A History Of Geology - by Gabriel Gohau (Paperback)

About the Book

This book is by far the best history of geology available. It begins with the Greeks and ends with continental drift and plate tectonics. Gabriel Gohau also looks at the early theories of the formation of the world and then moves to philosophical debates over mountains, fossils, the Flood, volcanoes, and cycles of earth history that preoccupied the geologists and biologists of the late eighteenth and nineteenth century. After discussing the late nineteenth-century consolidation of theories about the mechanisms of changes in the earth, he concludes with an account of twentieth century geology's scientific revolution.

Book Synopsis

This book is by far the best history of geology available. It begins with the Greeks and ends with continental drift and plate tectonics. Gabriel Gohau also looks at the early theories of the formation of the world and then moves to philosophical debates over mountains, fossils, the Flood, volcanoes, and cycles of earth history that preoccupied the geologists and biologists of the late eighteenth and nineteenth century. After discussing the late nineteenth-century consolidation of theories about the mechanisms of changes in the earth, he concludes with an account of twentieth century geology's scientific revolution.

Review Quotes

Gohau explains, rather than recounts. Readers will be well-served by the author's care in setting the broader intellectual context that surrounded an idea or a person. Informative and stimulating at the same time...the book deserves a wide audience.--Kennard B. Bork "Earth Sciences History"

By far the best short introduction to the history of geology in print--or out of it, for that matter. There is simply no other one-volume introduction to the whole sweep of the history of geology that one can safely recommend to students. More than that, Gohau's perspective is refreshingly global. The English edition is more than just a translation: the Carozzis and the author have collaborated to clarify and expand the work and to include the notes omitted from the original French edition.--Martin Rudwick

Designed primarily with the student and general reader in mind...this...admirably compact and informative...account of the history of geology merits the attention of scholars as well. It succeeds both as a concise introduction to the subject and as an interpretive essay on some of its main themes.--Kenneth Taylor "Isis"

About the Author

GABRIEL GOHAU, an active member of the French Committee for the History of Geology, teaches science in St. Cloud, France. His Histoire de la géologie was originally published in a shorter version by Editions La Decouverte in 1987. The translators, Albert V. Carozzi and Marguerite Carozzi, are also distinguished historians of geology and the translators of many books on geology and its history. The translation has been supported by a grant from the French Ministry of Culture.