h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I can't resist such glowing recommendations- that's going to be the next book I buy.

Currently re-reading some Lovecraft short stories till I decide which Evelyn Waugh I want to read next: "Vile Bodies" or "Black Mischief". If anyone's read either, or both, let me know what you thought of it. I'm a fan of Waugh, and these are the two I haven't gotten to yet.

Turnsup, those would be the Hox genes that let fruit-fly legs grow on the heads instead of the thorax?

I picked that up from The Ancestor's Tale. What else is there about the Tiktalik and it's status as a transitory fossil?

Meanwhile on the subject of parts of our bodies. I just saw the opening salvo of 'Blood and Guts: a history of surgery" on BBC 4 which focused this week on neurosurgery, lobotomy and neurological disorders like epilepsy and Parkinson's disease.

I t reminded me of a book I've been wanting to read for a while (a semi-permanent resident on my amazon wish list) called Into the Silent Land: Travels in Neuropsychology by Paul Broks.

I might make neurology my next conquest in scientific reading.

I've done physics, geology, low-temperature research, biology, and evolution, maybe I'll try the brain next.

Got a recommendation for entry-level geology, Clive?

Yeah I have gimme two seconds while I raid my book shelf....

A fairly good introductory book (which Ironically is actually one of my most recent conquests) is Uni of Plymouth lecturer in geoscience Ian Stewart's book: Journeys from The Centre of The Earth which accompanies the rather excellent BBC series (currently being shown late at night on BBC4 every Thursday) of the same name (also known as Hot Rocks for US audiences)

He was also responsible for the TV series Earth which was on the Beeb a while ago.

The book follows Stuart's focus which is how geology influences civilisation (I'd urge you to catch the TV series episodes on art, and separately architecture and taking in the Oracle at Delphi and The collapse of The Roman Empire. Truly fascinating)

A bit more scholarly work and again a brillaint insight into the tectonic forces that have shaped our world can be found in The Earth: an intimate history by Richard Forety; senior something-or-other for the superlative Natural History Museum in London.

The opening chapters around Naples set up the history of geology from Charles Lyell who formulated the theory of uniformitariamism opposed to catotropheism and where I first learnt about the Temple of Serapis. All of which opens up the way to understanding geological time, in which things such as mountain buildings sea-floor spreading and evolution can take place) which get explored in later chapters although my favourite is the chapter about The Alps, particularly the discussion on how they are formed (the arguments about that seem banal now since it is understood but hugely controversial at the time) and how the normal rules of sedimentation (youngest rock on top) is subverted (or indeed inverted) at a famous spot of nothingness called St Martin's Hole.


Related but not strictly about geology per se, I might also recommend The Birth of Time by John Gribbn, another well known popular science writer. The book extends to universal time but it covers the age of the Earth as well (how Lord Kelvin underestimated it and how Ernest Rutherford (who described the interior of the atom) helped up the estimates.

Also related to a very specific bit of geological disturbance is Krakatoa: The day the world exploded which goes into quiet a bit of detail about the Indonesian region, why it is so prone to geological upthrusts (seen in the context of the post publication Boxing Day Tsunami this all falls into place as being a thoroughly nasty spot of our cracked planet.

What I enjoyed about this book is that it is in a similar vein to Ian Stewart's (i.e the cultural and historical implications of geology) but a bit more literary and the historical sweep is more tightly focussed, taking in several centuries of immigration to the Indonesian region the settlers and colonial controllers (setting up some back history for what was known and written down about the volcano's prior eruptions.

It also includes the manner in which the eruption marks a border between the old and new world making the point that when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated the news was ferried by steamer and took 12 days to reach Europe but in 1883 when Krakatoa was destroyed the news was published in London by the next morning. Touches on the linked stories of geology and evolution (Alfred Russell Wallace, whose letter to Darwin provoked the publication of Origin of Species) travelled extensively in Indonesia and has a bit of cartography named after him for predicting accurately the theory of plate tectonics some 70 years before it was realised. but these are all side discussion which ran alongside a detailed account of the count down to, events during and the aftermath of the eruption itself, testimonies of survivors and so on.

