Overview

A rich and exuberant group biography of the early geologists, the people who were first to excavate from the layers of the world its buried history. The birth of geology was fostered initially by gentlemen whose wealth supported their interests, but in the nineteenth century, it was advanced by clergymen, academics, and women whose findings expanded the field. Reading the Rocks brings to life this eclectic cast of characters who brought passion, eccentricity, and towering intellect to the discovery of how Earth was formed. Geology opened a window on the planet's ancient past. Contrary to the Book of Genesis, the rocks and fossils dug up showed that Earth was immeasurably old. Moreover, fossil evidence revealed progressive changes in life forms. It is no coincidence that Charles Darwin was a keen geologist. Acclaimed biographer and science writer Brenda Maddox's story goes beyond William Smith, the father of English geology; Charles Lyell, the father of modern geology; and James Hutton, whose analysis of rock layers unveiled what is now called ""deep time."" She also explores the livesof fossil hunter Mary Anning, the Reverend William Buckland, Darwin, and many others--their triumphs and disappointments, and the theological, philosophical, and scientific debates their findings provoked. Reading the Rocks illustrates in absorbing and revelatory details how this group of early geologists changed irrevocably our understanding of the world.

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9781632869128

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Maddox does justice to her subject as only the best biographers can. - Los Angeles Times Book Review on THE DARK LADY OF DNA Lively, absorbing and even handed . . . What emerges is the complex portrait of a passionate, flawed, courageous woman. - The Washington Post Book World on THE DARK LADY OF DNA Thoughtful and engaging. - Chicago Tribune on THE DARK LADY OF DNA -Maddox does justice to her subject as only the best biographers can.- - Los Angeles Times Book Review on THE DARK LADY OF DNA-Lively, absorbing and even handed . . . What emerges is the complex portrait of a passionate, flawed, courageous woman.- - The Washington Post Book World on THE DARK LADY OF DNA-Thoughtful and engaging.- - Chicago Tribune on THE DARK LADY OF DNA

-Maddox does justice to her subject as only the best biographers can.- - Los Angeles Times Book Review on THE DARK LADY OF DNA-Lively, absorbing and even handed . . . What emerges is the complex portrait of a passionate, flawed, courageous woman.- - The Washington Post Book World on THE DARK LADY OF DNA-Thoughtful and engaging.- - Chicago Tribune on THE DARK LADY OF DNA

Author Information

Brenda Maddox has a degree in English literature from Harvard University and studied at the London School of Economics. Her biographies of Elizabeth Taylor, D. H. Lawrence, Nora Joyce, W. B. Yeats, and Rosalind Franklin have been widely acclaimed. She has won the Los Angeles Times Biography Award, the Silver PEN Award, the French Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, and the Whitbread Biography Prize. She lives in London, England.

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