Customer Reviews

Written In Stone

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was assigned this book to read by Raymo himself for his Earth Science college course. After buying all my books for the semester, I was looking through the pile. As an English major, I found it strange to be so drawn to a science book. I ended up reading the whole book that night, before the class even started. The beauty of Raymo is that he writes science like poetry.

I bought this book to learn more about the geologic history of New England. I was really surprised at how well written and informative this book ended up being. The first chapter alone nicely explains the Continental Drift Theory and Plate Tectonics. Later chapters tackled more complicated concepts but again did a nice job of summarizing the major aspects of how New England has changed and developed over time. This is a handy reference guide for graduate students or a great supplemental text for a high school Earth Science Honors class. A must read for anyone interested in geology.

First off, this book was probably intended for Tourists. The lay. The casual reader somewhat interested in the targeted area's mountain history. As such, its simply a big hit!

One reader said "boring in parts"? It's a small short book. I couldn't put it down. I suppose that reviewer might find Dr. Charles Merguerian more facinating. Look him up if you're aspiring for your PhD in the subject.

This book was a quick fantastic read, easy for those who know little about the subject and highly informative for it's brevity.

I vote this book most likely to make you pick up another book on Geological History!

What higher praise is there?

"Written in stone" from Chet Raymo and his daughter Maureen gives a candid and accessible perspective on the geological events that gave rise to the landscape and species of the Northeast so familiar to us who live there. This perspective reveals the fragility of the world we take very often for granted and suggests that further evolution is inevitable, ongoing, and life changing.

Remarkable and prolific, this couple, and especially Chet, must be driven, somehow, to share their wealth of knowledge with the rest of us. I know that Chet is a scientist, professor and teacher. Yet I never cease to wonder that along the way he and Maureen sould take the time and make the effort to share with us their knowledge, experience and insight. Written In Stone is a wonderful introduction to their world.

The book, Written in Stone is an interesting and informative method to clarify the early development of Earth. The authors, Chet and Maureen E. Raymo have allowed the reader to fully comprehend all of the novel's components by simplifying technical terms and applying vivid language into the text.

The story encompasses readers and explains in great and careful detail how rock formations and layers can reveal clues concerning the past. Readers are informed further dealing with the journey of the continents from Pangea to their current locations. They also incorporate how mountains and valleys are formed due to shifts in platetonic activity. Regarding biology, it nicely integrates a comprehensive insight dealing with the first spark of life and how dinosaurs came to be. By observing fossils within rocks, they can provide hints of what the dinosaurs ate, where they resided and when they lived.
This novel mainly focuses on the Northeast region of the United States which hosts many rock formations that influence global changes. Rocks and fossils in this region have also revealed information concerning the ice age and what initiated it.

This book incorporates a lot of information regarding plant and animal life and is as useful to a geologist as it would be to an ecologist. It effectively uses graphics that go on to further explain the text which help to reinforce the whole concept of the book. It provides a fascinating adventure for the reader and is useful to expand their knowledge of how life on earth advanced, how rocks can reveal the past and how ecological history continues to greatly influence life on our planet today.

It was a very good read that helped to expand my knowledge concerning the topic. Its use of easy yet effective language allows anyone to enjoy it and personally, I highly recommend Written in Stone.

Written in Stone was an alright book. It wasn't the greatest book but it wasn't the worst. This book explained how rock forms were formed and how glaciers moved across the Northern United States. Also in this book the authors talk about plants and animal life. They also went into detail about 2 mass extinctions. One was the dinosaurs. And the other was the saber tooth tiger and the woolly mammoth. The dinosaur's extinction was caused by a meteorite colliding with the Earth during the end of the Cretaceous era. As a result a dust cloud formed which caused the extinction. The extinctions of the saber tooth tiger and the woolly mammoth accord when humans began migrating to America from Africa along the Bering Straits. The extinctions accord because of overhunting. I thought this book was very well organized and spread out right. They made it very easy to tell what caused everything to happen. But I also thought the book got boring at some parts. Also it got confusing as well. The only people who would really enjoy it are geologists, scientists, or people really interested in geology. The authors of this book are Chet Raymo and Maureen E. Raymo. Chet is Maureen's father. Chet is a professor of physics and astronomy and Maureen studies palaeoclimatology. One thing in this book that I really like is the pictures. They really help describe what the authors are writing about. In many cases they helped me understand some parts of the book when I was confused. The most interesting part of the book I thought was when they talked about the mass extinctions. I thought they made them very easy to read and understand. Overall, this book was pretty good. I would recommend it to people who would like a good book about geology and plate tectonics.

Written in Stone by Chet and Maureen E. Raymo was a pretty good book. This book explained how the many rock forms were formed in the Northeastern United States. It helped me understand how New England and the other states around it were formed. Chet Raymo( was a professor of physics and astronomy at Stonehill College in Massachusetts) and Maureen Raymo( who researches palaeoclimatology at the Lamont Geological Observatory at Columbia University) go into detail very well in this book. Another interesting part of this book was when the authors explained the animal and plant life. They explained extinctions such as the mass extinction of the dinosaurs caused by a huge meteorite. Another extinction they talked about was the extinction of mammals such as the woolly mammoth and the saber- toothed tiger. They became extinct when humans overhunted them. This book did well explaining things but became boring at some points. Geologists or people interested in geology would enjoy this book. The pictures in the book gave me a better understanding of the information that I read. They showed pictures of animals and plants and also how the continents drifted and formed and broke a part. There was a lot of information to read about so the book got a little confusing at times. An most interesting part of the book to me was when the authors explained how the glaciers formed things and the ages of ice. The least interesting part of the book to me sometimes was when the authors talked about mountains and types of rocks. Some pages of the book made me want to read on but also some of the time I didn't really want to read on. I would recommend this book for adults because there were parts that were kind of hard to follow.