Earth Science History

Timothy and Ata were not sure what they would find when they went searching through the old dusty volumes of the true Histories of Earth, but now they seem to have created an unstoppable chain of events, and they and Barbara are now stuck in the middle. The Worlds are not as they should be. There is a new danger brewing that will bring the Light Travelers to the outer reaches of our galaxy and back again. All the Worlds of Men are now at risk, and not just Earth.

Rivers, more than any road, technology, or political leader, have shaped the course of human civilization. They have opened frontiers, founded cities, settled borders, and fed billions. They promote life, forge peace, grant power, and can capriciously destroy everything in their path. Even today, rivers remain a powerful global force - one that is more critical than ever to our future. In Rivers of Power, geographer Laurence C. Smith explores the timeless yet underappreciated relationship between rivers and civilization as we know it.

In late April 1902, Mount Pelee, a volcano on the Caribbean island Martinique, began to wake up. It emitted clouds of ash and smoke for two weeks until violently erupting on May 8. Over 30,000 residents of St. Pierre were killed; they burned to death under rivers of hot lava and suffocated under pounds of hot ash. Only three people managed to survive: a prisoner trapped in a dungeon-like jail cell, a man on the outskirts of town, and a young girl found floating unconscious in a boat days later.

Dive into a whirlwind of mind-bending trivia and say hello to unforgettable conversations without ever leaving the comfort of your armchair! Are you constantly searching for facts that will astound your friends and family? Are you eager to explore the world's oddities yet overwhelmed by dull, dry, and jargon-filled resources? If any of these questions ring true, rest assured that your quest for a perfect treasure trove of mind candy and factoids is inside this crazy-fun book!

Here is the extraordinary story of the unfolding of life on Earth, told by Michael J. Benton, a world-renowned authority on biodiversity. Ranging over four billion years, Benton weaves together the latest findings on fossils, earth history, evolutionary biology, and many other fields to highlight the great leaps that enabled life to evolve from microbe to human - big breakthroughs that made whole new ways of life possible - including cell division and multicellularity, hard skeletons, the move to land, the origin of forests, the move to the air.

Ambassadors from Earth relates the story of the first unmanned space probes and planetary explorers - from the Sputnik and Explorer satellites launched in the late 1950's to the thrilling interstellar Voyager missions of the '70's - that yielded some of the most celebrated successes and spectacular failures of the space age. Jay Gallentine delivers a quirky and unforgettable look at the lives and legacy of the Americans and Soviets who conceived, built, and guided those unmanned missions to the planets and beyond.

Big Bone Lick: The Cradle of American Paleontology recounts the rich history of the fossil site that gave the world the first evidence of the extinction of several mammalian species, including the American mastodon. Big Bone Lick has played many roles: nutrient source, hallowed ground, salt mine, health spa, and a rich trove of wonders. Stanley Hedeen presents a comprehensive narrative of Big Bone Lick from its geological formation forward, explaining why the site attracted animals, regional tribespeople, European explorers and scientists, and eventually American pioneers.

If only the dangers of light travel could be contained within one world. It was easier and safer that way, when our families and the ones that we love were not at risk. But after nearly a year's time, back on Earth, these dangers are beginning again, with a deadly malice. “They” are after Timothy and the rest of the group of light travelers: an unknown enemy who could be anyone or everyone, and all that Timothy has to go on is a note given to him by a mysterious vanishing boy.

In Tibet, geologist David R. Montgomery heard a local story about a great flood that bore a striking similarity to Noah’s Flood. Intrigued, Montgomery began investigating theworld’s flood stories and - drawing from historic works by theologians, natural philosophers, and scientists - discovered the counterintuitive role Noah’s Flood played in the development of both geology and creationism.

This Introduction audiobook explores emerging geological research and explains how new advances in the understanding of plate tectonics, seismology, and satellite imagery have enabled us to begin to see the Earth as it actually is: dynamic and ever-changing.

