Laboratory Outlines in Biology V

Book Description

From the acclaimed author of Life and Trilobite!, a fascinating geological exploration of the earth’s distant history as revealed by its natural wonders.

The face of the earth, crisscrossed by chains of mountains like the scars of old wounds, has changed and changed again over billions of years, and the testament of the remote past is all around us. In this book Richard Fortey teaches us how to read its character, laying out the dominions of the world before us. He shows how human culture and natural history–even the shape of cities–are rooted in this deep geological past.

In search of this past, Fortey takes us through the Alps, into Icelandic hot springs, down to the ocean floor, over the barren rocks of Newfoundland, into the lush ecosystems of Hawai’i, across the salt flats of Oman, and along the San Andreas Fault. On the slopes of Vesuvius, he tracks the history of the region down through the centuries?to volcanic eruptions seen by fifteenth-century Italians, the Romans, and, from striking geological evidence, even Neolithic man. As story adds to story, the recent past connects with forgotten ages long ago, then much longer ago, as he describes the movement of plates and the development of ancient continents and seas. Nothing in this book is at rest. The surface of the earth dilates and collapses; seas and mountains rise and fall; continents move.

Fortey again proves himself the ideal guide, with his superb descriptions of natural beauty, his gripping narratives, and his crystal-clear, always fascinating scientific explanations.
Here is a book to change the way we see the world.

Customer Reviews:

Marie Curie belongs in this book.......2007-09-26

This is an excellent work, and I give it five stars

But I need to address one reviewer who gave it one star and wrote: "For example, a color plate of Marie Curie looking at a test tube - connection please?"

from the book:

"...But the major use of pitchblende had to await detection for nearly half a century, when the mines of Jachymov were crucial to a discovery that has changed the course of history. Working in Paris in 1898, Marie and Pierre Curie processed thousands of pounds of pitchblende from the same glass-factory tailings in order to isolate two radioactive elements that had hitherto been unknown: radium and polonium. Uranium's radioactivity had been recognized for a couple of years prior to this, but this pitchblende was too active to be accounted for by uranium alone. The Curies deduced that another radioactive element had to be present to make up the balance; they reasoned the existence of highly active radium before extracting it. But it was present in the tiniest quantities: a gram in seven tons of ore. The labour involved in refining a tiny visible grain from the unforgiving black ore is difficult to imagine. But they convinced the scientific world with sufficient material evidence of the elusive element to be awarded the Nobel Prize in 1903." (page 212)

Obviously, the reviewer did not read the book. I don't need to rehash what the other five star reviewers wrote; I just wanted to answer the one star, and thought it I put it in as a comment, it'd be missed by other readers.

garrulous bore.......2007-08-28

A good number of anecdotes and photographs are unrelated entirely to the object of the book. For example, a color plate of Marie Curie looking at a test tube - connection please? Who needs organization when there's no point? Even "facts" are wrong in some cases. For example, the author confuses Virginia City, NV with Carson City, NV.

Good reading.......2007-08-23

The book provides a very readable overview of the eath's evolution. I stress overview since it is not intended to be a petrological or mineralogical treatise, but rather a view from a distance. I found it very informative for me despite having a fair degree of understanding from the outset. It could be an excellent book for folks with some knowledge, but little vision of what out earth has gone through and how it made the trip.

What a GREAT Planet!.......2007-01-04

I get very tired of Textbooks compiled by 'committee', so every year I search for a "Good READ" from an excellent author which covers the topic well. Richard Fortey is such an author and "EARTH: An Intimate History" is the kind of book you want to read. Rather that pages full of pictures, graphs, sidebars, interted Tables, and excessive questions at the end of each chapter, Fortey is a man writing a story about the Planet he knows and loves. It is a well developed story with a thread of logic which you can follow from the first page until the concluding remarks, and, it is about a GREAT Planet!

Fortey takes the reader from the interesting and obvious of Mt. Vesuvius, to the core of the earth on a descriptively written journey which tells of the history of Geology and many European scientists which don't appear anywhere in American textbooks. He explains what was thought and why, and how only later did evidence mount up for the current interpretation known as Plate Tectonics. He develops the geologists as characters in a plot of mystery and discovery, through controversy and politics to insight and understanding. Best of all, however, is that this is a a single, concise story, told by a master of prose.

