Review The Planet in a Pebble

The Planet in a Pebble Free download ☆ 7 Jan Zalasiewicz Õ 7 Read Review The Planet in a Pebble This is the story of a single pebble It is just a normal pebble as you might pick up on holiday on a beach in Wales say Its history though carries us into abyssal depths of time and across the farthest reaches of spaceThis is a narrative of the Earth's long and dramatic history as gleaned from a single pebble It begins as the pebble particles form amid unimaginable violence in distal realms of the Uni It s one thing to just know that one Carl Sagan uote about how we re all made of stardust and uite another to learn in detail the journey that some protons and neutrons have taken since the universe came into being first getting smashed into each other in the furnace of a star to form various elements flying through space getting pulled into the gravitational field of a forming planet those atoms binding with others to create crystals being swirled and heated and cooled and compressed transformed in so many ways I ve never felt such amazement at how everything that exists is all made of the same stuff constantly cycled through various processes to take different formsMy favorite part hands down was learning about the beginning of the universe the coming into being of stars and planets and the Earth s core magnetic field magma etc Zalasiewicz is an engaging humorous narrator that uses just the right amount of metaphor to explain scientific details and he beautifully conveyed the epic nature of these phenomena It and everything else in the book really gives one a different sense of scaleUnfortunately despite his humor I lost interest once the story got to fossils It was very slow going from there to the last 100 pages or so of the book which is why I m giving it 3 stars instead of 4 Just a matter of personal interest and I am happy to know this about myself

The Planet in a Pebble Free download ☆ 7 Jan Zalasiewicz Õ 7 Read Review The Planet in a Pebble Verse in the Big Bang and in supernova explosions and continues amid the construction of the Solar System Jan Zalasiewicz shows the almost incredible complexity present in such a small and apparently mundane object Many events in the Earth's ancient past can be deciphered from a pebble volcanic eruptions; the lives and deaths of extinct animals and plants; the alien nature of long vanished oceans; and Geology was my favorite science course in college and I have friends who are geologists Still I don t know as much as I would like and am always pleased when I come across a book that is not only scientifically engaging but skillfully written as well The Planet in a Pebble is that book Jan Zalasiewicz takes a single pebble of slate found on a beach in Wales and tells its life story from when it was deep within the earth at the bottom of the ocean a home to living organisms and minerals metals and Once found on the beach examined and then tossed aside the pebble s remarkable story continues as the author goes on to tell how it returns to Earth s processes until those processes play out and the pebble becomes in some fashion a part of the solar system Filled with unexpected wit and some cultural references that give the story zest Zalasiewicz s book encourages a satisfying reverence for our home planet Especially moving is the last portion of the book when the author explores the end of earth and the pebble and what might come after rebirth perhapsTo those for whom the vastness of deep time is not a threat to their religious principles but actually bolsters them this book is not just a scientific journey but a spiritual one too Highly recommended

Jan Zalasiewicz Õ 7 Read

The Planet in a Pebble Free download ☆ 7 Jan Zalasiewicz Õ 7 Read Review The Planet in a Pebble Transformations deep underground including the creations of fool's gold and of oilZalasiewicz demonstrates how geologists reach deep into the Earth's past by forensic analysis of even the tiniest amounts of mineral matter Many stories are crammed into each and every pebble around us It may be small and ordinary this pebble but it is also an elouent part of our Earth's extraordinary never ending story Lots of really interesting information on the tools used to create chronologies of the Earth age of specific stones His discussion and use of graptolites is uite interesting I like his use of the single pebble to explore the depth of our geological knowledge However for a short book on deep history it is a little repetitive The sense of humor can be annoying As an Oxford University Press book the proofreading leaves a lot to be desired

• Paperback
• 234
• The Planet in a Pebble
• Jan Zalasiewicz
• English
• 03 February 2020
• 9780199645695