This volume treats the development of geological ideas, from antiquity to the present. The significance of ideas about the earth is reflected in the range of thinkers who have written on geological questions: for example, Aristotle and Descartes, with their ideas grounded in philosophy; Werner, with ideas developed as an outgrowth of the German mining tradition; Humboldt, with his effort to produce a holistic picture of nature; Lyell, with his ideas on the earth's age and history; Jeffreys with his geophysics; Lovelock, ...
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This volume treats the development of geological ideas, from antiquity to the present. The significance of ideas about the earth is reflected in the range of thinkers who have written on geological questions: for example, Aristotle and Descartes, with their ideas grounded in philosophy; Werner, with ideas developed as an outgrowth of the German mining tradition; Humboldt, with his effort to produce a holistic picture of nature; Lyell, with his ideas on the earth's age and history; Jeffreys with his geophysics; Lovelock, with his "Gaia" hypothesis. Beginning with a discussion of "organic" views of the earth in mythopoeic cultures, the book traverses such topics as "mechanical" and "historicist" views of the earth, map-work, chemical analyses of rocks and minerals, geomorphology, experimental petrology, seismology, theories of mountain building, sedimentology and geochemistry, and brings us back to the idea that the earth may, in a sense, be regarded as a living entity, or at least that life is an essential feature of its operations.
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Add this copy of Thinking About the Earth a History of Ideas in Geology to cart. $55.00, like new condition, Sold by Treehorn Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Santa Rosa, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by Harvard University Press.
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Fine+ in Very Good dust jacket. 0674883829. DJ back cover has a black slash across printed ISBN.; Studies in the History and Philosophy of the Earth Sciences; 9.45 X 6.36 X 1.17 inches; 440 pages.
Add this copy of Thinking about the Earth: A History of Ideas in Geology to cart. $57.44, new condition, Sold by I Love Books Bookstore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Kingsport, TN, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by Harvard University Press.
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New in fine dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 410 p. Contains: Illustrations. Studies in the History and Philosophy of the Earth Sciences. Audience: General/trade.
Add this copy of Thinking About the Earth: a History of Ideas in Geology to cart. $93.65, good condition, Sold by HPB-Red rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2002 by Continuum International Publishi.
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2002, Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
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Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
Published:
2002
Alibris ID:
17257368544
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Add this copy of Thinking About the Earth: a History of Ideas in Geology to cart. $96.57, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by Harvard University Press.
Add this copy of Thinking About the Earth: a History of Ideas in Geology to cart. $312.50, like new condition, Sold by Eureka Books of CA rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Eureka, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by Harvard University Press.
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Fine jacket. 410 pages. By the Australian geologist. A 'history from Antiquity to the present of ideas about the planet on which we live'--from the front flap. First edition (first printing). A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. From the Harvard office library of the paleontologist and leading advocate for evolution, Stephen Jay Gould, whose work is cited on several pages, and with Gould's pencil notes on the rear endpapers and minor marginalia on at least one page. With a posthumous tipped in bookplate indicating the provenance. *** Intellectually, Gould understood the true nature of these bookplates, but the book collector in him appreciated them. In his essay 'A Seahorse for All Races' Gould writes about one of his prized possessions, a book from Charles Dickens' library: 'Dickens made no annotations, but a bookplate on the cover, presumably inserted as a come-on for a sale after Dickens' death in 1870, does prove that [he] kept and shelved the book. ' *** We offer our Gould bookplates, printed letterpress in two colors, in the same spirit. Not quite a history of geology, Thinking about the Earth is a history of the geological tradition of Western science. Beginning with a discussion of "organic" views of the earth in ancient cultures, David Oldroyd traverses such topics as "mechanical" and "historicist" views of the earth, map-work, chemical analyses of rocks and minerals, geomorphology, experimental petrology, seismology, theories of mountain building, and geochemistry. He brings us back to the idea that the earth may, in a sense, be regarded as a living entity, or at least that life is an essential feature of its behavior. Oldroyd offers a broad-brush contribution to the history of ideas and theories about the earth, providing a general synthesis of what science-historians have written about the history of the earth sciences. He shows us that ideas about the earth have been changing constantly since the beginnings of geological science in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and indeed that ideas changed much more rapidly after the establishment of this science than in preceding centuries. Thinking about the Earth does not assume previous knowledge of earth science. What it does require is an openness to the notion that an understanding of what geologists have to tell us today about the earth can be achieved by examining the evolving history of ideas in geology. This book will be of considerable interest to historians of science, historians of ideas, geologists, students of earth science, and general readers as well.
