Book Description

The few coesite-bearing outcrops have conventionally beenconsidered as anomalies but the number of orogenic belts that containdiamond, coesite or other indications of metamorphic pressures>2Gpa has increased to more than 15. This indicates that subduction of continental fragments to depths of100-150 km may have played a significant role in the formationof mountain belts. This volume brings together the geochemical, geophysical andgeodynamical approaches to study the processes active duringultrahigh-pressure (UHP) tectonics. The collection of papers demarkates the frontier of our understandingof the creation, preservation, and exhumation of ultrahigh-pressurerocks. Audience: This volume will be of interest to any earth scientistinterested in ultrahigh pressure processes and the formation andmodification of continental crust. ... Read more

Book Description

Intended for the introductory-level college course, the principal aim of this text is to present the student with a broad overview of environmental geology. The text looks both at how the earth developed into its present condition and where matters seem to be moving for the future. It is hoped that this knowledge will provide the student with a useful foundation for discussing and evaluating specific environmental issues, as well as for developing ideas about how the problems should be solved. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Look for it in a used bookstore
The book explains very basic environmental terms and concepts fairly well.The information is very clear and the wording concise.It does a good job of getting some general themes across. However, I would definitely not payfull price for a book such as this.Look for it in a used book store. ... Read more

Book Description

Suppose someone claimed that we are NOT running out of petroleum. . . . Or that life on Earth began below the surface, in the dark airless pores of our planet's rocky crust. Or that oil and gas -- so-called "fossil fuels" -- are not the product of biological debris. You might expect to hear statements like these from an author of science fiction. But what if they come from a renowned scientist, someone who has been called "one of the world's most original minds"? In THE DEEP HOT BIOSPHERE, Thomas Gold sets forth truly controversial and astonishing theories: First, he proposes that Earth supports a subterranean organic domain of greater mass and volume than the biosphere -- the total sum of living things -- on its surface. Second, he proposes that the organisms inhabiting this Deep Hot Biosphere are not plants or animals but heat-loving bacteria that survive on a diet of hydrocarbons -- natural gas and petroleum. And third and perhaps most amazingly, he advances the stunning idea that most hydrocarbons on Earth are not "fossil fuels" but part of the primordial "stuff" from which Earth itself was formed some 4.5 billion years ago. The Deep Hot Biosphere may seem difficult to believe at first glance, but its theories are supported by a growing body of evidence, and by the indisputable stature and seriousness Thomas Gold brings to any scientific enterprise. In this book we see a brilliant and boldly original thinker, increasingly a rarity in modern science, as he develops revolutionary conclusions about the fundamental workings of our planet, the origins of life on Earth, the nature of earthquakes, and even the likelihood of life on -- or within -- other planets. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

This puts the oil shortage scam on notice:
Carol M Henn from Rockville does not seem to grasp the full significance of Gold's work. You cannot take short term (ten yr)statistics for oil depletion and extrapolate into the next century which is precisely what oil corporations have always done. Remember that just 40 years ago the technology did not exist to extract oil at 30,000 feet. Here in Australia we have an "oil crisis" every 15 years which is then quickly replaced by replenished reserves. These reserves have been tapped from the same oil wells since the 1950's and still we have the media screaming headlines about the last drop of crude within 5 years. After 60 years of hearing the oil industry cry wolf over depleting oil reserves it is time to seriously review the current geological evidence. Gold's findings are supported by Russian petroleum exploration geologists in the 1950's who discovered vast quantities of hydrocarbons in the Ukraine where no sedimentary oil bearing strata exists. "The overwhelming preponderance of geological evidence compels the conclusion that crude oil and natural petroleum gas have no intrinsic connection with biological matter originating near the surface of the Earth. They are primordial materials which have been erupted from great depths." Academician Professor Vladimir B. Porfir'yev, senior petroleum exploration geologist for the U.S.S.R., at the All-Union Conference on Petroleum and Petroleum Geology, Moscow, 1956.
Also keep in mind that oil can be extracted from oil shale and coal of which there are deposit's in Australia Sth Africa, Brazil, USA and Canada that would last thousands of years. If Gold's theories are correct we will not need other sources for our future energy needs, perhaps Gold's findings are hard to accept because they don't fit with the current Darwinist's views of evolutionary deposition .

Interesting theory, weak on oil depletion
I have long believed that oil depletion is a serious issue that could derail our economy sooner than most people think. When promoting this view on internet bulletin boards, people would occasionally respond that Thomas Gold has shown that oil comes from abiotic sources deep within the earth, not from biological sources, and we hence we have plenty, no need to worry.

I have at last gotten around to reading this book. He makes a stronger case than I would have guessed. He also thinks through a number of issues related to his theory in an inventive and interesting way. He argues that earth's first organism was more likely to have evolved underground than on the surface, and makes a pretty good case.

But some of the evidence he provides doesn't really support his contention. For instance, he argues that many earthquakes are due to sudden releases of vast quantities of natural gas, rather than due to plate tectonics. After reading the evidence he brings forth on this, I agree that this is likely a cause of some earthquakes. But this doesn't prove that oil or natural gas comes from abiotic sources, nor does it prove that we have plenty of it.

