Terra: Tales of the Earth : Four Events that Changed the World
- ISBN-10
- 0330490737
- ISBN-13
- 9780330490733
- Series
- Terra
- Category
- Science / History
- Pages
- 268
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2009
- Publisher
- Picador
- Author
- Richard Hamblyn
Description
Blending history, science and eye-witness accounts, and arranged in chapters corresponding to the four elements (earth, air, fire and water), Terra explores the relationship between the planet and the humans who inhabit its surfaces. Through four case histories -- the Lisbon earthquake of 1755; the weather-panics of the summer of 1783; the eruption of Krakatau in 1883; and the Hilo tsunami of 1946 -- Hamblyn reminds us of the earth's unimaginable force and describes what happens when that force is unleashed, both in terms of the immediate human consequences and the longer term economic and scientific implications. Serving, ultimately, as a stark and incontrovertible reminder of our vulnerability when the earth 'goes wrong', Terra also asks why we don't seem fully able to learn from the catastrophes, mistakes and responses of the past.
Praise for Richard Hamblyn's previous book, The Invention of Clouds:
'An elegantly written and richly diverting thesis of unusual interdisciplinary facility' Guardian
'A book that accomplishes that rare feat of changing the reader's perception of the world' Economist
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2013-07-23
- 256 pages
- Ebook
- Ten Speed Press
-
- 2008-11-11
- 480 pages
- Ebook
- Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Similar books
-
African American Firsts in Science & Technology
By Raymond B. Webster... George W. 318 Neal , Lonnie G. 126 , 312 Nickerson , William J. 11 Nokes , Clarence 121 Page , Lionel F. 356 ... Wanda Anne A. 150 Small , Isadore , III 135 Smart , Brinay 106 Smith , Jonathan S. , II 312 Smith , Morris Leslie 312 ...
-
High Performance: The Culture and Technology of Drag Racing, 1950-2000
By Robert C. Post... 191.96 Don Garlits Zeuschel / Fuller / Don Moody Masters / Richter / Bob Haines 192.30 1963 7.77 Greer / Black / Don Prudhomme Masters / Richter / Bob Haines 196.92 1982 256.41 5.54 1983 257.14 5.39 1984 264.70 1985 Don APPENDIX 2 341.
-
Breaking Frame: Technology and the Visual Arts in the Nineteenth Century
By Julie WoskTechnology and the Visual Arts in the Nineteenth Century
-
The Rhetoric of Science
By Alan G. GrossIs scientific theory really just a matter of persuasion? Do scientists merely invent rather than discover? Do scientists merely invent rather than discover? Indeed, do brute facts of nature gain meaning only within a rhetorical context?
-
Intimate Universality: Local and Global Themes in the History of Weather and Climate
By James Rodger Fleming, Vladimir Janković, Deborah R. CoenBilly , 144 , 145 , 150 , 154 Mitchell , Charles , 154 Mitman , Gregg , 121 Moffett , Adm . William , 154 Mönichkirchen , 121 Monroe Doctrine , 186 Monte Rosa , 43 Montesquieu , Baron de ( Charles de Secondat ) , 6 , 228 , 229 ...
-
大轉折：百年科學匯流史，扭轉人類文明的關鍵融合
By 彼得．沃森（Peter Watson）現代文明最重要、最複雜、最難以述說的一段歷史。 左右人類命運的，不是神，而是科學大轉折！ 史詩般壯闊、細膩交錯編織的科學發展史。 ...
-
會問問題，才會帶人（10週年暢銷修訂版）: 問對問題，等於解決了大半問題 把問題問出來，你將受惠於答案 78 Important Questions Every Leader Should Ask and Answer
By 克莉絲．克拉克－艾普斯坦C .帕莫( ) ,美國陸軍你戴爾電腦公司( )有什麼點子?菲利絲.麥康奈爾( ) ,如果這些辦法都無效,怎麼辦?接下來怎麼辦?雪莉.賈瑞特( ) ,專業講師及作家我們如何贏得這個顧客的喝采?艾薇.馬修( ) ,考克斯傳播公司( )人力資源公司( )你今天要如何影響組織, ...
-
世界天文学史
By 陈丹, 崔振华恒星照相从 1857年由邦德开始实验以后,在60年代由英国天文爱好者沃伦·德拉鲁(公元1815~1889年)和美国的刘易斯·莫里斯·拉瑟弗德(公元1816~1892年)继续发展着,他们拍到了星团(如昴星团)的优秀照片。但是首先拍得一大批恒星照片的天文学家当推美国的杰.
-
文明的躍昇: 人類文明發展史 The Ascent of Man
By 布羅諾斯基（Jacob Bronowski）當時已經以格林威治的皇家天文臺為中心。是無所不通的虎克所計畫的;當時他與雷恩爵士在大火( Great Fire )之後再建倫敦。航海者離岸很遠時,要定出自己的位置(經、緯度) ,就可以把他對星星的讀數與格林威治的讀數比較。
-
Voyages and Discoveries
By Richard HakluytRenaissance diplomat and part-time spy, William Hakluyt was also England's first serious geographer, gathering together a wealth of accounts about the wide-ranging travels and discoveries of the sixteenth-century English.