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Revolutions in the Earth: James Hutton and the True Age of the World [Paperback]

Stephen Baxter (Author)

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Book Description

Publication Date: 5 Feb 2004
In 1650, the theologian and scholar Bishop James Ussher announced that the world was created on 23rd October 4004 BC. This date had been carefully calculated by adding together all the ages and reigns of the monarchs recorded in the Bible. In the late eighteenth century, James Hutton set out to prove him wrong. A gentleman farmer with legal and medical training, Hutton was fascinated by the natural landscape and in particular by rock formations. He was also surrounded by some of the most brilliant men of his day - Erasmus Darwin, Adam Smith, James Watt and David Hume. Looking at the irregular strata in the layers of the earth, Hutton deduced that the world must be much, much older than Ussher's prediction. His revelation was blasphemy - but it was also one of the most extraordinary defining moments in history, forming the framework for Darwin's theory of evolution, and shaping our modern view of the world and our place in it.

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Review

We are setting a late June press date for this title, and have already confirmed - appearance at the Edinburgh Festival. The author has been involved in several public awareness projects connected with the June 2 lift off of the British Mars spaceprobe Beagle 2, and as he says "If there is life on Mars it must be part of a planetary biosphere, a Martian 'Gaia'. Beagle 2 will look for Mars's Gaia, for example by studying its atmosphere. Hutton's theory of the Earth was based on ideas of a living, self-sustaining planet remarkably like modern 'Gaia' ideas, 200 years ahead of their time. Hutton would surely have been thrilled to see Beagle 2 journeying to test these ideas on a new world." More news on reviews - which include NEW SCIENTIST - and interviews to foll --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Published in more than 20 countries, the winner of the Arthur C. Clarke award and numerous foreign language awards, Stephen Baxter was born in Liverpool in 1958 and now lives in Great Missenden with his wife.
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First Sentence
On a bright summer day in 1788, James Hutton and two close friends took a boat trip to Siccar Point, a sea cliff on Scotland's eastern coast. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Amazon.com: 4.5 out of 5 stars  2 reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars well done 2 Aug 2008
By Kilchomin - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
This is a very, very good book -- its combination of Hutton's philosophy of knowledge with his theory of the Earth is a great step in the right direction -- the first in a popular book cencerning Hutton. It aslo places Hutton in his intellectual millieu really well.
5.0 out of 5 stars A Great scientific biography 5 April 2008
By I. Carmichael - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Baxter shows all his narrative and novelistic skill in this wonderful sketch of the life and thoughts of James Hutton.
He adroitly sets the scene with a very full account of Ussher's biblical chronology for the world - against which 'modern' geology strained to progress.
We learn about Hutton, the agricultural innovator, as well as Hutton, the natural law thinker and Hutton the scientific observer.
Shot though the narrative are glimpses of Edinburgh and the Scottish Enlightenment, with compact yet substantial portraits of Hutton's contemporaries and colleagues - such as Hume, Playfair, Watt. And his opponents, Werner and Kirwan.
Finally the book concludes with the work of Playfair and Lyell and some snippets to bring events up to date.
Overall, if you want a readable, sensible, thorough biography which does justice to the man, the age and the science, this is an excellent one.
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