In this fascinating follow-up to his New York Times bestseller Wilderness Warrior, acclaimed historian Douglas Brinkley offers a riveting, expansive look at the past and present battle to preserve Alaska’s wilderness. Brinkley explores the colorful diversity of Alaska’s wildlife, arrays the...

Mass Extinction Number 6: The End of Our Time on Earth is a sobering and powerful exploration of the ongoing ecological collapse unfolding in the 21st century—a catastrophe not caused by an asteroid or supervolcano, but by us. In the tradition of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction, Ronald Baldwin brings a unique blend of investigative clarity, emotional urgency, and narrative power to this stark warning about humanity’s role in triggering the sixth mass extinction event in Earth’s history.

Published in 1961, the year of Frantz Fanon's death, The Wretched of the Earth is both a powerful analysis of the psychological effects of colonization and a rallying cry for violent uprising and independence. The book rejects colonial assumptions that the people of colonized countries need to be guided by their European colonizers because they are somehow less evolved or civilized. Fanon argues that violence is justified to purge colonialism not just from the countries themselves, but from the very souls of their inhabitants.

Earth is embroiled in its sixth major extinction event—this time caused not by asteroids or volcanos, but by us. At bottom, preventing this sixth extinction is a spiritual and philosophical problem, for it is the assumptions defining us and our relation to earth that are driving the devastation. Those assumptions insist on a fundamental separation of human and earth that devalues earth and enables our exploitative relation to it.

The time of the Great Exodus is over. Centuries have passed. Earth is overpopulated, and the fate of the colonists who traveled to the stars is unknown. An attempt to start the second wave of expansion has led to a shocking discovery: All accessible planets located within one hyperjump from the Solar System have been settled during the Great Exodus. The colonists have created unique and distinctive civilizations - but none of that matters when the survival of billions of Terrans is at stake.

Este libro es mucho más que una simple colección de datos; es una puerta a las maravillas ocultas del conocimiento. A través de sus páginas, descubrirás hechos tan asombrosos como inesperados, que te harán repensar lo que crees saber sobre el mundo. Cada curiosidad está diseñada para despertar tu imaginación y ofrecerte una nueva perspectiva sobre el mundo que nos rodea. Si alguna vez te has preguntado por qué ciertos patrones se repiten en la naturaleza o cómo ciertos eventos históricos cambiaron el curso de la humanidad, aquí encontrarás respuestas que te sorprenderán.

Himalaya is one of the world's most extraordinary geophysical, historical, environmental and social regions. Historian John Keay introduces us to the myriad mysteries of this vast, confounding and utterly fascinating corner of the planet, and makes the case that it is one of our most essential—and endangered—wonders. For centuries, Himalaya has captivated an illustrious succession of admirers, from explorers, surveyors and sportsmen, to botanists and zoologists, ethnologists and geologists, missionaries and mountaineers.

The complete story of snow, this is the first book to fully examine snow as a historical, cultural, and scientific phenomenon. From "Winter Wonderland" to "Snowmageddon," we've had a long, love-hate relationship with snow. This entertaining look at snow in all its delightful and fearsome manifestations delves into science, history, economics, and popular culture to examine snow's enduring hold on the imagination. Through profiles and anecdotes, the author discusses the reactions throughout history to snowfall.

Since the publication of her prize-winning memoir, Craft for a Dry Lake, writer and artist Kim Mahood has been returning to the Tanami desert country in far north-western Australia where, as a child, she lived with her family on a remote cattle station. The land is timeless, but much has changed: the station has been handed back to its traditional owners, the mining companies have arrived and Aboriginal art has flourished.

In the old, abandoned Greyford house on the outskirts of the Mayfield School for Girls, Delany would be completely and purposefully alone...or so she thought. Yet there was more to this house than first met the eye: There were secret passages and hidden treasures, lost and forgotten with the passing of time, and a room...a fantastic and otherworldly sort of room, which she had decided to call "the Window Room". This is a story about the dangerous and mysterious adventures she found there.