Snowball Earth
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Snowball Earth Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥
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engrossing science story
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As its title suggests, this is a book about a remarkable theory: that several times in its ancient history, the earth was literally a dirty snowball. Gabrielle Walker provides a highly readable account of the story and personalities behind this revolutionary idea. SNOWBALL EARTH is aimed at the curious layman, not the specialist. Even so, the author does an impressive job explaining the evidence for the theory without distorting the essentials or condescending to the reader.
There's little in the way of charts or pictures to supplement the book's text, and that's unfortunate. I'm tempted to dock it a star for its dearth of graphics, but this compact volume contains such a wealth of content at so little cost, that it's a forgivable omission. Maybe this situation could be amended in a future edition.
In my view, one of the best things about SNOWBALL EARTH is its colorful cast of characters. Too many science writers ignore the human element or depict researchers as passionless data processors wrapped in lab coats. Refreshingly, Walker eschews this approach and offers intimate and unvarnished glimpses of these people in the field or interacting with peers. Her reporting shows her subjects to be a diverse lot. Some are kind-hearted, almost angelic beings; others are aloof and argumentative. Most seem a complex mix of good and bad, like the rest of us. What they all have in common, however, is a burning need to solve the riddle of the earth's mysterious past. The author deserves high marks for adding a psychological twist to this fascinating tale of scientific achievement. |
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Snowball Earth Books In Print, Audio Books.