Author: James Powell
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416576789
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 280
Book Description
In Mysteries of Terra Firma, James Lawrence Powell tells an engrossing three-part tale of how we came to understand the ground on which we walk, and how that ground holds the key to the greatest secrets of deep space and time. Naming his profound stories Time, Drift, and Chance, he tells of the three twentieth-century revolutions in thought that created the amazing science of Earth -- and of all planets to the edge of the universe. The riddle that drove the first revolution is obvious and yet in 1904 remained impenetrable: how old is Earth? An encounter between the imperious Lord Kelvin and a New Zealand farm-boy-turned-physicist, Ernest Rutherford, set the stage for the solution and launched a golden century of geology. As a result, scientists learned that if the 4.5 billion years of geologic time were compressed into a single twenty-four-hour period, Homo sapiens would have arrived only in the last second. The geological Revolution of Time reveals how long the ground on which we walk has existed, and how briefly we have trod that ground. In the early twentieth century, German meteorologist and polar explorer Alfred Wegener proposed a counterintuitive, heretical theory: that terra firma is not so firm; instead of being fixed in place, continents drift. In 1926, petroleum geologists convened in New York City to discuss Wegener's radical idea, where it was met with outrage and skepticism: "If we are to believe Wegener's hypothesis we must forget everything which has been learned in the last seventy years and start all over again," one attendee said. Forty years later, a new generation did exactly that. The Revolution of Drift, the second part of Powell's narrative, showed us how the ground on which we walk moves. Throughout geologic time, meteorites have incessantly bombarded everything in the solar system. Far from serene and predictable, the planets are ruled by random violence on an unimaginable scale. Once a mountain-sized meteorite flew through space, struck the Earth, killed the dinosaurs and two-thirds of all species, and spared the small hamster-sized creature that happened to be our ancestor. The chance of that happening again is essentially zero. So, the final revolution in Powell's history of a golden century of geology is the Revolution of Chance. Simply put, this revolution in thought has transformed our understanding of how lucky we really are. If we can learn so much from considering no more than the rocks beneath our feet, what will we learn when we begin walking on other planets? Mysteries of Terra Firma is both charming in its storytelling and staggering in its implications. Discovering the ground on which we stand is a fascinating journey into our past -- and our future.
Mysteries of Terra Firma
Author: James Powell
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416576789
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 280
Book Description
In Mysteries of Terra Firma, James Lawrence Powell tells an engrossing three-part tale of how we came to understand the ground on which we walk, and how that ground holds the key to the greatest secrets of deep space and time. Naming his profound stories Time, Drift, and Chance, he tells of the three twentieth-century revolutions in thought that created the amazing science of Earth -- and of all planets to the edge of the universe. The riddle that drove the first revolution is obvious and yet in 1904 remained impenetrable: how old is Earth? An encounter between the imperious Lord Kelvin and a New Zealand farm-boy-turned-physicist, Ernest Rutherford, set the stage for the solution and launched a golden century of geology. As a result, scientists learned that if the 4.5 billion years of geologic time were compressed into a single twenty-four-hour period, Homo sapiens would have arrived only in the last second. The geological Revolution of Time reveals how long the ground on which we walk has existed, and how briefly we have trod that ground. In the early twentieth century, German meteorologist and polar explorer Alfred Wegener proposed a counterintuitive, heretical theory: that terra firma is not so firm; instead of being fixed in place, continents drift. In 1926, petroleum geologists convened in New York City to discuss Wegener's radical idea, where it was met with outrage and skepticism: "If we are to believe Wegener's hypothesis we must forget everything which has been learned in the last seventy years and start all over again," one attendee said. Forty years later, a new generation did exactly that. The Revolution of Drift, the second part of Powell's narrative, showed us how the ground on which we walk moves. Throughout geologic time, meteorites have incessantly bombarded everything in the solar system. Far from serene and predictable, the planets are ruled by random violence on an unimaginable scale. Once a mountain-sized meteorite flew through space, struck the Earth, killed the dinosaurs and two-thirds of all species, and spared the small hamster-sized creature that happened to be our ancestor. The chance of that happening again is essentially zero. So, the final revolution in Powell's history of a golden century of geology is the Revolution of Chance. Simply put, this revolution in thought has transformed our understanding of how lucky we really are. If we can learn so much from considering no more than the rocks beneath our feet, what will we learn when we begin walking on other planets? Mysteries of Terra Firma is both charming in its storytelling and staggering in its implications. Discovering the ground on which we stand is a fascinating journey into our past -- and our future.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416576789
