The Earth: An Intimate History - Tapa dura

Praise for Richard Fortey’s work:

‘This is not a book for people who like science books. It is a book for people who love books, and life... [Fortey] has written a wonderful book.’
Tim Radford, Guardian

‘Read this book because it is, indeed, the best natural history of the first four billion years of life on earth.’
John Gribbin, Sunday Times

‘Fortey writes beautifully and this is a wonderful biography of rock and life... He has restored palaeontology to its rightful place in the pantheon.’
Lewis Wolpert, Observer

‘Richard Fortey is a scientist... but his big, rich history of four billion years of evolution is written with an artist’s zest for life and language... Anyone who wants to understand how we came to be here on earth, 4,000,000,000 years after life began, should read this sparkling book.’
Maggie Gee, Daily Telegraph

From the early reviews of Earth: An Intimate History

‘A dazzling voyage of telluric discovery... it is greatly to Fortey’s credit, as both scientist and writer, that he has been able to piece together such a readable and coherent survey of this vast and disparate subject. The Earth is a true delight: full of awe-inspiring details... it blends travel, history, reportage and science to creat an unforgettable picture of our ancient earth.’ Sunday Times

‘A dazzling achievement. Richard Fortey is without peer among science writers.' Bill Bryson

‘The Earth is a true delight: full of awe-inspiring details... it blends travel, history, reportage and science to create an unforgettable picture of our ancient earth.’ Sunday Times

The face of the Earth, criss-crossed by chains of mountains like the scars of old wounds has changed constantly over billions of years, and the testament of the remote past is all around us.

In this book, Richard Fortey teaches us how to read its character, laying out the dominions of the world before us. He shows how everything – human culture, natural history, even the shape of cities – roots back to a deeper geological truth. Far from being the driest of sciences, he proves that geology informs all our lives in the most intimate way.

Nothing in this book seems to be at rest. The surface of the Earth dilates and collapses; seas and mountains rise and fall; continents move. We climb the Alps, wallow in Icelandic hot springs, dive down to the ocean floor; we explore the barren rocks of Newfoundland, walk through the lush ecosystems of Hawaii, cross the salt flats of Oman and saunter along the San Andreas Fault. And Fortey is the ideal guide, his descriptions of natural beauty as memorable as the best travel-writers, his prose as gripping as the best novelist, his crystal-clear scientific explanations fascinating and often surprising.