Really a personal diary .......2006-06-20

I got this book expecting that it would be about the development of Geology, or the development of the Earth. I was surprised to find that it is really a travel book about his experiences going places of geological interest. I am sure that this will be of interest to many people. It wasn't to me. I could not read past the first chapter. There were too many wanderings and side issues. It was like reading a fashion column to get the political news. Someone will like all of the extraneous and unrelated details about quaint places they might visit and appreciate. I was looking for something less personal and more informative about a more limited topic.

The Global & the Intimate: WSQ : Spring/summer 2006 (Womens Studies Quartley)

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The Global & the Intimate: WSQ : Spring/summer 2006 (Womens Studies Quartley)

Manufacturer: Feminist Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Women's Studies | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

WSQ, a journal dedicated to multi-disciplinary, cutting edge perspectives on women's issues, builds on the impressive achievements of its predecessor, Women's Studies Quarterly, in an exploration of how we think locally and act globally. The term "global and the intimate" is shorthand for an array of issues pervading the twenty-first century's brave new world where hyper-technology continually erodes the space between "public" and "private": for example, how the internet and surveillance technologies penetrate the sanctuary of our homes; mass market branding vs. choice in the globalized marketplace; the intimacy of collaboration across transnational spaces.

Intimate Universality: Local and Global Themes in the History of Weather and Climate (Science-History Studies on Atmospheres)

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A top pick for college holdings strong in science in general and climate history in particular
Fascinating Collection of Essays on the History of Weather and Climate Studies

Intimate Universality: Local and Global Themes in the History of Weather and Climate (Science-History Studies on Atmospheres)

Manufacturer: Science History Publications/USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Rivers | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

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Weather | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0881353671

Product Description

The history of meteorology is a history of the artifacts and insights of modernity. It is, in some measure, a history of imperial aspirations and invention; a history of attempts to understand, predict, and even control phenomena that extend far beyond the local horizon and that change constantly on time scales ranging from geological eras and centuries to decades, years, seasons, and moments; a history of how individuals, immersed in and surrounded by the phenomena they study, attempt to construct privileged positions and address social and political imperatives. These essays, from eight of the leading historians of weather and climate, illuminate the hopes and struggles of researchers and practitioners from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries, across a diverse set of issues, and on a vast array of spatial scales. If the book raises new questions or provides a measure of insight into old ones; if it stimulates in the reader a sense of the "otherness" of a bygone era or a sense of empathy and continuity with the past; if it conveys in any measure the contingency, curiosity, excitement, and frustration of the science and politics swirling around issues of weather and climate, we will deem it a success. We offer it with our sincere wish that it serves as a stimulus to related explorations in other areas of the history of science and technology that juxtapose the intimate and the universal, the local and the global.

Customer Reviews:

A top pick for college holdings strong in science in general and climate history in particular.......2007-02-06

Human beings interact with the climate constantly, but the science of meteorology is often routine and quiet. INTIMATE UNIVERSALITY: LOCAL AND GLOBAL THEMES IN THE HISTORY OF WEATHER AND CLIMATE traces the history of meteorology and how its strategies, methodology and findings have mirrored and influenced human attempts to understand and control phenomenon on a world-wide basis. College-level students receive essays from eight leading historians of weather and climate, making for a top pick for college holdings strong in science in general and climate history in particular.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Fascinating Collection of Essays on the History of Weather and Climate Studies.......2006-12-12

"Intimate Universality" is a collected work that James Rodger Fleming, Colby College, has edited along with Vladimir Jankovic, University of Manchester, and Deborah R. Coen, Columbia University. The eight chapters of this book offer a set of fascinating snapshots of historical episodes suggesting a broad perspective on the manner in which humans have understood climate since the Enlightenment. While all of the essays were quite useful I found a few of them especially provocative. Well familiar with the work of William Herschel in astronomy, I was taken by Greg Good's analysis in chapter 2 of Herschel's climatic studies. Equally helpful were the two chapters by Roger Turner and Greg Cushman tying together the need for accurate weather prediction and the development of aviation in the Western Hemisphere. Cushman's linkage of atmospheric sciences and aviation technology to American colonial aspirations in the first half of the twentieth century is an especially intriguing idea that should not be accepted blindly but offers truly exciting prospects for future historical investigation.

Then there is perhaps the signature contribution of the volume, Fleming's "Global Climate Change and Human Agency: Inadvertent Influence and `Archimedean' Interventions," which comments on the nature of global climate change, and especially actions being debated in the public policy arena to counteract our warming planet. He discussed how some have advocated the use of giant sunshades in space or "geoengineering" with orbiting dust and other proposed countermeasures as countermeasures to the pattern of global warming that scientists warn about.