Gold believes that if oil is bubbling up from middle earth and isn't dependent on ancient plant or animal life for its creation, then we ought to have plenty of it. This doesn't actually follow. If loads of the stuff was bubbling up, we would have more natural oil seeps than we do.

Gold believes that we are discovering vast new amounts of oil all the time and that old oil fields are refilling. Most geologists disagree. We are now burning more oil than we discover, and have been since the early 1980s. What Gold sees as growing reserves, are in many cases not supported by the facts. For instance, in the late 80s most OPEC nations vastly increased their reported reserves. This wasn't due to new drilling that found new oil - it was a ploy to allow them to pump more oil in accordance with OPEC rules that fixed oil production to a percentage of reserves.

Gold doesn't examine the issue of oil in a quantitative manner at all. He believes that oil is abiotic and assumes that means we have plenty of it. He has marshalled some interesting evidence in favor of his theory, but comes up short on analyzing what this means in terms of oil depletion.

If you choose to read this book, you should balance it off with "The Party's Over" or "The Coming Oil Crisis" or "GeoDestinies".

Surprising and entertaining
This easy to read book makes moderately convincing arguments in favor of some unusual theories. It's surprising and disappointing that I can find few arguments against Gold's theories by those who reject them.
The book's main weakness is that it is not as rigorous as it ought to be when attacking theories that have been widely accepted. The book usually doesn't analyze alternate theories as thoroughly as I would have liked.
For example, he implies that the sudden 30 foot drop that some land experienced in the 1964 Alaska earthquake is hard for conventional theories to explain. But it would take a good deal of knowledge of both the accuracy of the reported time that drop took and of how fast a drop is consistent with conventional theories to verify this implication, and I see few signs that he has acquired such knowledge.
It's also rather annoying that he exaggerates the importance of his theories to oil drilling. It's easy to imagine that sedimentary rock is the most cost-effective place to drill regardless of how much oil is in other rocks. And the claim on the back cover that he says "we are not running out of petroleum" is a very misleading way to summarize his theory.

Compelling arguments
At first glance, this book struck me as highly suspicious. However, once I began reading it, I quickly came to seriously consider Gold's thesis as tenable. By the end of the book, I was strongly inclined to think that Gold has a much more credible explanation for the source and formation of oil and gas than the de facto one.

Gold does write convincingly, but moreso he presents some very cogent reasons for his abiogenic theory. I'll not attempt to rehash the details, but just say that his theory is parsimonious, involves little hand-waving and uses no dramatics.

There is nothing scientifically outlandish here, unless you have some ideological adherence to the biogenic view. In fact, the biogenic view seems now quite contrived and dubious in retrospect. Gold's view accounts not only for oil, coal and gas, but also confers reasons for formations of biogenic matter - peat and lignite - as well.

Gold's further assertion that a biosphere exists going many kilometers down may have seemed ludicrous years ago, but in light of our knowledge of extremophiles nowadays, his thesis seems very plausible.

As if that weren't going far enough, Gold further asserts that it is far more likely that (assuming life had a terrestrial origin) such life began deep in the earth, not in shallow tidepools or other surface environments. Any origin-of-life theory is very difficult to justify, but Gold's seems as plausible as any, and more plausible than most.

A worthwhile read.

A scientific revelation/revolution
This book is more than a mere milestone. If approached with an open mind, it will revolutionize much traditional thinking in the areas of energy, seismology, and the life sciences.

Professor Gold is an astrophysicist of high repute, who applies his excellent, free-thinking mind and impeccable logic to disciplines outside his chosen field with astonishing success. This disturbs traditionalists and adherents of scientific orthodoxy no end, especially when Dr. Gold, more often than not, is correct in his iconoclasms.

The instant work presents and consolidates Dr. Gold's seminal work in the area of earth sciences. Dr. Gold argues convincingly, and with easily understood reasoning, that petroleum, and even coal, are not biogenic, i.e., created from previously living organisms. Instead, he contends, so-called "fossil fuels" are the result of hydrocarbons being brought up from and through the earth's mantle, and being transformed into their present states by bacteria living in the Earth's crust. These bacteria compose the "deep, hot biosphere" in the book's title. Thus, fossil fuels are a self-renewing resource not nearly as susceptible to the depletion so often forecast by doomsayers.

Dr. Gold's logic appears impeccable to this writer, and the tests he has done to date, such as drilling in the granite of a large Swedish impact structure and finding hydrocarbons where none "should" exist are persuasive indeed. The popular conception of oil, gas, and coal being the remains of once living creatures seems hopelessly out of date in light of Dr. Gold's research.

Dr. Gold goes on to discuss the origin of life, as it relates to microorganisms found in the earth's crust and asks whether these primitive creatures may exist on other planets as well.