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 280
Book Description
In Mysteries of Terra Firma, James Lawrence Powell tells an engrossing three-part tale of how we came to understand the ground on which we walk, and how that ground holds the key to the greatest secrets of deep space and time. Naming his profound stories Time, Drift, and Chance, he tells of the three twentieth-century revolutions in thought that created the amazing science of Earth -- and of all planets to the edge of the universe. The riddle that drove the first revolution is obvious and yet in 1904 remained impenetrable: how old is Earth? An encounter between the imperious Lord Kelvin and a New Zealand farm-boy-turned-physicist, Ernest Rutherford, set the stage for the solution and launched a golden century of geology. As a result, scientists learned that if the 4.5 billion years of geologic time were compressed into a single twenty-four-hour period, Homo sapiens would have arrived only in the last second. The geological Revolution of Time reveals how long the ground on which we walk has existed, and how briefly we have trod that ground. In the early twentieth century, German meteorologist and polar explorer Alfred Wegener proposed a counterintuitive, heretical theory: that terra firma is not so firm; instead of being fixed in place, continents drift. In 1926, petroleum geologists convened in New York City to discuss Wegener's radical idea, where it was met with outrage and skepticism: "If we are to believe Wegener's hypothesis we must forget everything which has been learned in the last seventy years and start all over again," one attendee said. Forty years later, a new generation did exactly that. The Revolution of Drift, the second part of Powell's narrative, showed us how the ground on which we walk moves. Throughout geologic time, meteorites have incessantly bombarded everything in the solar system. Far from serene and predictable, the planets are ruled by random violence on an unimaginable scale. Once a mountain-sized meteorite flew through space, struck the Earth, killed the dinosaurs and two-thirds of all species, and spared the small hamster-sized creature that happened to be our ancestor. The chance of that happening again is essentially zero. So, the final revolution in Powell's history of a golden century of geology is the Revolution of Chance. Simply put, this revolution in thought has transformed our understanding of how lucky we really are. If we can learn so much from considering no more than the rocks beneath our feet, what will we learn when we begin walking on other planets? Mysteries of Terra Firma is both charming in its storytelling and staggering in its implications. Discovering the ground on which we stand is a fascinating journey into our past -- and our future.
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Author: Bill Bryson
Publisher: Anchor Canada
ISBN: 0385674503
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 562
Book Description
One of the world’s most beloved and bestselling writers takes his ultimate journey -- into the most intriguing and intractable questions that science seeks to answer. In A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson trekked the Appalachian Trail -- well, most of it. In In A Sunburned Country, he confronted some of the most lethal wildlife Australia has to offer. Now, in his biggest book, he confronts his greatest challenge: to understand -- and, if possible, answer -- the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as territory everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization, Bryson seeks to understand how we got from there being nothing at all to there being us. To that end, he has attached himself to a host of the world’s most advanced (and often obsessed) archaeologists, anthropologists, and mathematicians, travelling to their offices, laboratories, and field camps. He has read (or tried to read) their books, pestered them with questions, apprenticed himself to their powerful minds. A Short History of Nearly Everything is the record of this quest, and it is a sometimes profound, sometimes funny, and always supremely clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as only Bill Bryson can render it. Science has never been more involving or entertaining.
Publisher: Anchor Canada
ISBN: 0385674503
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 562
Book Description
One of the world’s most beloved and bestselling writers takes his ultimate journey -- into the most intriguing and intractable questions that science seeks to answer. In A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson trekked the Appalachian Trail -- well, most of it. In In A Sunburned Country, he confronted some of the most lethal wildlife Australia has to offer. Now, in his biggest book, he confronts his greatest challenge: to understand -- and, if possible, answer -- the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as territory everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization, Bryson seeks to understand how we got from there being nothing at all to there being us. To that end, he has attached himself to a host of the world’s most advanced (and often obsessed) archaeologists, anthropologists, and mathematicians, travelling to their offices, laboratories, and field camps. He has read (or tried to read) their books, pestered them with questions, apprenticed himself to their powerful minds. A Short History of Nearly Everything is the record of this quest, and it is a sometimes profound, sometimes funny, and always supremely clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as only Bill Bryson can render it. Science has never been more involving or entertaining.
