Publisher Description

This is the second edition of the author's account of celebrated controversies in geology that embrace many of the most important ideas that have emerged since the birth of the subject. Two new chapters have been added. One reviews the emergence of stratigraphy in the nineteenth century, focusing on two major controversies concerning the Cambrian-Silurian and the Devonian. The second new chapter deals with the mass extinctions controversy, which has not yet beenresolved. The existing chapters have been revised in the light of recent publications. The book will be of interest to professional geologists, geology students, and amateur geologists as well as togeographers and historians of science.

Table of Contents

Neptunists, vulcanists, and plutonists; Catastrophists and uniformitarians; The emergence of stratigraphy; The ice age; The age of the earth; Continental drift; Mass extinctions; General considerations; Index.

Review

'approachable and rewarding'Times Higher Education Supplement'a very useful book that deals well with its subject matter: so is well worth buying'Richard Wilding, Geology Today, Vol.6, No.3, May/June 1990'Professor Hallam has done an excellent job in outlining and discussing seven of the major controversies that have at various times gripped the geological community ... he gives us a well balanced outline of the current state of play. This is a fascinating book which makes compulsive reading. It will strike chords in any active earth scientist. Since the principles thrashed out through these controversies undergird all present-day geology, not only is thisbook of direct relevance to working geologists today, but by helping to provide a clearer picture of the sometimes tortuous paths by which we reached our present understanding, it might even help preventus trip over quite so many boulders on our path ahead. It might also induce a little more humility in us as we look back on the vigour with which our predecessors tackled major intellectual obstacles on uncharted ground.'Robert S. White, University of Cambridge, Geological Magazine 127 (6) 1990'one of the best short books available in this valuable discipline.'J. Whitaker, Geology reviews of the first edition: '[A] spirited, highly recommended account.' New Scientist'A book of value and interest to all shades of earth scientists and it's a very good read.' Geological Magazine'An impressively broad and lively demonstration of scholarship...a book of interest to geologists, other scientists, and the public.' Geology`.. a fine exposition of some of geology's major arguments of the past.' New Scientist'delightfully readable text ... Hallam's easy mastery of the factual and often complex arguments is matched by his relation of events and personalities, for the scientists are stars as much as their discoveries ... a very welcome addition to the literature on the history of geology and may its well deserved popularity continue.'R.J.G. Savage, Archives of Natural History 18 (2):1991'This is an elegant and excellently written book. The general reader interested in science and technology will find the book both entertaining and informative. For those who are students or professionals in the Earth Sciences it is essential reading.'Charles B. Officer, Earth-Science Reviews, 33 (1992)'This is an elegant and excellently written book. The general reader interested in science and technology will find the book both entertaining and informative. For those who are students or professionals in the Earth Sciences it is essential reading.'Charles B. Officer, Earth-Science Reviews, 33 (1992)'For Hallam's ... new chapter on "Mass extinctions", I have high praise. This is detailed and judicial. This is desirable reading ... for historians of geology and, indeed, for geologists at large.'W.A.S. Sarjeant, University of Saskatchewan, Geoscience Canada, Volume 19, Number 2, June 1992

Long Description

This is the second edition of the author's account of celebrated controversies in geology that embrace many of the most important ideas that have emerged since the birth of the subject. Two new chapters have been added. One reviews the emergence of stratigraphy in the nineteenth century, focusing on two major controversies concerning the Cambrian-Silurian and the Devonian. The second new chapter deals with the mass extinctions controversy, which has not yet beenresolved. The existing chapters have been revised in the light of recent publications. The book will be of interest to professional geologists, geology students, and amateur geologists as well as to geographers and historians of science.

Review Text

'approachable and rewarding'Times Higher Education Supplement'a very useful book that deals well with its subject matter: so is well worth buying'Richard Wilding, Geology Today, Vol.6, No.3, May/June 1990'Professor Hallam has done an excellent job in outlining and discussing seven of the major controversies that have at various times gripped the geological community ... he gives us a well balanced outline of the current state of play. This is a fascinating book which makes compulsive reading. It will strike chords in any active earth scientist. Since the principles thrashed out through these controversies undergird all present-day geology, not only is thisbook of direct relevance to working geologists today, but by helping to provide a clearer picture of the sometimes tortuous paths by which we reached our present understanding, it might even help preventus trip over quite so many boulders on our path ahead. It might also induce a little more humility in us as we look back on the vigour with which our predecessors tackled major intellectual obstacles on uncharted ground.'Robert S. White, University of Cambridge, Geological Magazine 127 (6) 1990'one of the best short books available in this valuable discipline.'J. Whitaker, Geology reviews of the first edition: '[A] spirited, highly recommended account.' New Scientist'A book of value and interest to all shades of earth scientists and it's a very good read.' Geological Magazine'An impressively broad and lively demonstration of scholarship...a book of interest to geologists, other scientists, and the public.' Geology'.. a fine exposition of some of geology's major arguments of the past.' New Scientist'delightfully readable text ... Hallam's easy mastery of the factual and often complex arguments is matched by his relation of events and personalities, for the scientists are stars as much as their discoveries ... a very welcome addition to the literature on the history of geology and may its well deserved popularity continue.'R.J.G. Savage, Archives of Natural History 18 (2):1991'This is an elegant and excellently written book. The general reader interested in science and technology will find the book both entertaining and informative. For those who are students or professionals in the Earth Sciences it is essential reading.'Charles B. Officer, Earth-Science Reviews, 33 (1992)'This is an elegant and excellently written book. The general reader interested in science and technology will find the book both entertaining and informative. For those who are students or professionals in the Earth Sciences it is essential reading.'Charles B. Officer, Earth-Science Reviews, 33 (1992)'For Hallam's ... new chapter on "Mass extinctions", I have high praise. This is detailed and judicial. This is desirable reading ... for historians of geology and, indeed, for geologists at large.'W.A.S. Sarjeant, University of Saskatchewan, Geoscience Canada, Volume 19, Number 2, June 1992

Review Quote

'This is an elegant and excellently written book. The general reader interested in science and technology will find the book both entertaining and informative. For those who are students or professionals in the Earth Sciences it is essential reading.'Charles B. Officer, Earth-Science Reviews, 33 (1992)

Details