A Short History of Planet Earth: Mountains, Mammals, Fire, and Ice
"A splendid introduction to geology and paleontology for the lay reader. To compress Earth's history into a single, lucidly written volume is a major achievement." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Few people have both the knowledge and the writing ability to capture such a long and varied history in a compelling manner. In A Short History of Planet Earth, J.D. Macdougal demonstrates that he is one of the few." —Earth
This exhilarating survey of the four and half billion years of Earth's history charts both the geological and biological history of the planet. It moves from the origin of the earth's iron core to the formation of today's seven continents, and from the primordial building blocks of life to the evolution of the human form.
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Book details
- Author
- J. D. Macdougall
- Imprint
- Trade Paper Press, an imprint of Turner Publishing Company
- Published
- Pages
- 274
- Formats
- Paperback, Hardcover
- Series
- Wiley Popular Scienc
- Subjects
- Science › Earth Sciences › Geology
Science › Life Sciences › Ecology - Topics
- earth history · geology · paleontology · evolution · ice ages · plate tectonics · natural history
- ISBN-13
- 9781620457108 (Paperback)9781620458037 (Hardcover)
About the author
J. D. MACDOUGALL is Professor Emeritus of Earth Sciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, and the author of more than one hundred articles in professional journals. His recent books include Why Geology Matters, Nature’s Clocks and Frozen Earth.
Macdougall has published in Scientific American and contributed to the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, and conducted research in geochemistry at Scripps for many years.
When not writing, Macdougall has worked as a geoscientist and educator, traveling from Siberia and the Canadian Arctic to the floor of the Pacific Ocean in the submersible Alvin. That firsthand fieldwork across the globe informs his writing on earth sciences.
Doug lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.