The History of the Earth in 25 Stones. Geological Mysteries and the People Who Solved Them

An exciting story of how geological knowledge related to our planet was obtained step by step: how its age, composition, and 'character' were determined, and how deep processes were revealed. Each of the 25 chapters of the book describes how... geologists, paleontologists, and oceanologists sought answers to their questions within the Earth's crust, in volcanic craters, at the very bottom of the World Ocean, in hard-to-reach mountains, canyons, icy deserts, and even in space. In the preface, Proto compares the work of a geological scientist to that of a forensics expert, and then elaborates on this comparison, showing the painstaking process of reconstructing a complete picture of a distant past from the smallest details, singular traces, and random imprints, separated from us by the abyss of geological time.