The Seashell on the Mountaintop: A Story of Science Sainthood and the Humble Genius Who Discovered a New History of the Earth by Alan Cutler
	List Price:   $15.00 Unit Price:   $12.00 You Save:   $3.00 (20%) ISBN-10:   0452285461 ISBN-13:   9780452285460 Publisher:   Penguin Group (USA) Inc Category:   Biographies, Young Adults Pub. Date:   April 2004 Pages:   240 Format:   Paperback
Subjects
SCIENTISTS_BIOGRAPHY GEOLOGY_HISTORY GEOLOGISTS
Description/Notes
Seventeenth-century scientists were baffled: How did the fossils of seashells find their way to the tops ofnbsp; mountains?nbsp; Nicolaus Steno, hailed by Stephen Jay Gould as ldquo;the founder of geology,rdquo; solved the puzzle, looking directly at the clues left in the layers of the Earth.nbsp; Paradoxically, at the same time his ideas were undermining the Biblersquo;s authoritative claim as to the age of the planet, Steno was entering the priesthood and rising to bishop.nbsp; He would ultimately be venerated as a saint and beatified by the Catholic Church in 1988. A thrilling tale of scientific investigation and the portrait of an extraordinary genius, The Seashell on the Mountaintop is the story of how a scientist-turned-priest forever changed our understanding of the Earth and created a new field of science. How did seashells wind up on mountaintops? Seventeenth century scientist Nicolaus Steno's solution undermined the Bible at a time of great political and religious upheaval. This thrilling tale of scientific investigation paints a portrait of this extraordinary genius. Delightful?one of the best books of scientific history in recent years. (Simon Winchester, The Boston Globe) Cutler?s book is marvelous for making one think about what qualifies as an explanation, and for exploring the endless debates that mix strands of partial knowledge with the need to reconcile religious testaments. (The New York Times Book Review) A book as complex and intriguing as the rocks that Steno studied. (The Seattle Times)