Another interesting theory arising from the implications of mobile hydrocarbons in the Earth's interior relates to earthquakes and their prediction. Dr. Gold notes many cultures have spoken of physical changes occuring prior to earthquakes and suggests that these tangible phenomena are related to gases moving in the crust. When a critical point is reached in terms of shifting tensions, Dr. Gold suggests the result is an earthquake.

Interestingly, much Russian research agrees with Dr. Gold on this and other of his theories. Western research appears more bound to orthodox thinking. It is this writer's belief that Dr. Gold and his cohorts have much to say on the true state of the planet beneath us, and its contents.

The book receives my highest recommendation, and it will be interesting to see how much of Dr. Gold's thinking becomes the scientific orthodoxy of the future. The book is rated a must read for anyone with an interest ie earth sceiences, energy issues, or both. ... Read more

Reviews (24)

Finally a Comprehensive Theory using ALL the Sciences !
Allan and Delar provide a much-needed synopsis of scientific findings that may finally explain many loose ends regarding recent earth history. Unlike those who resort to name calling to prove their point (AKA some reviewers here), the authors carefully document "ALL" of their evidence to present a compelling story that ranks as a must read if you have any interest at all in recent earth history. I disagree completely with those who discount human legend as a possible source of information from which to view evidence or start an investigation when indeed the legend has persisted throughout the eons. Usually, these people are the same one's the Wright Brothers had to convince that flight was possible by dropping plane parts on their head. There are just too too many stories concerning a massive flood of some sort from all cultures of the world to just habitually ignore it. This book presents evidence of just what "MAY" have happened without linking it to "directed biblical directives" so ubiquitous in our culture today. It uses the work of many scientists from many fields. Each of the branches of science contributes a portion of the story and from the contribution of each the authors formulate a fascinating theory. The conclusion is a theory like any other but is very thought provoking. However, unless a time machine is invented ALL information today on what happened way back when is theory ONLY ! Imagine the Medicines we would have today if researchers were not allowed to revise their theories on biochemistry. What make those who believe in Ice Ages so completely 100% correct when they can't even explain why the earth got cold or - why it warmed up? Are they the exceptional "I've never been wrong even once" group? Touché for Allan and Delair! Thank you very very much. I have a huge interest in more fields than the average person does and this book is one of the most exciting and thought provoking books I have read in quite a while.

Read my lips: _torque_, dammit, _torque_!
I found WHEN THE EARTH NEARLY DIED to be a fascinating book. Certainly as a scholarly work it is very well done, exquisitely researched and documented. The authors do present compelling evidence for the hypothesis that one or more great cataclysms have happened to this planet during the tenure of our species upon it, and that these have been memorialized in legend and lore all over the world. Up to that point, I found it an outstanding piece of research, and would have given it five stars -- and _then_ found that a) they had postulated that only _one_ such cataclysm had occurred, that 11,500 years ago; b) that it caused an extremely rapid (within days) shift of the Earth's pole of rotation such that areas in the tropics were shifted to the temperate or arctica zones and vice-versa; and c) made a great many mistakes that those well-trained in history and the sciences would not have, such as referring to George Gamow, the great astronomer and cosmologist, one of the pioneering proponents of the Big Bang theory of cosmological evolution, as a "geologist." Concerning a), there now exists a tremendous amount of hard evidence to show that our planet has been repeatedly bombarded from space by comets and asteroids as well as undergoing atmospheric explosions of really large comets ever since it first began cooling out of its molten phase, at the end of the Hadean Eon, some 4 billion-plus years ago. For example, a barrage of four or more of these was responsible for the end of the Cretaceous Period/Mesozoic Era of Earthly life, 65 million years ago. Another, far larger such barrage was probably the cause, or one cause, of the Permian catastrophe, the largest Great Extinction of life on Earth, which terminated the Paleozoic Era of life, around 250 million years ago. In fact, such barrages, whether large or relatively small, seem, given the cratering that can still be seen on our world as well as corroborating evidence from the fossil record, to have been responsible for most or all of the terminations of various geological periods from the beginning of the Phanerozoic Eon of life onward and almost certainly before then, all the way back to the formation of our world, 5 billion years ago. Such terminations occur many times during the Cenozic Period, from 65 million years ago to the present. It would be strange if several, relatively minor such impacts and attendant disasters hadn't occurred numerous times throughout human history and prehistory -- one such may in fact have precipitated the Dark Ages, just 1500 years ago. So why just _one_ such disaster? To fit all the geological and other evidence of multiple cosmic disasters that have happened to our wrold into just one such, and that relatively recently, the authors had to conflate and confabulate their data nearly to death, thus destroying its usefulness. As for b)-- can you say "torque," children? If the Earth were to suddenly (within a few days or even less time) somehow "tip over" so that its axis of rotation was thereby noticeably shifted from its original position, by at least five degrees, as a result the Earth's crust would be peeled off its mantle like the rind off an orange, and melt down to the mantle in the process, thanks to the phenomenon of "torque," which is the resistance of a rotating, moving object to any change in angular momentum (which would perforce occur with a pole-tipping of the sort the authors postulate). Nothing would have been left of life on Earth after such a disaster, because the resistance of the Earth to such a change in its movement would liberate so much kinetic energy over such a short time that for a while, at least, what was left of this planet would be a very close approximation of Medieval ideas of the hotter parts of Hell. Obviously that hasn't happened since the Hadean eon; life has hung around here for over 4 billion years, so no such rapid change of the world's axial tilt, or of the positions of its tectonic plates relative to the poles of rotation, could have occurred in all that time. Back to the drawing board, gang . . . And as for c, mistakes such as those make it clear that the people who did such heartbreakingly careful work on their scholastic research weren't well-grounded in scientific method, the various scientific models and hypotheses pertinent to their subject, or important changes in those models since about 1985, when Luis and Walter Alvarez and their associates first revealed the results of their ground-breaking research on the Terminal Cretaceous Event to the world. Nice try, gang, and you certainly deserve an "E" for effort -- but you get a D+ for lack of scientific acumen, education, and awareness.

