The Man Who Found Time: James Hutton And The Discovery Of Earth's Antiquity - Softcover

Repcheck, Jack

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0465013376 ISBN 13: 9780465013371

Publisher: Basic Books, 2009

Synopsis

There are three men whose life's work helped free science from the strait-jacket of religion. Two of the three—Nicolaus Copernicus and Charles Darwin—are widely heralded for their breakthroughs. The third, James Hutton, is comparatively unknown, yet he profoundly changed our understanding of the earth, its age, and its dynamic forces.

A Scottish gentleman farmer, Hutton's observations on his small tract of land led him to a theory that directly contradicted biblical claims that the Earth was only 6,000 years old. This expertly crafted narrative tells the story not only of Hutton, but also of Scotland and the Scottish Enlightenment, including many of the greatest thinkers of the age, such as David Hume and Adam Smith.

About this title

About the Author:

Jack Repcheck is an editor at W. W. Norton & Co., where he publishes the work of leading scientists and economists. He is also the author of Copernicus' Secret. He lives with his family in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

From Publishers Weekly:

In this engaging account of scientific discovery, Repcheck (an acquiring editor at Norton) aims to elevate the little-known Scottish geologist James Hutton (1726-1797) into the lofty company of Copernicus, Galileo and Darwin, as one who wrested modern science from the "straight jacket of religious orthodoxy." Hutton, claims Repcheck, was the first to propose that the earth was shaped not by a cataclysmic Great Flood, but rather by "the inexorable forces of wind and rain, tides and storms, volcanoes and earthquakes" over a far longer period than the 6,000 years biblical scholars said was the planet's age. Repcheck frames his narrative around Hutton's theory, weaving together the many historical threads that led to this paradigm shift in the conception of geological history. There aren't many popular histories of science that can hop from a thousand years of Church doctrine about the age of the earth to the story of Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Scottish rebellion of 1745 without missing a beat, but Repcheck's comfortable style and enthusiasm for his subject permeate his book. He does a fine job of laying out Hutton's theory in the context of the Scottish Enlightenment as well as its consequences for later thinkers (most notably Darwin). Repcheck's account should appeal to anyone who's curious about intellectual history, geologist or not. (June)claims, in his book The Seashell on the Mountaintop (see p. 59), that his subject, Nicolaus Steno, discovered the science of geology and challenged the 6,000-year-old age of the earth.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0465013376
• ISBN 13: 9780465013371
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256