New Views on an Old Planet
New Views on an Old Planet
Earth Science is history, and because the earth is changing every day, earth history is being added every moment. Professor van Andel's now famous book on earth history interweaves three main themes: the evolution of the solid earth; the history of oceans and atmospheres; and the evolution of life. In the decade since this award-winning book was first published, much new information has been learned and confirmed, and Dr. van Andel draws on this wealth of knowledge to thoroughly revise and update the text. There is a new chapter on how we can improve our grasp on geological time and, mindful of the current interest in global change, new sections describe the greenhouse effect and address its possible future ramifications. In prose that is both concise and compelling and with a glossary and suggestions for further reading New Views on an Old Planet: A History of Global Change, makes earth history appealing to the general reader .
- First edition won the 1986 Professional and Scholarly Publishing Physical Sciences Award of the Association of American Publishers
- It is an intelligent and critical book designed for a general audience
- It ties concern about global change to earth history
Reviews & endorsements
From reviews of the First Edition...
"This excellent book is highly recommended to those teaching broad-based survey courses on geology, earth history, and earth and the environment..." Charles B. Officer, Journal of Geological Education
"...quite simply, one of the best general books on the evolution of the Earth to appear this decade. It is not a disguised undergraduate textbook, but represents a genuine attempt to reach out to the layperson. Nor, at the other extreme, is it one of those coffee-table books crammed with spectacular full-colour views and diagrams aimed at the impulse buyers among the general public. The colour is all in the writing." Peter J. Smith, Geology Today
"Professor van Andel writes in a very clear concise style, conveying ideas by use of clever and original analogies, frequently injected with a little humour whenever things start to become a bit too abstruse." Modern Geology
From reviews of the current edition...
"...The new edition is a complete reworking of the highly regarded first edition...It deserves to become a classic." Rob Butler, Nature
"...the most lucid and accessible summary of earth history in print....The additions have yielded a more complete and satisfying read, all served up with the same economy of words and wit that made the first edition such a remarkable piece of writing....If I could pick only one book to distribute to the public at large about how we think the earth has evolved, this is the book I would choose--it stands unique in its clarity, scientific honesty, and accomplishment of purpose--a rare volume indeed." James C. Ingle, Jr., Earth Sciences History
Product details
October 1994Hardback
9780521442435
457 pages
260 × 182 × 37 mm
1.153kg
188 b/w illus. 7 tables
Temporarily unavailable - available from TBC
Table of Contents
- Part I. Foundations:
- 1. Reading the record of the rocks
- 2. Perspective on time
- Part II. Climate Past and Present: The Ice Age:
- 3. Climate and climate change
- 4. Portrait of an ice age
- 5. Explaining glaciations
- Part III. Drifting Continents, Rising Mountains:
- 6. Continental drift and plate tectonics
- 7. Continental breakup and continental drift
- 8. Converging plates and colliding continents
- Part IV. Changing Oceans, Changing Climates:
- 9. The sea comes in, the sea goes out
- 10. Other times and other oceans
- 11. Onward to the ice age
- 12. A matter of rhythm
- Part V. The Four-Billion-Year Childhood:
- 13. Birth of the solid earth
- 14. Water for the sea, air for the atmosphere
- 15. The dawn of life
- Part VI. Life, Time and Change:
- 16. Beyond Darwin
- 17. Bones of our ancestors
- 18. Evolution and environment
- 19. Crises and catastrophes.
