Perilous Planet Earth: Catastrophes and Catastrophism through the Ages [Hardcover]

Trevor Palmer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 7, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0521819288 | ISBN-13: 978-0521819282

Reviewing our present concerns about the threat from natural disasters, such as asteroids and immense volcanic eruptions, within the context of history, this volume is written at a level that interests academics as well as general readers. It explains how catastrophic events have influenced the course of evolution in the distant past, and the rise and fall of civilizations in more recent times. Trevor Palmer argues that a better understanding of the past will allow humanity to take appropriate action to preserve civilization for the future.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Review of the hardback: '... written in a style that is at once dispassionate and engaging ... Ranging, as it does, over several related disciplines, this book will undoubtedly appeal to both amateurs and academics alike.' Astronomy & Space

Review of the hardback: 'This is a very thorough, detailed and up to date book ... It covers many aspects of science from geology, evolution and astronomy through to history and social anthropology ... For anyone studying the subject this is a 'must have' reference book, it brings many ideas and theories together and then shows you where to go for more information. I don't think there's much it doesn't cover.' Open University Geological Society Journal

Review of the hardback: '... Palmer manages to steer even-handedly through the opposing territories of catastrophist and gradualist paradigms and, in doing so, illuminates one of the most enduring currents of human thought.' Times Higher Education Supplement

Review of the hardback: 'A veritable encyclopaedia of disasters that have beset our planet from prehistoric times up to the present, this book is presented in an informative style that demands to be read ... a cracking read.' Astronomy Now

Review of the hardback: 'This original and ambitious book will attract several different audiences. ... The student will find this a detailed, yet friendly volume and will be encouraged by the scope it provides ... lecturers will be able to use the well-researched histories of the theoretical foundation for these scientific case studies, which are presented in an interesting and up-to-date research context, to coax undergraduates to do some serious thinking about the science they are engaged in. For the general reader, too, the book has plenty to offer ... Palmer is an erudite and informed guide through the highways and byways into the perils of this planet and our attempts to understand them.' The Holocene

Book Description

Perilous Planet Earth places our present concerns about the threat from natural distasters, such as asteroids and immense volcanic eruptions, within the context of history. Written at a level that will interest both academics and general readers, it explains how catastrophic events have influenced the course of evolution in the distant past, as well as the rise and fall of civilisations in more recent times. Professor Palmer argues that a better understanding of our past will allow us to take appropriate action to preserve our civilisation for the future.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 532 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (July 7, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521819288
• ISBN-13: 978-0521819282
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,662,630 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Neither good science nor good history of science, really, September 29, 2005

By 

Christine M. Janis (Providence RI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Perilous Planet Earth: Catastrophes and Catastrophism through the Ages (Hardcover)

This book was recommended reading for an independent studies course in "Dinosaurs in Science and Culture" for which I had agreed to be a faculty consultant. I initially had high hopes for this book, as it purported to look at an interesting topic: the history of catastrophic ideas in science, starting from the catastrophic views from a religious perspective that dominated pre 19th century science, moving on to the post-Lyellian scientific dogmatism of uniformitarianism, the catastrophic views from outside of mainstream science that came into popularity during the mid 20th century (e.g., the sinking of Atlantis, Velikovsky, etc.), and finally the surge of neocatastrophic thinking in the past few decades with the rise views among the scientific establishment that extraterrestrial events could play a role in organismal extinctions.

However, while I found the earlier part of the book interesting, if a little pedantic (but note that I have no special expertise in this area besides a vague familiarity, and memories of reading Velikovsky as a teenager), I was deeply disappointed in the coverage of the more recent events. As someone Who Was There, the coverage is neither a good scientific synthesis, nor a good history of the science, but instead a rather bland recitation of various views garnered primarily from secondary or tertiary sources (such as "The Book of Life"). I will admit that Palmer lays out the astronomical backing to the changes in paleontological thought quite well ---- the increases in 20th century of our understanding of astronomical events that could led to earthly catastrophes (evidence of comet-causing craters on the earth, the moon, and other planets, and knowledge of the vast array of junk circulating within our solar system). But the coverage of the paleontology is mediocre, at best.

For a start, the text throughout is peppered with illustrations of some of the major players (from Plato, through Cuvier, to Raup). But these depictions are, except in some rare exceptions of the author's own photos, drawings made from oft-published photographs (at least for the 20th century players) that bear an uncanny resemblence to the images constructed from those "etch-a-sketch" boxes that you see in shopping malls. Is this because the author (or the publisher) did not want to pay for the photographic copyrights?

These illustrations lead one to believe that the author will consider the role of the various personalities in the history of the ideas, but this far from the case. OK, so one can't go and interview Lyell, but one can certainly interview some of the modern scientists (or people who knew them). One reads about various players in the extinction debates as if they were mere ciphers in the production of scientific facts. We are given no notion of how personalities shaped the role of scientific advancements. Palmer's ignorance of who the scientists actually were as players in the history of neocatastrophism is perhaps best illustrated by his referral to Jack Sepkoski (the paleobiologist whose database and statistical analysis was so vital to the growth of present-day ideas about extinction events, see comments below) as "John Sepkoski" ---- this is akin to writing a treatise on the history of rock-and-roll and referring to "Mike Jagger".

