Rarely has a scholar attained such popular acclaim merely by doing what he does best and enjoys most. But such is Stephen Jay Gould's command of paleontology and evolutionary theory, and his gift for brilliant explication, that he has brought dust and dead bones to life, and developed an immense following for the seeming arcana of this field. In Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle his subject is nothing less than geology's signal contribution to human thought-the discovery of "deep time," the vastness of earth's history, a history ...
Read More
Rarely has a scholar attained such popular acclaim merely by doing what he does best and enjoys most. But such is Stephen Jay Gould's command of paleontology and evolutionary theory, and his gift for brilliant explication, that he has brought dust and dead bones to life, and developed an immense following for the seeming arcana of this field. In Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle his subject is nothing less than geology's signal contribution to human thought-the discovery of "deep time," the vastness of earth's history, a history so ancient that we can comprehend it only as metaphor. He follows a single thread through three documents that mark the transition in our thinking from thousands to billions of years: Thomas Burnet's four-volume Sacred Theory of the Earth (1680-1690), James Hutton's Theory of the Earth (1795), and Charles Lyell's three-volume Principles of Geology (1830-1833). Gould's major theme is the role of metaphor in the formulation and testing of scientific theories-in this case the insight provided by the oldest traditional dichotomy of Judeo-Christian thought: the directionality of time's arrow or the immanence of time's cycle. Gould follows these metaphors through these three great documents and shows how their influence, more than the empirical observation of rocks in the field, provoked the supposed discovery of deep time by Hutton and Lyell. Gould breaks through the traditional "cardboard" history of geological textbooks (the progressive march to truth inspired by more and better observations) by showing that Burnet, the villain of conventional accounts, was a rationalist (not a theologically driven miracle-monger) whose rich reconstruction of earth history emphasized the need for both time's arrow (narrative history) and time's cycle (immanent laws), while Hutton and Lyell, our traditional heroes, denied the richness of history by their exclusive focus upon time's arrow.
Read Less
Add this copy of Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle: Myth and Metaphor in the to cart. $0.99, good condition, Sold by ZBK Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Woodland Park, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Harvard University Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Used book in good and clean conditions. Pages and cover are intact. Limited notes marks and highlighting may be present. May show signs of normal shelf wear and bends on edges. Item may be missing CDs or access codes. May include library marks. Fast Shipping.
Add this copy of Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle: Myth and Metaphor in the to cart. $0.99, fair condition, Sold by ZBK Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Woodland Park, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Harvard University Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Fair. Used book-May contain writing notes highlighting bends or folds. Text is readable book is clean and pages and cover mostly intact. May show normal wear and tear. Item may be missing CD. May include library marks. Fast Shipping.
Add this copy of Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle: Myth and Metaphor in the to cart. $1.75, good condition, Sold by Early American Reprints rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from San Antonio, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Harvard University Press.
Add this copy of Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle: Myth and Metaphor in the to cart. $1.95, good condition, Sold by Val Dusek rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Scarborough, ME, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Harvard University Press.
Add this copy of Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle: Myth and Metaphor in the to cart. $2.19, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Austell, GA, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Harvard University Press.
Add this copy of Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle: Myth and Metaphor in the to cart. $2.19, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Harvard University Press.
Add this copy of Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle: Myth and Metaphor in the to cart. $2.19, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1987 by Harvard University Press.
Add this copy of Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle: Myth and Metaphor in the to cart. $2.19, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Austell, GA, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Harvard University Press.
Add this copy of Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle: Myth and Metaphor in the to cart. $2.19, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Harvard University Press.
Add this copy of Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle: Myth and Metaphor in the to cart. $2.19, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1987 by Harvard University Press.