If you're into catastrophism read it
I'm tired...don't feel like writing much. I read this a few years ago. I remember being impressed with the research the author had done in ancient mythology. 'Course for all I know, he could have made it all up! But I doubt it. I liked the book. I think if you're into this sort of stuff and haven't read this one yet, it's worth the cash. I'm goin' to bed. Night.

An Open Minded Reader
Great, excellent, provocative! I rate this book 5++++. To anyone considering buying this book, totally ignore critiques citing statements like "pseudo science" "balderdash", yada, yada, yada, etc. Such readers are obviously incapable of thinking outside the orthodox box. As has been said before, "science(and other discipines)progress funeral by funeral"! The research for this book is impeccable. The authors, in addition to their monumental citations of other sicentists, historians, etc, have developed an extremely interesting hypothesis. Well worth the cost and the time it takes to devour all the details. And, finally thank goodness, they demonstrate that not all educated people think world wide myths and legends are based on fabrication. Like, duh . . . .

If you are interested in alternative theory as compared to the same ol' BS indicative of close mindedness, I know you will love this book.

CATACLYSM
Dear readers:

This book is a republication of "When the earth nearly died"
Just thought you would like to know in case you already have a copy. ... Read more

Book Description

Presented in a clear and concise way as an introductory text and practical handbook, the book provides the basic physical phenomena governing underwater acoustical waves, propagation, reflection, target backscattering and noise. It covers the general features of sonar systems, transducers and arrays, signal processing and performance evaluation. It provides an overview of today's applications, presenting the working principles of the various systems. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Born scores of miles below the earth's surface eons ago, the great gemknown today as the Hope diamond has been "crisscrossing countries and culturesfor more than two thousand years," bringing fortune and disaster alike to itsmany owners. Marian Fowler reconstructs the flawless blue diamond's long journeyfrom its discovery in the mines of northern India to Europe and onward toAmerica. Along the way she looks at the strange mania for gem collecting amongEurope's nobility (noting, for instance, that French monarch Louis bought $16million worth of jewels in the year 1687, to his treasurer's greatconsternation); studies a remarkable gang of jewel thieves who used the turmoilof the French Revolution to their highly profitable advantage; and examines thecareer of the American entrepreneur and gem collector Harry Winston, who "becameobsessed with owning all the world's largest, most famous diamonds," and whoselargesse, though self-serving, made the great gem part of the holdings of theSmithsonian Institution. Fowler's tale has all the twists and turns of a goodmystery, and gem fanciers and history buffs alike will enjoy following the Hopediamond's curious career through her pages. --Gregory McNamee ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Reads Like a Romance Novel -- And that Ain't Good
Fowler's style seems to have been dervied from romance novels, and her prose inclines towards the purple and the precious in ways that frequently leave the reader wanting to gag. Though this is a well-researched work, there's just too much padding, too much fictionalized interpolation, too much gaudy prose. Which is a shame, because this could have been a very good book -- but then again that would have required a different style and a more respectable (and skeptical) historical sensibility; in short, a better writer.

Somewhat entertaining
The most interesting part of this book for me was a glimpse into the lives of French kings who owned the diamond. For the most part, the first 3/4 of the book were a good read. I liked the way the diamond was personified, but didn't care for the way the curse was dramatized, as there was quite frankly little evidence to suggest such a curse. In the more modern history of the diamond, the book starts to become boring, I don't need so many words to tell me that Harry Winston planned not to cut the diamond at all, but changed his mind later and cut it anyway. If you have the time and are interested in the history of the diamond, read the first part of the book and skim through the rest.

I Don't Think So
One of the dumbest books I have ever read. Fowler does OK, just OK, when she writes of the more recent history of the diamond because she has well-documented information from which to draw. But, in her chronicles of the stone during the early years of its murky existence, she lets her imagination run wild, her prose becomes over-blown and turgid, and "facts" she throws about are questionable in the extreme. Ghastly, ghastly writing. Do NOT buy this book!

lacks sparkle
There isn't a lot that could have done to make this more interesting, and the attempts made at conjecture and embellishment (regarding its curse, for example) don't add very much to the content. But, a reader does learn the story of the Hope Diamond and through the telling, about an interesting mix of historical information such as the French Revolution, Regency England, and Gilded Age America. And gem novices can learn about the nature of diamonds and of cultural attitudes to diamonds at various places and times in this book.

