Revolutions in the Earth: James Hutton and the True Age of the World - Hardcover

Baxter, Stephen

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9780297829751: Revolutions in the Earth: James Hutton and the True Age of the World

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0297829750 ISBN 13: 9780297829751

Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd, 2004

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In the eighteenth century, the received wisdom, following Ussher's careful biblical calculations, was that the Earth was just six thousand years old. James Hutton, a gentleman farmer with legal and medical training and a passion for rocks, knew that this could not be the case. Looking at the formation of irregular strata in the layers of the earth he deduced that a much deeper abyss of time would be required for the landscape he saw to have evolved. In the turbulent world of Enlightenment Scotland he set out to prove it. He could not have achieved this without his friends. Hutton's entourage in Edinburgh would turn out to be the leading thinkers of the age. His close circle consisted of such luminaries as Erasmus Darwin, Adam Smith, James Watt and David Hume. These brilliant men would work together to develop the nascent science of geology but would also make spectacular advances in agriculture, chemistry, philosophy, economy and engineering; as well as devising steam engines and military tactics. Hutton's geological theory of the Earth would cause a profound religious debate as well as provoking decades of criticism. His revelation, however, was ultimately one of the most extraordinary and essential moments in scientific history. This is the little-known story of a man who fought hard against orthodox beliefs to prove the antiquity of the earth and of the dedicated loyalty of an enlightened circle of friends.

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From the Publisher:

In 1650, theologian Bishop James Usher announced that the world was created on October 23, 4004 BC. This date had been carefully calculated by totaling all the ages and reigns of the monarchs recorded in the Bible. In the late 18th century, gentleman farmer James Hutton set out to prove him wrong. At Siccal Point, a Scottish sea cliff, Hutton noticed the inclined layers of sandstone: the deepest strata could only have been formed at the bottom of a long–vanished ocean. Hutton’s concept that the world was much older than claimed by Usher was blasphemy— but it was also one of the defining moments in scientific history, forming the framework for Darwin’s theory of evolution and shaping our modern view of the world. Stephen Baxter, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award, is the acclaimed author of Deep Future.

About the Author:

Stephen Baxter is the pre-eminent SF writer of his generation. Published around the world he has also won major awards in the UK, US, Germany, and Japan. Born in 1957 he has degrees from Cambridge and Southampton. He lives in Buckinghamshire with his wife.

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