Overview

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 been resolved. 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.

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9780198582199

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Reviews

'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 this book 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 prevent us 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 Today. From 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

From reviews of the first edition: Spirited, highly recommended. --New Scientist<br> A book of value and interest to all shades of Earth scientists and it's a very good read. --Geological Magazine<br> An impressively broad and lively demonstration of scholarship. . .a book of interest to geologists, other scientists, and the public. --Geology<br> A learned and thorough discussion. . .full of lengthy but very relevant quotations [presenting] a very careful examination of contrasting views rather than the over-simplified versions we usually find in the literature. --Nature<br> Cliches and standard interpretations are challenged and successfully discarded, and in their place a revisionism is boldly presented. The narrative is stimulating. . . .No self-respecting academic library should fail to purchase this book. --Choice<br> At last, here is a history for geologists which doesn't caricature Werner as an obscurantist Germanic dogmatist, but appreciates his pioneering lithological classifications. . . .this assured and vigorous book is most welcome. We are lucky to have geologists like Professor Hallam who do not toy with history merely as an after-dinner diversion. --Times Literary Supplement<br> An admirable book; I found it absorbingly interesting. --Sir Peter Medawar<br> A thoughtful and carefully crafted, adequately footnoted, scholarly work... I gained new insights from each chapter. --Science<br> (on the 2nd ed.) This collection of case studies. . . is a most welcome addition to this important field. . . It is likely to appeal particularly to geologists but it is, for the most part, generally accessible and intrinsically interesting as a survey of the majorchanges in geological thought from the 18th century to the present. --History of Earth Sciences Society<br> . . . as a source of seminar material for advanced students, as well as for their own use, instructors will continue to find Hallam's new edition a convenient reference summarizing the major controversies in the history of geology, expanded and strengthened by the addition of its two new chapters. --Journal of Geological Education<br>

'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 this book 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 prevent us 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 Today. From 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

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