Mildly diverting
Hope: Adventures of a Diamond might be worth a quick read if you have nothing better to read at the moment. The author writes mostly about the diamond's various owners, who were generally people of little interest. There is some information about the diamond and diamond-cutting, as well as some about other famous gems. The author, who holds a doctorate in English literature, cannot seem to decide whether she wishes to write a fiction or nonfiction book; she frequently launches into melodramatic prose about things she could not possibly know, such as owners' thoughts. Occasionally irritating is the author's lack of knowledge about things like history and economics, on which she nevertheless pronounces her opinions. For instance, she writes that Peter the Great "proved to be very kind and gentle". His own son, who he had tortured and killed, would be surprised to know that! Similarly, she says that Napoleon "marched with ego as big as his army across Europe, and England acted to contain him". Just England, huh? Where was England at the Battle of the Nations? Finally, perhaps only an English major could write with a straight face that the diamond's first European owner "prefigures the modern capitalist... who is still pillaging the global village". In summary, the book contains some information that is mildly interesting, but don't expect a lot. ... Read more

Book Description

Sensors Update ensures that you stay at the cutting edge of the field. Built upon the series Sensors, it presents an overview of highlights in the field. Coverage includes current developments in materials, design, production, and applications of sensors, signal detection and processing, as well as new sensing principles.
Each volume is divided into three sections. Sensor Technology, reviews highlights in applied and basic research, Sensor Applications, covers new or improved applications of sensors, Sensor Markets, provides a survey of suppliers and market trends for a particular area. With this unique combination of information in each volume, Sensors Update will be of value for scientists and engineers in industry and at universities, to sensors developers, distributors, and users.

... Read more

Book Description

Glaciers are among the most beautiful natural wonders on Earth, but for most of us the least known and understood. This book describes how glaciers grow and decay, how they move, and how they influence human civilisation. Today covering a tenth of the Earth's surface, glacier ice has shaped the landscape over millions of years by scouring away rocks, transporting and depositing debris far from its source. Glacier meltwater drives turbines and irrigates deserts, yields mineral-rich soils, and has left us a wealth of valuable sand and gravel. However, glaciers also threaten human property and life. Our future is indirectly bound up with the fate of glaciers and their influence on global climate and sea level. A lively running text develops these themes and is supported by over 200 stunning photographs, taking us from the High-Arctic through North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, New Zealand and South America to the Antarctic. ... Read more

Book Description

The wealth of petroleum has made the Middle East one of the most actively explored regions of the world. The volume of geological, geophysical and geochemical data collected by the petroleum industry in recent decades is enormous. The Middle East may be a unique region in the world where the volume of subsurface data and information exceeds that based on surface outcrop.This book reviews the tectonic and geological history of the Middle East and the regional hydrocarbon potential on a country by country basis in the context of current ideas developed through seismic and sequence stratigraphy and incorporating the ideas of global sea level change.Subsurface data have been used as much as possible to amplify the descriptions.The paleogeographic approach provides a means to view the area as a whole. While the country by country approach inevitably leads to some repetition, it enhances the value of the volume as a teaching tool and u ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Sedimentary Basins and Petroleum Geology of the Middle East
Provide me the fundamental of Sedimentary Basins and Petroleum Geology of the Middle East up to date. Good for academic reference as well as professional work. ... Read more

Book Description

Simon & Schuster's Guide to Gems and Precious Stones provides both the connoisseur and the casual collector with a compact, easy-to-use volume describing more than 100 rare varieties of minerals whose beauty and mystery have possessed our imaginations from time immemorial. More than 450 brilliant photographs accompany profiles of each gem, covering such aspects as appearance, physical properties -- density, hardness, refraction -- occurrence, and how to judge quality and value. Additional sections describe the process of cutting gemstones and the techniques professional gemologists use to evaluate a stone's weight and optical properties.

Detailed and comprehensive, this book is essential for anyone interested in the study of gems and precious stones. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Interesting but lacking variety
Went to a gem show and saw that many folks had this book. Made a mistake and bought it here. I had a MUCH MUCH better book titled Gemstones by Cally Hall. The Simon and Schuster book has fascinating sections on how artificial gems are made and such like info (Doesn't include Moissanite.). However, it does not have any info on many many gemstones readily available today, such as Sphene, Sunstone (state gem of Oregon I'm told)and many others. (You can find these in the Simon and Schuster Rocks and Minerals book). If you are only interested in the mainstream gemstones, this book has them. However, as compared to the Cally Hall book, the info is not as well organized nor are the pictures (though mostly very nice) as useful. I will use this as a backup reference book.

