Customer Reviews

Origins: The Evolution of Continents, Oceans and Life

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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.

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."

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)

Although I'm a scientist and I love the outdoors, I had only a rudimentary knowledge of geology/earth sciences before reading this book. Origins interweaves the history of the earth's continents, climate, and the evolution of life, and explains with clarity how they are interconnected. A running theme is that change has been, and will remain, a hallmark of our planet. Continents move. Ice advances and retreats. And life is always adapting.

The issue of man-made climate change is touched upon, but Redfern's primary goal is to elucidate the inevitable longer-term forces at play. For instance, it is nearly certain that Earth will re-enter a glacial period within the next couple of thousand years -- a tiny time frame by geological standards.

But, what makes this book truly compelling is the photography. The author utilizes dramatic landscape (and ice-scape) photography to tell the story of Earth's history. Origins serves as a non-technical science book AND a beautiful piece of art for the coffee table.

And, no, I have no connection to the author. I'm just very impressed with this book.

This is a gorgeous book full of extraordinary photography that actually explains earthquakes and volcanoes in a way that people who are not trained geologists can understand. As a book, you might think that this would be no big deal to find, but actually virtually everything on the subject are college textbooks, written for 8th graders, or professional texts written for other professionals. I was kind of shocked to discover how very little there is available for people who just want to know the mechanics of tectonics. This book is not only uniquely perfect to do the job (and sadly is going out of print very soon), but ia beautiful. There is, incidentally, excellent materials available through the Smithsonian Institution. That is just about all that is available for interested amateurs. I think there must be many people, in the wake of the catastrophic quake in Japan, who are looking for more informaiton on this subject. If you are one of these people, this book is a must. Check the Smitsonian's site at [...] for additional materials.

One of many subjects treated here is the initial colonization of the New World, which has been the subject of often vitriolic scholarly debate for the past two decades. In this book Ron Redfern has managed to distill the essence of that debate in a highly readable fashion and shows how new data has dramatically altered our previous reconstructions of the timing and modes of arrival and dispersal of the first Americans. As always, the environment remains the dynamic stage upon which the prehistoric actors of antiquity operated-a theme which permeates the entire volume.
Prof. James M. Adovasio: Exec.Director: Mercyhurst Archeological Institute: Erie, PN

This is, without doubt, the best review of plate tectonics yet published. I'm surprised that more has not been popularly written about this subject than has been.