来自著名的《生命与三叶虫》作者！，这是一次对地球遥远历史的迷人地质探索，其自然奇观揭示了这一点。
几十亿年来，地球的面貌，像旧伤口的伤疤一样，由连绵的山脉交错而成，一次又一次地发生了变化，遥远过去的见证就在我们身边。在这本书中，理查德·福蒂教我们如何解读它的性格，展示我们面前的世界。他展示了人类文化和自然历史——甚至城市的形状——是如何植根于这一深刻的地质历史的。
为了寻找这段历史，Fortey带领我们穿过阿尔卑斯山，进入冰岛温泉，到达海底，越过纽芬兰荒芜的岩石，进入夏威夷繁茂的生态系统，穿过阿曼的盐滩，沿着圣安德烈亚斯断层。在维苏威火山的斜坡上，他追踪了几个世纪以来该地区的历史？从15世纪的意大利人、罗马人，甚至从引人注目的地质证据来看，新石器时代的人类都看到了火山爆发。随着故事的发展，最近的过去与被遗忘的年代联系在一起，那是很久以前，然后是很久以前，因为他描述了板块的运动以及古代大陆和海洋的发展。这本书里什么都没有。地球表面膨胀和塌陷；海与山起起落落；大陆在移动。
Fortey再次证明了自己是理想的向导，他对自然美的出色描述、扣人心弦的叙述，以及他清晰、始终引人入胜的科学解释。
这是一本改变我们看待世界方式的书。
Earth: An Intimate History
From the acclaimed author of Life and Trilobite!, a fascinating geological exploration of the earth’s distant history as revealed by its natural wonders.
The face of the earth, crisscrossed by chains of mountains like the scars of old wounds, has changed and changed again over billions of years, and the testament of the remote past is all around us. In this book Richard Fortey teaches us how to read its character, laying out the dominions of the world before us. He shows how human culture and natural history–even the shape of cities–are rooted in this deep geological past.
In search of this past, Fortey takes us through the Alps, into Icelandic hot springs, down to the ocean floor, over the barren rocks of Newfoundland, into the lush ecosystems of Hawai’i, across the salt flats of Oman, and along the San Andreas Fault. On the slopes of Vesuvius, he tracks the history of the region down through the centuries?to volcanic eruptions seen by fifteenth-century Italians, the Romans, and, from striking geological evidence, even Neolithic man. As story adds to story, the recent past connects with forgotten ages long ago, then much longer ago, as he describes the movement of plates and the development of ancient continents and seas. Nothing in this book is at rest. The surface of the earth dilates and collapses; seas and mountains rise and fall; continents move.
Fortey again proves himself the ideal guide, with his superb descriptions of natural beauty, his gripping narratives, and his crystal-clear, always fascinating scientific explanations.
Here is a book to change the way we see the world.
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