Great photography, interesting lore about gemsand minerals
In addition to be a valuable guide for gem identification, this guide has wonderful color photographs, so useful for proper mineral and gem identification. Each gemstone is listed with density (vital for indentification), crystalline structure, light refraction angle (single or double), chemical makeup and hardness. There is an introductory section that is a good reference on mineral properties, a section on gem cutting, and small historical section.

My only objection to this book is that it is incomplete; there are a lot of semiprecious stones like gaspeite, for example that are not listed. So, not a complete reference, but a very good one that covers a wide range of information.

Excellent book
I've had this book ever since it was published and found it enormously valuable in identifying gems that I was unfamiliar with. Between this book and the accompanying "Simon & Schuster's Guide to Rocks & Minerals" one has a complete guide to nature's precious gifts of gems. My only critique is that the book needs an update to reflect some of the new semi-precious stones in the market place.

Great starter and refresher book
If you're working in the retail field, as I do selling jewellery, it's a straightforward, exciting, easy to understand guide with gorgeous photos. Also tells you how to spot a lower grade version of a gem. Some great museum photos of organic gems such as coral, ivory, etc. and semi-precious stone sculptures that make you appreciate the beauty of the gems. A standard for salespeople and a perfect reference for shopowners.

A standard for gemologists!
This is an excellent gem book. It has gorgeous color pictures on every page. Very informative and easy to understand! I give it a four instead of five only because it doesn't cover many of the rarer gems. However, I do recommend it to beginners and hobbyists! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Engineering Geology An Environmental Approach
A very good book for introductory engineering geology. The author presents the information in an easy to read and understand format. I thoroughly enjoyed the authors use of actual situations and incidents to help the reader understand the concepts, applications and importance of the subject material. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest of attaining a basic understanding of engineering geology. ... Read more

Book Description

A systematic, unifying approach to the dynamics of the ocean and atmosphere is given in this book, with emphasis on the larger-scale motions (from a few kilometers to global scale). The foundations of the subject (the equations of state and dynamical equations) are covered in some detail, so that students with training in mathematics should find it a self-contained text. Knowledge of fluid mechanics is helpful but not essential. Simple mathematical models are used to demonstrate the fundamental dynamical principles with plentiful illustrations from field and laboratory. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

a classic - and rightly so
This book on ocean and atmosphere dynamics has been a classic ever since its appearance and there are various reasons. It is written in an extremely lucid style, it covers most of the standard material of the field, and gets the balance between mathematical integrity and simplicity exactely right. I found it a pleasure to read it. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Good for beginners but...
For an introduction to hydrology this is a good book, but it's a little too basic and laymen for my tastes. This criticism aside, the information in this book is nevertheless good and adequate to provide you with decent background information in hydrology.

If you've had any education in basic meteorology, climatology, oceanography, etc... you won't find this book very useful since it is mostly a recap of 101 courses in the physical sciences, but for the rest of us who haven't had much experience in these fields, this book is not only very informative, but it is a very interesting read... who would've known the molecular structure of water was so unique and life-sustaining?! Alter it even a little and life would be impossible, lakes would freeze from the bottom up instead of the top down... and other weird possibilities! For the beginner, this book is easy to read, avoids math, and provides a relatively strong foundation.

I recommend this book the 90% of you who want to learn more about the physical sciences... but for the 10% looking for more details over what they already learned in beginning courses, look for another book since this one will only recap that info. ... Read more

Book Description

In the bestselling tradition of The Map that Changed the World and Longitude comes the tale of a seventeenth-century scientist-turned-priest who forever changed our understanding of the Earth and created a new field of science.

It was an ancient puzzle that stymied history's greatest minds: How did the fossils of seashells find their way far inland, sometimes high up into the mountains?Fossils only made sense in a world old enough to form them, and in the seventeenth century, few people could imagine such a thing. Texts no less authoritative than the Old Testament laid out very clearly the timescale of Earth's past; in fact one Anglican archbishop went so far as to calculate the exact date of Creation...October 23, 4004, B.C.

A revolution was in the making, however, and it was started by the brilliant and enigmatic Nicholas Steno, the man whom Stephen Jay Gould called "the founder of geology." Steno explored beyond the pages of the Bible, looking directly at the clues left in the layers of the Earth. With his groundbreaking answer to the fossil question, Steno would not only confound the religious and scientific thinking of his own time, he would set the stage for the modern science that came after him. He would open the door to the concept of "deep time," which imagined a world with a history of millions or billions of years. And at the very moment his expansive new ideas began to unravel the Bible's authoritative claim as to the age of the Earth, Steno would enter the priesthood and rise to become a bishop, ultimately becoming venerated as a saint and beatified by the Catholic Church in 1988.