Egyptian Book of the Dead and the Mysteries of Amenta
Author: Gerald Massey
Publisher: Cosimo, Inc.
ISBN: 1605203068
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 58
Book Description
There is no death in the Osirian religion, only decay and change, and periodic renewal; only evolution and transformation in the domain of matter and the transubstantiation into spirit. In the so-called death of Osiris it is rebirth, not death, exactly the same as in the changes of external nature. At the close of the day the solar orb went down and left the sun god staring blankly in the dark of death. Taht the moon god met him in Amenta with the eye of Horus as the light the was to illuminate the darkness of the subterranean world. from Egyptian Book of the Dead and the Mysteries of Amenta It goes unappreciated by modern Egyptologists, but it is embraced by those who savor the concept of a hidden history of humanity, and those who approach all human knowledge from the perspective of the esoteric. Gerard Massey 's massive Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World first published in 1907 and the crowning achievement of the self-taught scholar redefines the roots of Christianity via Egypt, proposing that Egyptian mythology was the basis for Jewish and Christian beliefs. Here, Cosimo proudly presents Book 4 of Ancient Egypt, in which Massey discusses the Egyptian Book of the Dead as the pre-Christian word of God, and explores the idea that Amenta, the threshold to the Egyptian underworld, is the first overt expression of a human desire for a noncorporeal afterlife. Massey goes on to connect the mystery of the mummy to the mystery of the Christ by likening the Christian dogma of physical resurrection to the Egyptian impetus for mummification. Peculiar and profound, this work will intrigue and delight readers of history, religion, and mythology. British author GERALD MASSEY (1828 1907) published works of poetry, spiritualism, Shakespearean criticism, and theology, but his best-known works are in the realm of Egyptology, including A Book of the Beginnings and The Natural Genesis.
Publisher: Cosimo, Inc.
ISBN: 1605203068
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 58
Book Description
There is no death in the Osirian religion, only decay and change, and periodic renewal; only evolution and transformation in the domain of matter and the transubstantiation into spirit. In the so-called death of Osiris it is rebirth, not death, exactly the same as in the changes of external nature. At the close of the day the solar orb went down and left the sun god staring blankly in the dark of death. Taht the moon god met him in Amenta with the eye of Horus as the light the was to illuminate the darkness of the subterranean world. from Egyptian Book of the Dead and the Mysteries of Amenta It goes unappreciated by modern Egyptologists, but it is embraced by those who savor the concept of a hidden history of humanity, and those who approach all human knowledge from the perspective of the esoteric. Gerard Massey 's massive Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World first published in 1907 and the crowning achievement of the self-taught scholar redefines the roots of Christianity via Egypt, proposing that Egyptian mythology was the basis for Jewish and Christian beliefs. Here, Cosimo proudly presents Book 4 of Ancient Egypt, in which Massey discusses the Egyptian Book of the Dead as the pre-Christian word of God, and explores the idea that Amenta, the threshold to the Egyptian underworld, is the first overt expression of a human desire for a noncorporeal afterlife. Massey goes on to connect the mystery of the mummy to the mystery of the Christ by likening the Christian dogma of physical resurrection to the Egyptian impetus for mummification. Peculiar and profound, this work will intrigue and delight readers of history, religion, and mythology. British author GERALD MASSEY (1828 1907) published works of poetry, spiritualism, Shakespearean criticism, and theology, but his best-known works are in the realm of Egyptology, including A Book of the Beginnings and The Natural Genesis.
Dismantling the Big Bang
Author: Alex Williams
Publisher: New Leaf Publishing Group
ISBN: 0890514372
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 296
Book Description
Why did Ptolemy's theory cause problems for the church?What is the big secret concerning the "Age" of the earth?Why do many scientists reject the use of design in explaining origins?The seemingly absurd idea that all matter, energy, space, and time once exploded from a point of extreme density has captured the imagination of scientists and laypersons for decades. The big bang has provided a central teaching for the eons of time of "cosmic evolution", undermining the history and cosmology of the Bible.It is a theory that fails, even violating the very physical laws on which it is purportedly based.In this easy-to-read format, authors Alex Williams and John Hartnett explode this naturalistic explanation for the universe, and show that the biblical model provides a far better explanation of our origins. This fully indexed, illustrated analysis of the big bang theory is an invaluable help in understanding and countering a world view that is as chaotic and destructive as its name implies.