If this test fails as a good history of science document, it also fails as a good account of the science. The chapters on mass extinctions, especially the end Cretaceous one, issues relating to dinosaur extinction, lack the appreciation that dinosaurs are among the least of the problems in understanding this event, and that explanations that fail to also account for the decimation of marine life (especially the plankton) are largely worthless. Palmer is also apparently unaware of how problems with fossil sampling lead to considerable problems in interpreting any information that can be gleaned from the geological record.

Finally, the fact that Palmer fails to fully appreciate the biological side (versus of the astronomical side) of events leading up to the acceptance of neocatastrophism in paleontology is best illustrated by his placement of the chapter on "Cyclic Processes and Mass Extinctions" in a completely different, subsequent, section to the one that contains the "Catastrophes and the History of Life on Earth". One can read the earlier section and come away with little notion of how the more modern arguments differ fundamentally from those proposed by Velikovsky except, perhaps, for the fact that the more recent players had a better understanding of the laws of physics (little wonder my students confused the names "Velikovsky" and "Sepkoski").

Palmer largely fails to convey how the construction of data bases on the occurrences of fossil taxa in time and space, and the growth and accessibility of computerized statistical techniques during the latter part of the 20th century for their analysis, was the underpinning for the use of the fossil record in testing competing ideas about gradualistic versus catastrophic extinctions, and that it was the apparent nature of periodicity of extinctions in the marine fossil record that led to serious proposals from astronomers about how extraterrestrial events may been a key cause in earthly affairs. This is Palmer's Nemesis, indeed.

For a far superior, and easily accessible, account of the end Cretaceous extinctions, and the history of ideas in the development of notions about this event, I recommend the book on "The Evolution of the Dinosaurs" by Fastovsky and Weishampel (Cambridge, 2004), especially the recently updated second edition, although the authors are careful to avoid the type of character analysis of the players that would be important in an actual history of science tract.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Science certified catastrophe, May 3, 2004

By 

Hiram Caton (Griffith University, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Perilous Planet Earth: Catastrophes and Catastrophism through the Ages (Hardcover)

Trevor Palmer's study is a thoroughly researched, well written addition to what is now a small library documenting catastrophes in Earth history and in the history of civilization. Catastrophes may come from three sources: asteroids and comets, climatic adversities, and geophysical convulsions. All enjoy high public visibility today, but this awareness is quite recent-basically since about 1980. Prior to that, belief in catastrophes was dismissed by progressive thought as a remnant of religious delusions, which thrive on the frisson of sudden interventions by the gods. The possibility that these delusions might be the mythopoetic expression of the experience of naturally-caused events was dismissed because, it was said, nature operates by regular natural laws, not by unpredictable fits and starts. When it was pointed out that volcanoes, tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, forest fires, and such like meet this description, the response was that they are purely local events lacking the muscle to threaten civilization. The received wisdom was especially hostile to the idea that rocks from space could threaten life on Earth. All that's now changed. Global warming and the destruction of biodiversity are accepted by the international community to place civilization at risk. Astronomy, inundated with data gathered by space exploration, learned that there are billions of loose rocks in the asteroid belt situated between Mars and Jupiter, and that they have struck the inner planets, including Earth, many times. The inner planets, they say, are a `cosmic shooting gallery' so active that asteroids even strike asteroids! Two of the five mass extinctions are confirmed as resulting from asteroid strikes plus volcanoes, and the other three may be due to the same causes. By an ironic twist in the progress of knowledge, the denial of catastrophes is now the delusion. Palmer's study is the best available guide to this momentous change in the view of our place in nature.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Science certified catastrophe, February 22, 2006

By 

Hiram Caton (Brisbane Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Perilous Planet Earth: Catastrophes and Catastrophism through the Ages (Hardcover)

Trevor Palmer's study is a thoroughly researched, well written addition to what is now a small library documenting catastrophes in Earth history and in the history of civilization. Catastrophes may come from three sources: asteroids and comets, climatic adversities, and geophysical convulsions. All enjoy high public visibility today, but this awareness is quite recent-basically since about 1980. Prior to that, belief in catastrophes was dismissed by progressive thought as a remnant of religious delusions, which thrive on the frisson of sudden interventions by the gods. The possibility that these delusions might be the mythopoetic expression of the experience of naturally-caused events was dismissed because, it was said, nature operates by regular natural laws, not by unpredictable fits and starts. When it was pointed out that volcanoes, tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, forest fires, and such like meet this description, the response was that they are purely local events lacking the muscle to threaten civilization. The received wisdom was especially hostile to the idea that rocks from space could threaten life on Earth. All that's now changed. Global warming and the destruction of biodiversity are accepted by the international community to place civilization at risk. Astronomy, inundated with data gathered by space exploration, learned that there are billions of loose rocks in the asteroid belt situated between Mars and Jupiter, and that they have struck the inner planets, including Earth, many times. The inner planets, they say, are a `cosmic shooting gallery' so active that asteroids even strike asteroids! Two of the five mass extinctions are confirmed as resulting from asteroid strikes plus volcanoes, and the other three may be due to the same causes. By an ironic twist in the progress of knowledge, the denial of catastrophes is now the delusion. Palmer's study is the best available guide to this momentous change in the view of our place in nature.