Combining a thrilling scientific investigation with world-altering history and the portrait of an extraordinary genius, The Seashell on the Mountaintop gives us new insight into the very old planet on which we live, revealing how we learned to read the story told to us by the Earth itself, written in rock and stone. ... Read more

Reviews (17)

a class act
Seashell on the Mountaintop intrigued me from page one. The work brings to life a fascinating time in the history of science that seems far different from our own. That rocks grow, or are in fact spontaneously generated seems absurd, ridiculous,.. but Cutlers's investigation into the life and times of Nicholas Steno seems to acurately portray a time and people who nearly held these ideas as inevitable. In Steno we find a man both spiritual and scientific whose independent, open minded, study and observations led to different conclusions. No revolutions, no public outcries, just a different set of conclusions from the same hard facts. The result, a new science of the past, present and future, called geology. That Steno, unlike other great scientists of the 17th century better known to us today, did not run a foul of the Catholic Church, and towards the winter of his life leaves science behind to become a priest, later saint, suggests that neither science nor religious belief hold firm precedence when interpreting the world. A view lacking today, and one impeding politics, society and civilization. Cutlers book is an excellent read, scholarly without heaviness and like Steno, intriguing with humble relevance.

Mysteries in moutaintops
This engaging and informative little book traces the life of the founder of the science of geology. One of the intitial voices of the Enlightenment, Nicholas Steno spent a life wandering over the face of Europe. In this biography, Cutler's luminous prose takes the reader back to the mid-17th Century intellectual environment. He eloquently describes the rise of "the new science" in the face of traditional dogma. It wasn't a straightforward confrontation, however. Personalities and ideas alike clashed, sometimes savagely. Cutler ably shows how science struggled to find its feet in this time, with Steno's career and heritage providing the exemplary model.

Nicholas Steno, born in Lutheran Denmark, led a peripatetic erratic life. He was an anatomist, geologist, innovator and a proponent of empirical science. In an age steeped in ancient philosophy, in which tradition substituted for measurement and experiment, Steno rejected what could not be observed or proven. He mingled with Dutch merchants and the many religions existing in that Calvinist, yet commercial republic. Later, in Florence, he noted the stability provided by the well-established Church. In an age of inquiry, the Church tolerated the emerging science, so long as published works didn't directly challenge Scripture. The Galileo episode, says Cutler, cast a long shadow, and the Vatican didn't want a reprise. Steno not only evaded Church censorship, notes Cutler, he was encouraged to further his studies. Thus, his later conversion to Roman Catholicism shocked many, not least because he abandoned his studies for an ascetic life and attempts to convert Protestants.

In Florence, Steno was championed by the ruling Medici family. He took up the question of fossil seashells, a topic that had intrigued the Greek philosophers and Leonardo alike. Were they "spontaneously generated" in the deep earth, remnants of ancient life, or evidence of Noah's cataclysmic Flood? Steno's solution was not novel in itself. His real contribution was his explanation of how these shells and "tonguestones" were found on high mountain locations. Although published in a brief volume, his "De solido", would ultimately become the foundation stone of modern geology. Indirectly, writes Cutler, Steno's ideas and meagre publications led to the greatest idea of all - Darwin's concept of evolution by natural selection.

Cutler has encompassed many and varying themes in this book. It is one of the finest presentations of the issues addressed by the Englightenment in print. The names of such notaries as Newton, Leibnitz, and Boyle flit through the narrative. Even Thomas Jefferson makes an appearance - with lines that may surprise. Just enough graphics are used to illuminate the characters or a point. Highly recommended for many reasons, not least of which is the persistence of centuries-old dogmas in the face of the revelations of science. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

The founder of geology was a devout Christian
This well-written and mercifully brief account of the life of Nicholaus Steno helps demonsrate yet again that Christians can be very fine scientists. The issue that Steno resolved was the organic origin of fossils. Steno was trained as an anatomist, and he was extremely gifted with a scalpel. When a very large (2,800 pound) shark was caught by Italian fisherman, Steno's patron, Ferdinando de Medici had the head sent to Steno for disection. Steno noted the uncanny resemblance of the shark's teeth to fossils called "tongue stones" found in greatest abundance on the Island of Malta. Steno argued that "tongue stones" looked like sharks' teeth because they were sharks' teeth that had been buried in sediment, the sediment subsequently hardening into stone.

This seems obvious today, but it was anything but obvious in Steno's time. Many argued that the earth had some sort of "plastic power" that produced stones in the shapes of sea creatures, or anything else. It didn't seem possible that fossils found on mountaintops many miles from the ocean could be the remains of real sea creatures, no matter how closely they resemble those creatures. And then there was also the problem of extinct forms, fossils that didn't correspond to any living creatures. The idea that God would allow any of his creatures to die out completely was unacceptable to many thinkers of Steno's day.

The fossil problem led Steno to meditate on question of how any solid object, like a fossil, could be found with another solid object, like a layer of rock. He concluded that the fossil must have been hard first, and must have been carried along by waterborne sediments that subsequently came to rest, creating a layer of mud, enclosing the fossil and later hardening into rock. Hence, a solid fossil came to be enclosed within a layer of solid rock.

