Bursting the Limits of Time - by Martin J S Rudwick (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In 1650, Archbishop James Ussher of Armagh joined the long-running theological debate on the age of the earth by famously announcing that creation had occurred on October 23, 4004 B.C. Although widely challenged during the Enlightenment, this belief in a six-thousand-year-old planet was only laid to rest during a revolution of discovery in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In this relatively brief period, geologists reconstructed the immensely long history of the earth-and the relatively recent arrival of human life. Highlighting a discovery that radically altered existing perceptions of a human's place in the universe as much as the theories of Copernicus, Darwin, and Freud did, Bursting the Limits of Time is a herculean effort by one of the world's foremost experts on the history of geology and paleontology to sketch this historicization of the natural world in the age of revolution.

Addressing this intellectual revolution for the first time, Rudwick examines the ideas and practices of earth scientists throughout the Western world to show how the story of what we now call "deep time" was pieced together. He explores who was responsible for the discovery of the earth's history, refutes the concept of a rift between science and religion in dating the earth, and details how the study of the history of the earth helped define a new branch of science called geology. Rooting his analysis in a detailed study of primary sources, Rudwick emphasizes the lasting importance of field- and museum-based research of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Bursting the Limits of Time, the culmination of more than three decades of research, is the first detailed account of this monumental phase in the history of science.

Review Quotes

"Bursting the Limits of Time is a massive work and is quite simply a masterpiece of science history. . . . The book should be obligatory for every geology and history of science library, and is a highly recommended companion for every civilized geologist who can carry an extra 2.4 kg in his rucksack."--Stephen Moorbath "Nature" (4/6/2006 12:00:00 AM)

"A magisterial work...a huge accomplishment--detailed, subtle, refined--and it is difficult to do justice here to the depth and breadth of its argument. It will surely stand as the definitive work on the topic for many years to come."--Naomi Oreskes "Science" (10/27/2006 12:00:00 AM)

"Martin Rudwick has written a chef d'oeuvre. . . . Bursting the Limits of Time is a monument of the early history of geology that puts all before it in the shade."--Charles C. Gillespie "Historical Studies in Natural Sciences"

"One of the most respected historians of science today, Rudwick has produced a masterfully written, splendidly researched, richly detailed, and superbly illustrated (no less than 175 plates!) work."--Keith R. Benson "History & Philosophy of Life Sciences"

"This is a masterful study by the world's foremost expert in the history of natural history . . . which deserves to be read by anyone interested in understanding the foundations of the modern historical sciences. . . . A short review cannot possibly do justice to the intricate, erudite, meticulously researched and immensely enjoyable history Rudwick weaves. . . . It is difficult to imagine a more impressive survey of genuinely 'big questions' in the origin of a modern scientific field, or a more appropriate statement of a life's work. . . . In every way, this is a truly magnificent book."--David Sepkoski "Reports of the National Center for Science Education"

"To describe Rudwick as 'scholarly' is rather like describing Mozart as 'musically talented.' He is omniscient, and it's greatly to be wished that this book becomes known beyond the ranks of historians of the recondite."--Richard Fortey "London Review of Books" (2/9/2006 12:00:00 AM)

"Martin J. S. Rudwick has provided a work of superb scholarship on thought related to processes...Many extensive and well-written passages expose popular mythologies that have resulted from prior oversimplification or distortion to become near dogma in geology and paleobiology. In a spirit of great fairness, by placing now-invalidated concepts into the contexts of the science of the day, Rudwick has defended the viewpoints of many who popularly came to be considered almost as buffoons. He has also shown in several cases how long-unrecognized, faulty translations of the original texts, or even inappropriate editorial alterations in citations, have led to sneeringly negative misrepresentations of individuals' abilities...Most of the text's illustrations are taken from archival drawings or maps characteristic of the time. The figures are aesthetically wonderful, well chosen, and their integration in the text is absolutely essential to full understanding of the points being made."--Jason A. Lillegraven "Eighteenth-Century Life"

"The first detailed account of the monumental phase in the history of science, when 18th- and early 19th-century earth scientists gradually pieced together the ideas of what we now call 'deep time.'"-- "History Today"

"This well written and richly illustrated book should appeal to historians and geologists alike, and it is indispensable for the historians of stratigraphy."-- "Geological Journal"

About the Author

Martin J. S. Rudwick is research associate in the department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and professor emeritus of history at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of The Meaning of Fossils, The Great Devonian Controversy, Scenes from Deep Time, and Georges Cuvier, all published by the University of Chicago Press.