Publisher: New Leaf Publishing Group
ISBN: 0890514372
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 296
Book Description
Why did Ptolemy's theory cause problems for the church?What is the big secret concerning the "Age" of the earth?Why do many scientists reject the use of design in explaining origins?The seemingly absurd idea that all matter, energy, space, and time once exploded from a point of extreme density has captured the imagination of scientists and laypersons for decades. The big bang has provided a central teaching for the eons of time of "cosmic evolution", undermining the history and cosmology of the Bible.It is a theory that fails, even violating the very physical laws on which it is purportedly based.In this easy-to-read format, authors Alex Williams and John Hartnett explode this naturalistic explanation for the universe, and show that the biblical model provides a far better explanation of our origins. This fully indexed, illustrated analysis of the big bang theory is an invaluable help in understanding and countering a world view that is as chaotic and destructive as its name implies.
Terra-Sorta-Firma
Author: Fadi Masoud
Publisher: Actar
ISBN: 9781948765381
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 216
Book Description
A critical and interdisciplinary exploration of our world's continuously urbanizing and expanding coastline. For centuries, cities have grown and expanded onto previously saturated grounds; "reclaiming" land from estuaries, marshes, mangroves, and seabeds. While these artificial coastlines are sites of tremendous real estate, civic, and infrastructural investments, they are also the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Terra-Sorta-Firma documents the global extent of reclaimed coastal lands, and provides a framework for comparison across varying geographies, cultures, and histories. It renders visible the ubiquity and precarity of urban coastal reclamation in an age of increased environmental and economic indeterminacy. It challenges designers, developers, policymakers, engineers, and urbanists to reconsider the design and construction of land itself, and to re-imagine this most fundamental of all infrastructures along a gradient of inundation.
Publisher: Actar
ISBN: 9781948765381
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 216
Book Description
A critical and interdisciplinary exploration of our world's continuously urbanizing and expanding coastline. For centuries, cities have grown and expanded onto previously saturated grounds; "reclaiming" land from estuaries, marshes, mangroves, and seabeds. While these artificial coastlines are sites of tremendous real estate, civic, and infrastructural investments, they are also the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Terra-Sorta-Firma documents the global extent of reclaimed coastal lands, and provides a framework for comparison across varying geographies, cultures, and histories. It renders visible the ubiquity and precarity of urban coastal reclamation in an age of increased environmental and economic indeterminacy. It challenges designers, developers, policymakers, engineers, and urbanists to reconsider the design and construction of land itself, and to re-imagine this most fundamental of all infrastructures along a gradient of inundation.
The Greatest Murder Mysteries of Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Author: Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Publisher: e-artnow
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 3004
Book Description
Musaicum Books presents to you a meticulously edited Mary Elizabeth Braddon collection. This ebook has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Content: The Trail of the Serpent Lady Audley's Secret Aurora Floyd Henry Dunbar Run to Earth The Cloven Foot Wyllard's Weird His Darling Sin
Publisher: e-artnow
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 3004
Book Description
Musaicum Books presents to you a meticulously edited Mary Elizabeth Braddon collection. This ebook has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Content: The Trail of the Serpent Lady Audley's Secret Aurora Floyd Henry Dunbar Run to Earth The Cloven Foot Wyllard's Weird His Darling Sin
Grand Canyon
Author: James Lawrence Powell
Publisher: Plume
ISBN: 9780452287877
Category : Geologists
Languages : en
Pages : 340
Book Description
A scientific detective tale packed with a rich cast of characters, Grand Canyon is the story of the quest to discover the canyon's origins.
Publisher: Plume
ISBN: 9780452287877
Category : Geologists
Languages : en
Pages : 340
Book Description
A scientific detective tale packed with a rich cast of characters, Grand Canyon is the story of the quest to discover the canyon's origins.
Tyburn Tree, Or The Mysteries of the Past
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 108
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 108
Book Description
A Review of Theoretical Geology
Author: Martyn Paine
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bible and geology
Languages : en
Pages : 142
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bible and geology
Languages : en
Pages : 142
Book Description
Terra Firma
Author: David Wardlaw Scott
Publisher: Dalcassian Publishing Company
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 304
Book Description
Includes bibliographical references and index
Publisher: Dalcassian Publishing Company
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 304
Book Description
Includes bibliographical references and index