An interesting fact that emerges from this book is that Steno, essentially a creationist who never wrote anything that contradicted Scripture, laid the foundations for the science of geology. Cutler seems at pains to try to claim Steno's legacy for modern long-ages geology, but the age of the earth was never any part of Steno's argument. Moreover, the person who did the most to popularize Steno's view of the organic origin of fossils in the English-speaking world (without giving Steno proper credit) was John Woodward, an even more outspoken creationist who argued that the fossils had been buried in Noah's flood. Meanwhile, the famous skeptic Voltaire argued that fossils were spontaneously generated within the earth. In fact, Voltaire was still making that argument many decades after Steno had proven the contrary case. Meanwhile, Steno abandoned science and spent his final years ministering to the small Roman Catholic minority in northern Germany. It just goes to show that religious faith does not a bad scientist make, nor does skepticism make a good one.

Fascinating Portrait
One of the most hotly debated topics of 17th century science concerned a naturally occurring riddle. Why do seashell fossils appear in mountainous areas so far away from the sea? The great flood that created the need for Noah's arc might be one explanation, but scientists quickly noted that a flood of 40 days duration was not enough time for clams to move to such distant and elevated locations. This problem engendered a number of interesting hypotheses, among them that the earth somehow created the shells.

The riddle was finally solved, at least for the scientifically minded, through the careful observations of a Danish scientist named Nicolaus Steno. Steno traveled far from his native Copenhagen and ultimately moved to Italy where he observed fossilized seashells in the Italian Mountains. Already famous for his work in anatomy, Steno was a true Renaissance man with a passion for collecting and understanding items from nature. His observations led to his theory that the earth has a history and that this history includes periods of changing seas and powerful geologic forces that deposit rocks, minerals, and fossils far inland. His pioneering work has earned him the title of founder of geology among contemporary scientists.

Geologist Alan Cutler paints a fascinating portrait of Steno. Given various elements of Steno's personality and the time in which he lived, this is no small feat. Steno was a deeply religious man, and Cutler doesn't miss the irony involved with his formulating theories that were at odds with the officially sanctioned explanations of the earth. The fact is that as he aged Steno became more concerned with religion than with science. He eventually converted from the Lutheranism of Denmark to Catholicism and died a Bishop at the age of forty-eight. Although his fame as a clergyman never matched that of his fame as a scientist, the Catholic Church beatified Steno in 1988. In writing about Steno as a scientist and as a religious figure, Cutler gives us an entertaining and balanced look at the life of a little known but influential thinker.

An interesting life
I read this book for a Geology project. I love a good biography and Cutler delvered a good biography. Was his portrayal of Steno accurate? I don't know. Part of the problem seems to be that much of Steno's work has never been available in English. We should at least give Cutler credit for trying to make Steno more accessible to English readers.

One of the parts covered in the book is Steno's conversion from Lutheranism to Romanism. Since other reviewers have not covered this aspect I thought it might be helpful to do so.

Cutler gives quite a few details about is Steno's Christianity. Cutler describes Steno's Lutheran upbringing, his exposure to the religious pluralism afforded by the enterprising Dutch Calvinists (pg. 35), and finally his embrace of the Italian Catholics. Particularly noted by Cutler are two aspects of Steno's conversion to Roman Catholicism. First was his rejection of the Bible as the literal word of God (pg. 144). Secondly, Steno seemed to be "emotional[ly]" drawn to Romanism by its ceremony, or maybe more accurately, by its superstition. (pg. 91) Eventually, Steno became a Roman Catholic priest, and then the titular Bishop of Titiopolis. This sounds impressive but it is actually rather tragic. The Bishopric was of an area long abandoned to Muslims, and in the region where Steno was sent to minister he was rejected by most of his fellow Catholics as being too serious. His life ends with him starving himself into poor health, and eventually death. It was a sad end to a brilliant man. ... Read more

Book Description

Presents the geologic processes in vivid and comprehensibleterms. ... Read more

Book Description

Gives a comprehensive treatment of coastal evolution and dynamics, providing background for the study of coastal landforms and how and why they are changing, with up to date information, world-wide coverage of examples, numerous illustrations and extensive references to the scientific literature.

It gives a systematic approach to the subject of coastal geomorphology, dealing with the shaping of landforms, the changing levels of land and sea, the array of coastal processes that have influenced the shaping of landforms and the changes that are taking place on them. It analyses the causes of erosion and accretion on sectors of the coastline and examines the factors that have contributed to these, preparing the way for management strategies. The book includes discussions on the effects that human activities have had on coasts and their continuing contribution to coastal landform changes. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

coastal geomorphology: an introduction
A wonderful explanation of current thinking on coastal morphology.
A must for all researchers and students, and I would suggest that more Uni Professors used it. ... Read more

Book Description

Coupled THMC processes are an exciting area in Geo-Engineering and here uniquely collected is the latest information on developments in the numerical modelling representing the basic physics. From the GeoProc 2003 conference held in StockholmOctober 2003. This may include the effects of heat, water, mechanics and chemistry.The environmental issues around radioactive waste disposal deep in rock, for example and the search for new reserves of oil and gas are covered in detail.
All contributions were carefully reviewed and edited. This is an unusually high quality collection of leading-edge information not elsewhere available in edited and coherent form. ... Read more