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Origins: The Evolution of Continents, Oceans and Life
 
 
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Origins: The Evolution of Continents, Oceans and Life [Hardcover]

Ron Redfern (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

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Book Description

November 2001
Changes in climate and sea level are nothing new - over the last 700 million years, the Earth has been slowly but constantly changing from within. We now know that our planet's surface, far from being fixed or stable, is composed of tectonic plates in continual movement, drifting in oceans which themselves appear and disappear over millennia. Such insecurity lies at the heart of both the physical and the living world, providing the creative impetus for all life forms to confront change, adapt and evolve.

This exceptional book celebrates the inevitability of global change and highlights our need as human beings to recognize and adjust to it. Its entertaining and accessible text displays a remarkable breadth and diversity of knowledge, drawing upon discoveries in natural history, geology, geography and paleontology to unravel secrets of millions of years. Its unique structure offers the opportunity to pursue two distinct but parallel narratives in one volume - the first characterized by discrete photo-essay spreads, and the second by authoritative running text illustrated with clearly numbered icons. Designed either to be browsed through like a website or read in chronological sequence, each chapter provides a fascinating glimpse into the formation and development of our world.

Glorious panoramic photography by the author, a specialist in interpretive landscape, reveals the physical legacy of the Earth s distant past. This intriguing exploration of key sites, often remote and inaccessible, provides a clear and original perspective on the Earth as a dynamic, interactive planet. The compelling narrative by a bestselling science writer places the history of our planet in a challenging contemporary context in which human beings, like all living things, must embrace change or fail to survive.


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Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Ron Redfern has received a number of prestigious literary and academic awards, including the American Institute of Professional Geologists' Outstanding Achievement Award.

About the Author

As a science writer Ron Redfern has received a number of prestigious literary and academic awards, perhaps most notably the American Institute of Professional Geologists' Outstanding Achievement Award. This was presented to him before his permanent return to England in 1996. The award was in recognition of his contribution to the public understanding in science.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 360 pages
  • Publisher: Univ of Oklahoma Pr (Trd) (November 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0806133597
  • ISBN-13: 978-0806133591
  • Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 10.6 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 4.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #304,074 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Like being there through words and pictures, April 2, 2008
By 
A. G. Sanchez (Golden, Co. USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Origins: The Evolution of Continents, Oceans and Life (Hardcover)
I can't add anymore about content than what has already been said. This is an excellent introduction to anyone interested in the Plate Tectonic history of the Earth.

The narrative along with the excellent images went a long way in helping clarify the dance that the continents have been doing for the last 4.6 billion years.

I kept an Earth globe with me along with several other paleo-maps I've collected over the years. They all helped in keeping track of what the author was refering to in each chapter.

I'm really glad that he took the time in laying out the early part of the Earth's geologic history and made only a fairly brief mention of mans time on the planet. It could have been even shorter that it was, but for the most part he kept it reasonable.

I am a retired USGS Geologist/Scientific Illustrator, and have read and Illustrated many USGS publications. I only wish I could have been involved in the preparation of this book.
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29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Value of Redfern's Origins, September 17, 2001
By 
This review is from: Origins: The Evolution of Continents, Oceans and Life (Hardcover)
I write on behalf of the curator of our C. Warren Irvin Jr Collection of Charles Darwin:
"The book has two sections which are interposed: 1. the text is exceptionally well done, and the glossary is extremely valuable for those not completely famniliar with geology and the formation of continents, etc. 2. the photography is the best that I (the curator) has ever seen in a book of this type. It in itself is worth the price of the volume. Anyone who reads this book will come away enlightened and will enjoy thinking and reviewing in his mind both words and pictures."
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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Unique Approach to Earth Systems Understanding, January 5, 2002
By 
This review is from: Origins: The Evolution of Continents, Oceans and Life (Hardcover)
I have had the priveledge of close association with the author, Ron Redfern, throughout the writing, organization and photographic activities that support this publication. In a career of geology-based endeavors, I have never enjoyed a more unique, thorough and emminently readable portrayal of the interlocking sciences that result in the Earth's evolutionary history. This is a complex subject. However, the author has made the 700 million year trip a pleasure. The beautiful, panoramic photography, the interweaving of summary-level essays, and meticulously time-based text, lavishly supported by color illustrations, gives the reader a multi-disciplinary view of not only our planet's geologic evolution, but also its close association with meteorological events and the evolution of life. The reader will want to read and re-read this book. A wonderful adventure, every time, with new perspectives of "how things work" discovered on each page.

M.M. Thacker
Geologist

President, the La Mancha Company (consulting)

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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
Some 19th-century geologists believed that in the distant past continents in the Southern Hemisphere had been linked by land-bridges. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
scafloor spreading, important index fossils, present ice age, tectonic science, epipelagic zone, displaced terranes, continental elements, amniote egg, bolide impact, crustal extension, modern continents, epicontinental seas, inset picture, continental separation, last glacial age, interior seaway, early dinosaurs, rift system, mantle plume, carbonate platform, coal forests, basement rocks, ocean crust, global sea level, pillow lavas
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
North America, North Atlantic, Central Pangea, South America, Pacific Ocean, Iapetus Ocean, South Atlantic, Tethys Ocean, Arctic Ocean, Nova Scotia, Gulf of Mexico, British Isles, North Pole, Central Pangca, Great Basin, Isthmus of Panama, Nordic Sea, Ellesmere Island, Gulf Stream, Canadian High Arctic, Cenozoic Ice Age, Southern Hemisphere, Great Glen, Labrador Sea, Late Cretaceous
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