exploration of this unusual (at least in our solar system) and beautiful planet."-- "Brian Clegg - author of Inflight Science and The Universe Inside You" "John Gribbin has done it again! Another first-rate account of a subject of immense importance, and beautifully written. From the fires within to the icy poles, the restless continents and dynamic atmosphere, this is a superb introduction to the inner and outer workings of the planet we call home."-- "Lewis Dartnell"