Mysteries of terra firma (aláírt példány) [antikvár]

Prologue"YOU CAN OBSERVE A LOT BY WATCHING," said Yogi Berra. (Of course, he also said, "I really didn't say everything I said.") As the science of geology evolved during the nineteenth century, pioneer geologists lacked the tools to do more than observe the earth. But just "watching," in real time, hides most of Earth's mysteries. Careful study of rock layers did allow geologists to estimate the age of the earth in millions of years, but its true age, which measures in the billions, escaped them. Many careers spent observing failed to reveal that giant, continuously moving plates segment the earth's exterior. And in all of human history, no one has ever seen a meteorite fall from the sky and create a crater, providing no apparent reason to believe that meteorite impact has been an important geologic agent. All these discoveries had to await the arrival of the twentieth century and the invention and application of new tools for understanding Earth.Of course, the revolutionary discoveries of the last century do not explain the meaning of our existence: that must be left to religion and philosophy. But the revolutionary findings of geology do place our planet and our species in time and space. They provide the ground truth with which any philosophy must reckon.The Greeks believed that the moon and planets are made of shimmering crystal. But in 1609, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), havingix