Stepping stones : the making of our home world
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Stepping stones : the making of our home world
Oxford University Press, c1999
- : hbk
- : pbk
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Note
Includes bibliographies and index
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
-
: hbk ISBN 9780198502715
Description
Many people know more about the planets Venus and Mars than they do about our home planet, Earth. Unique in our solar system, and so far as we know in the Universe itself, the Earth has been evolving for the past five billion years, and is the result of the dynamic interplay of astronomical, physical, and chemical forces ranging from the vast to the barely perceptible. The evolution of the earth has never been predictable. Life has come very close to being extinguished many times. After each such crisis, the survivors and their genes have diversified and grown in number to exploit all opportunities. Without such traumas it is hardly likely that evolution's pace could have reached its present advanced level; that of conscious life capable of changing the world, contemplating it, and in doing so changing itself at geologically stupendous rates. In this text, Stephen Drury explores how such a seemingly fragile world could have been formed and developed.
Table of Contents
- Part 1 How the world works: energy balance sheets
- the essence of life
- cosmic setting - dancing to ancient tunes. Part 2 Peering into time: managing time
- continents adrift
- the surface of events
- life, rock, and air. Part 3 Starstuff: alchemy in the stars
- graveyard for comets
- landscape for life. Part 4 "A warm little pond"
- what life is all about
- genesis and the deuteronomists
- life's tender years. Part 5 Climate, mantle, and life: fumes from the engine room
- continents shape climate
- icehouse and greenhouse worlds. Part 6 Life's ups and downs: Armageddon revisited
- reaching for new horizons. Part 7 The peoples' planet: the human record
- all the world's a commodity.
- Volume
-
: pbk ISBN 9780198508076
Description
Many people know more about the planets Venus and Mars than they do about our home planet, Earth. Unique in our solar system, and so far as we know in the Universe itself, the Earth has been evolving for the past five billion years, and is the result of the dynamic interplay of astronomical, physical, and chemical forces ranging from the vast to the barely perceptible. The evolution of the Earth hasnever been predictable. Life has come very close to being extinguished many times. After each such crisis, the survivors and their genes have diversified and grown in number to exploit all opportunities. Without such traumas it is hardly likely that evolution's pace could have reached its present advanced level; that of conscious life capable of changing the world, contemplating it, and in doing so changing itself at geologically stupendous rates. In this text, Stephen Drury explores how such a seemingly fragile world could have been formed and developed.
Table of Contents
Introduction. Part 1 - How the world works. 1: Energy balance sheets. 2: Circulation systems. 3: The essence of life. 4: Cosmic setting: dancing to ancient tunes. Part 2 - Peering into time. 5: Managing time. 6: Continents adrift. 7: The surface of events. 8: Life, rock, and air. Part 3 - Starstuff. 9: Alchemy in the stars. 10: Graveyard for comets. 11: Landscape for life. Part 4 - `A warm little pond'. 12: What life is all about. 13: Genesis and the deuteronomists. 14: Life's tender years. Part 5 - Climate, mantle, and life. 15: Fumes from the engine room. 16: Continents shape climate. 17: Icehouse and greenhouse worlds. Part 6 - Life's ups and downs. 19: Armageddon revisited. 20: Reaching for new horizons. Part 7 - The peoples' planet. 21: The ages of ice. 22: The human record. 23: All the world's a commodity
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