I heartily endorse all of these. Dig in. (that was a bad joke)

remiss of me not to include the author.

Krakatoa: the day the world exploded by Simon Winchester

Blimey! Thank you very much Clive.

My pleasure.

Wow, that's the longest post I've ever seen on this thread.

When I get some spennies together I'm definitely buying Your Inner Fish and the Fortey book too (Fortey's 'Life: an unauthorised biography is pretty good), and maybe the Ian Stewart book too (I have 2 friends called Ian Stewart).

And if I may recommend 'Earth Story', a documentary on the Beeb from a few years back, which gets repeated on satellite channels every so often. It's utterly fabulous.

I own Earth Story on dvd. Do buy that. Aubrey Manning is fabulous becase he's a biologist following his interest through geology. The series is just brilliant.

I think the episode about mountain building in that series in one of my favourites.

Fortey has done severa books not just The Earth l. Life an unauthorised biography is one and he's done another (which I've not read) about Trilobites (which is his specialism)

Ian Stewart's Earth documentary (on BBC dvd) retreads much of the same ground as Earth story (and well well IMO) but together they two series make up a very compelling set of geological insights (especially he lava lake in Ethiopia that Stewart visits and the time lapse filing of glaciers moving down hill.

-Turnsup, those would be the Hox genes that let fruit-fly legs grow on the heads instead of the thorax?-

Indeed.

The discussion of geology reminded me of another point hat Shubin made in the book. For those who claim that evolution is not a true science because it doesn't make predictions; he knew what he was looking for, freshwater sediments about 350 millions old. First, he looked at a geology map of N America. Three places stood out, two were covered by forests and/or civilization, the third was a lovely windswept barren in the far north of Canada.

Besides the arm and hand bones, Tiktaalik also has a neck. I was thinking that it was the first mermaid, all scaly fish from the shoulders back.

I've had Earth Story for a while, but haven't got round to reading it yet. The authors are Simon Lamb and David Sington, I think. I enjoyed what I saw of Ian Stewart's series, so I may invest in that book when I run out of things to read. (The 'Not read' list has gone up to 56 books.)

Tumsup, where are the other places?

There's been a fossil found where I live that's 'the first proper, walking foot'.

pedro, the map that Shubin reproduces (p16) shows East Greenland, Arctic islands(where he found Tiktaalik) and parts of the Catskill Mountains in eastern US.

He was looking for freshwater deltas because that's where sediments would likely contain remains of something that lives between the water and land.

A proper walking foot doesn't need to be near water so could be found anywhere.

btw The spelling of Tiktaalik. It's got four syllables, you need both a's.

I think the Earth Story me and Pedro referred to was a BBC documentary with Aubrey manning. The DVD is gettable off of Amazon.

I don't recognise the book.

Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett.

psychocandy - I read Vile Bodies last year and I loved it. I haven't read Black Mischief (yet) so I can't give you a comparison.

I read Monsieur Pamplemouse Takes the Train (by Michael Bond - yep, the Paddington guy) on the way to and from a meet yesterday (2 hours on the train) and although I've read it before, I still found it laugh out loud funny. I borrowed the first book in the series (Monsieur Pamplemouse) from the library about 15 years ago and have only ever seen two others in bookshops. The other one i have is in German though and I can't remember the title offhand.

It's about an ex-policeman and his dog (Pommes Frites) who work for a Michelin-stylee food guide.

It's my birthday next week so I asked for You Inner Fish as a present. Thanks for the recommendation.

Another book I've got my eye on is this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0231139624/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Vile Bodies will be next, then. Thanks, Sho!

Monsieur Pamplemouse sounds just about my speed. I'll have to see if I can find any of those around here.