I was reminded in reading this essay of the remarks of Al Gore at the X-Prize Executive Summit that I attended on October 19, 2006. He said of these schemes, "In a word, I think it is nuts. If we don't know enough to stop putting 70 million tons of global warming pollution into the atmosphere every day, how in god's name can we know enough to precisely counteract that?" He had even stronger words for those who denied the reality of global warming. "Our planet has a rising fever. If the crib catches fire you don't say: `Hmmm, how fast is that crib going to burn? Has it ever burned before? Is my baby flame retardant?'"

I think Fleming also sees a similar danger in the public policy considerations of global climate change, noting that the proposed cure through geoengineering may be worse that the disease. Better would be invoking the first law of holes, when you are in one stop digging. As his analysis shows, continued pollution of our planet should be curtailed, stopped entirely in the near term, and counteracted in a more distant future.

This foray into public policy history and analysis is a welcome addition to an important and useful book. I congratulate all those responsible for the publication of this fine volume. I am certain that it will become an important benchmark in the historiography of climate change and weather studies.

A restless planet.(Earth: An Intimate History)(Book Review) : An article from: American Scientist

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A restless planet.(Earth: An Intimate History)(Book Review) : An article from: American Scientist
Michael Novacek
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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Average customer rating:

Earth-An Intimate History
Richard Fortey
Manufacturer: HarperPerennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O8R3S0

Amazon.com

In Candor and Perversion Roger Shattuck carries on two conversations. The more strident of the two, deceptively titled "Intellectual Craftsmanship," takes up the first section of this collection of essays and reviews. Here Shattuck engages in verbal fisticuffs with those who would mire the study of literature in the byzantine politics of identity and the arcane language of theory. Insisting that he's not a conservative, he instead gives himself the coy title of "conservationist." "Some of us," he writes, "have come to believe that it is possible, even necessary, to be liberal in political matters and conservationist in cultural matters." Shattuck lays bare the perceived dangers besetting the traditional literary scholar, and insists on the primacy of canonical texts in our universities: "In order to have a common frame of reference within which to reason together, I would argue that there are books everyone should read." Lest anyone think him extreme, he follows up quickly: "And we should never stop discussing which ones those are."

Ironically, Shattuck does more to support his position in the second half of his book, which is devoted to the practice of criticism. In two dozen book reviews and essays he engages in a passionate, learned, and imaginative conversation with the greats of Western civilization. This is a scholarship of compulsion: Shattuck returns again and again to key touchstones, such as Virginia Woolf's statement that "on or about December 1910 human character changed." His enthusiasms spawn new forms of criticism, such as his delightful fairy tale "The Story of Hans/Jean/Kaspar Arp," which tells of a child "born in Strasbourg with bright eyes, nice big ears, and a wonderful egg-shaped head. All his life, he liked egg-shaped things--clouds, pebbles, jars, fruits." Shattuck here is so worked up over Arp's art that he struggles to find a new critical shape to contain his joyful interest. Such lively writing does more to make his case for studying the so-called dead white males than all his polemics. --Claire Dederer

Book Description

With Candor and Perversion, Roger Shattuck has written the most complete assessment of the poxes that threaten our Western literary heritage. With incisive analysis, he elucidates the nature of intellectual craftsmanship, defends art's undeniable moral component, and, faced with an academic world shattered by theory, laments how extra-literary politics have grown increasingly dominant, now attempting to eliminate the very category of literature. Whether commenting on Foucault, Pulp Fiction, Georgia O'Keeffe, V.S. Naipaul, or the survival of a core tradition in the humanities, Shattuck presents a stirring synthesis of the principles and values by which we can live together as a nation finally at peace with its diversity. A Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year and a TLS Notable Book of 1999.

Customer Reviews:

Outstanding Essays on Culture, Literature and the Arts.......2002-04-23

"Candor & Perversion" collects nearly forty of Roger Shattuck's previously published essays on a broad range of topics in education, literature and the arts. Nearly all of these essays were published after 1985, predominantly in Salmagundi, The New York Review of Books and The New Republic. It is an outstanding collection of essays by a scholar of wide-ranging, thoughtful and sober intelligence.

