{"product_id":"worlds-before-adam-martin-j-s-rudwick-9780226731285","title":"Worlds Before Adam: The Reconstruction of Geohistory in the Age of Reform","description":"In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, scientists reconstructed the immensely long history of the earth-and the relatively recent arrival of human life. The geologists of the period, many of whom were devout believers, agreed about this vast timescale. But despite this apparent harmony between geology and Genesis, these scientists still debated a great many questions: Had the earth cooled from its origin as a fiery ball in space, or had it always been the same kind of place as it is now? Was prehuman life marked by mass extinctions, or had fauna and flora changed slowly over time? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The first detailed account of the reconstruction of prehuman geohistory, Martin J. S. Rudwick's \u003ci\u003eWorlds Before Adam\u003c\/i\u003e picks up where his celebrated \u003ci\u003eBursting the Limits of Time\u003c\/i\u003e leaves off. Here, Rudwick takes readers from the post-Napoleonic Restoration in Europe to the early years of Britain's Victorian age, chronicling the staggering discoveries geologists made during the period: the unearthing of the first dinosaur fossils, the glacial theory of the last ice age, and the meaning of igneous rocks, among others. Ultimately, Rudwick reveals geology to be the first of the sciences to investigate the historical dimension of nature, a model that Charles Darwin used in developing his evolutionary theory. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Featuring an international cast of colorful characters, with Georges Cuvier and Charles Lyell playing major roles and Darwin appearing as a young geologist, \u003ci\u003eWorlds Before Adam\u003c\/i\u003e is a worthy successor to Rudwick's magisterial first volume. Completing the highly readable narrative of one of the most momentous changes in human understanding of our place in the natural world, \u003ci\u003eWorlds Before Adam\u003c\/i\u003e is a capstone to the career of one of the world's leading historians of science.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Martin J. S. Rudwick\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0226731286\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780226731285\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Chicago Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/01\/2008\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 648\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 4.27lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 10.05h x 7.44w x 1.73d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAward:\u003c\/b\u003e L.A. Times Book Prize - Finalist\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eScience\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/12\/2008 pg. 1447","brand":"Martin J. S. Rudwick","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44056657166591,"sku":"9780226731285","price":81.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_1af6c825-4c6a-4e8d-a7f6-e96eac757f09.jpg?v=1685042539","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/worlds-before-adam-martin-j-s-rudwick-9780226731285","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}