The collection is divided into two parts. The first part, "Intellectual Craftsmanship," contains a series of polemical essays that deal with topics generally subsumed in recent years under the term "Culture Wars." In this part, Shattuck stakes out his position clearly in a number of essays dealing with the proper role of education and the importance of the canon. Thus, in the essay "Nineteen Theses on Literature," Shattuck states that, "we have brought ourselves to a great deal of perplexity about the basic role of education." This perplexity arises from the question of whether education's proper role should be "[to] socialize the young within an existing culture and offer them the means to succeed within that culture" or, in the alternative, "[to] give to the young the means to challenge and overthrow the existing culture, presumably in order to achieve a better life." Shattuck's response is in favor of the former, choosing a conservative view of education's role. In doing so, he essentially resolves this question consistent with a position he articulates in another of his essays, "Education, Higher and Lower," where he states that, "some of us have come to believe that it is possible, even necessary, to be liberal in political matters and conservationist in cultural matters."

These polemical pieces on the role of education are followed by a number of essays that explore such topics as "The Spiritual in Art," "How We Think at the Movies" (where he explores, among other things, whether thinking is possible without language), "Life Before Language: Nathalie Sarraute" (where he examines Sarraute's attempts to capture, in fiction, mental life as it exists before it "gets caught and stifled in the rough net of conventional language"), "Michel Foucault," and "Radical Skepticism and How We Got There." In all of these essays, Shattuck explores, with erudition and balance, a range of topics that have been prone in recent years to irrational polemics.

The second part of the collection, "A Critics Job of Work," contains essays that are best described as literary journalism. In a series of essays under the broad title "Tracking the Avant Guard in France," Shattuck explores the biographies and artistic significance of a range of artists and writers, including Marcel Duchamp, Hans Arp, Sarah Bernhardt, Pablo Picasso, and Jean Cocteau. The most telling of his essays in this part of the book is titled "From Aestheticism to Fascism," where Shattuck calmly proffers the lineage that ran from the "antinomian, decadent aestheticism" of the "art for art's sake" movement to the 'irrationalism, racism and nationalism that produced the most vicious and destructive aberration of modern times' in Germany and Italy.

The final essays in the collection are broadly grouped under the title "America, Africa and Elsewhere." Here, Shattuck explores a number of writers, including Mary Settle, Arthur Miller, Octavio Paz, V. S. Naipaul, and Leopold Senghor, as well as the artistic significance of the collaboration between Stieglitz and O'Keefe. These essays are wide ranging, insightful and balanced. The last of these essays, "Scandal and Stereotypes on Broadway: The New Puritanism," seemingly comes full circle from the opening essay of the book insofar as Shattuck reiterates his culturally conservative position in a stinging review of "Angels in America," stating that it was a play for which he was ashamed of himself for not having walked out. In Shattuck's words, the play "represents Puritanism inverted."

"Candor & Perversion" reaffirms Roger Shattuck's position as one of America's foremost cultural commentators. If you're interested in the polemics that have engulfed education, literature and the arts in the past decade, I can only say: read this book! You may not agree with Shattuck, but you will find his intelligent and careful reasoning regarding these issues a refreshing change from the often muddled and irrational posturing that characterizes much writing on these very important subjects.

Outstanding Essays on Education, Literature and the Arts.......2001-08-13

ýCandor & Perversioný collects nearly forty of Roger Shattuckýs previously published essays on a broad range of topics in education, literature and the arts. Nearly all of these essays were published after 1985, predominantly in ýSalmagundiý, ýThe New York Review of Booksý and ýThe New Republicý. It is an outstanding collection of essays by a scholar of wide-ranging, thoughtful and sober intelligence.

The collection is divided into two parts. The first part, ýIntellectual Craftsmanshipý, contains a series of polemical essays that deal with topics generally subsumed in recent years under the term ýCulture Warsý. In this part, Shattuck stakes out his position clearly in a number of essays dealing with the proper role of education and the importance of the canon. Thus, in the essay ýNineteen Theses on Literature,ý Shattuck states that, ýwe have brought ourselves to a great deal of perplexity about the basic role of education.ý This perplexity arises from the question of whether educationýs proper role should be ý[to] socialize the young within an existing culture and offer them the means to succeed within that cultureý or, in the alternative, ý[to] give to the young the means to challenge and overthrow the existing culture, presumably in order to achieve a better life.ý Shattuckýs response is in favor of the former, choosing a conservative view of educationýs role. In doing so, he essentially resolves this question consistent with a position he articulates in another of his essays, ýEducation, Higher and Lower,ý where he states that, ýsome of us have come to believe that it is possible, even necessary, to be liberal in political matters and conservationist in cultural matters.ý

These polemical pieces on the role of education are followed by a number of essays that explore such topics as ýThe Spiritual in Artý, ýHow We Think at the Moviesý (where he explores, among other things, whether thinking is possible without language), ýLife Before Language: Nathalie Sarrauteý (where he examines Sarrauteýs attempts to capture, in fiction, mental life as it exists before it ýgets caught and stifled in the rough net of conventional languageý), ýMichel Foucaultý, and ýRadical Skepticism and How We Got There.ý In all of these essays, Shattuck explores, with erudition and balance, a range of topics that have been prone in recent years to irrational polemics.

The second part of the collection, ýA Critics Job of Work,ý contains essays that are best described as literary journalism. In a series of essays under the broad title ýTracking the Avant Guard in France,ý Shattuck explores the biographies and artistic significance of a range of artists and writers, including Marcel Duchamp, Hans Arp, Sarah Bernhardt, Pablo Picasso, and Jean Cocteau. The most telling of his essays in this part of the book is titled ýFrom Aestheticism to Fascism,ý where Shattuck calmly proffers the lineage that ran from the ýantinomian, decadent aestheticismý of the ýart for artýs sakeý movement to the ýirrationalism, racism and nationalism that produced the most vicious and destructive aberration of modern timesý in Germany and Italy.

The final essays in the collection are broadly grouped under the title ýAmerica, Africa and Elsewhere.ý Here, Shattuck explores a number of writers, including Mary Settle, Arthur Miller, Octavio Paz, V. S. Naipaul, and Leopold Senghor, as well as the artistic significance of the collaboration between Stieglitz and OýKeefe. These essays are wide ranging, insightful and balanced. The last of these essays, ýScandal and Stereotypes on Broadway: The New Puritanismý, seemingly comes full circle from the opening essay of the book insofar as Shattuck reiterates his culturally conservative position in a stinging review of ýAngels in Americaý, stating that it was a play for which he was ashamed of himself for not having walked out. In Shattuckýs words, the play ýrepresents Puritanism inverted.ý

ýCandor & Perversioný reaffirms Roger Shattuckýs position as one of Americaýs foremost cultural commentators. If youýre interested in the polemics that have engulfed education, literature and the arts in the past decade, I can only say: read this book! You may not agree with Shattuck, but you will find his intelligent and careful reasoning regarding these issues a refreshing change from the often muddled and irrational posturing that characterizes much writing on these very important subjects.

Reason rendered eloquently.......1999-12-29

As with his previous works, such as FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE and THE INNOCENT EYE, Roger Shattuck manages to cover many topics in his new book. There is no thematic link between the essays--it is enough that Shattuck writes well about each subject. Shattuck is, along with William Pritchard, Denis Donoghue, and Andrew Delbanco, one of our most perspicacious and eloquent critics, as he is equally adept at analyzing a writer's words (such as in his essay on Mallarme's poetry) or a social phenomenon (such as in his essay "Radical Skepticisim and How We Got Here"). The clarity of his writing prompts one to question the value of the opaque prose produced by many academics in our age.

Absolutely wonderful collection of essays and critiques.......1999-11-01

This is a great book that attempts to see through our modern educational and literary theories in order to reach a more truthful and substantial way of thinking about how we educate the mind through reading, writing and literature.

This isn't a perfect book. At times Shattuck relies much too heavily on what I would call "crutch" artists (Marcel Proust and Jean Arp being two of them), and at other times he seems almost guilty of nepotism in his applauding of the work done by close friends. However, the overall success of the book is in opening the reader to entertain less mainstream or popularly-accepted ideas that eventually may bring about a better educational system and more engaging and critical readers of literature in America.

I don't feel the book is quite as revolutionary as the author expects, nor as "anti-pc" or "anti-liberal" as many readers might first suggest.

Instead, the book works best as a tool through which the reader is more fully exposed to the current debates on education, literature, and what it means for something to be "art" or for a person to be an "artist."

Average customer rating:
Candor and Perversion: Literature, Education and the Arts.
Roger Shattuck
Manufacturer: Shattuck, Roger. Candor and Perversion: Literature, Education and the Arts. NY: W.W. Norton, 1999. Quality paperback. 415pp. Fine condition.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000SJJR7U

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Candor and Perversion: Literature, Education, and the Arts
Roger Shattuck
Manufacturer: W W Norton & Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K1UJWS

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Candor and Perversion. Literature, Education, and the Arts
Roger Shattuck
Manufacturer: W.W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NUUNC2

Average customer rating:
Candor and Perversion: Literature, Education and the Arts.

Manufacturer: 0
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ICQW84

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