Into the heart of our world : a journey to the center of the earth : a remarkable voyage of scientific discovery

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Title:

Into the heart of our world : a journey to the center of the earth : a remarkable voyage of scientific discovery

Author:

Whitehouse, David, author.

ISBN:

9781605989594

9781681773513

Personal Author:

Whitehouse, David, author.

Edition:

First Pegasus books hardcover edition.

Physical Description:

xiii, 270 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

General Note:

"February 2016"--Title page verso.

Originally published as: Journey to the centre of the earth : the remarkable voyage of scientific discovery into the heart of our world. London : Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2015.

Includes index.

Abstract:

The journey to the center of the earth is a voyage like no other we can imagine. Over 6300 km below the earth's surface, an extraordinary inner world the size of Mars awaits us. Dive through the molten iron of the outer core and eventually you will reach a solid sphere-- an iron-clad world held within a metal sea and unattached to anything above. At the earth's core is the history of our planet written in temperature and pressure, crystals and minerals. Our planet appears tranquil from outer space. And yet the arcs of volcanoes, the earthquake zones and the auroral glow rippling above our heads are testimony to something remarkable happening inside. For thousands of years, these phenomena were explained in legend and myth. Only in recent times has the brave new science of seismology emerged. One hundred and fifty years after the extraordinary, imaginative feat of Jules Verne's Journey to the center of the Earth, David Whitehouse embarks on a voyage of scientific discovery into the heart of our world. Seismologists today reveal a planet astonishingly buried within a planet. We watch as supercomputers convert signals from the ground into three-dimensional scans of subterranean continents, visit laboratories where scientists attempt to reproduce the intense conditions at the center of the Earth, travel down the throat of a volcano, look into the deepest hole ever drilled, and imagine a voyage through enormous crystals of iron. Whitehouse's enthralling journey vividly charts all we are able to understand about the mysteries of the deep Earth. His book encompasses the history of our planet and the latest findings about its inner core, allowing us to embark on an adventure that brings us closer to the enigma of our existence.

Contents:

The archive of the earth -- 'Descend, bold traveller' -- Underworld -- Birthmarks -- The survivors -- The messengers -- Tenham -- The butler and the housekeeper -- Death on the ice -- Superdeep -- The Hansbach -- The pressure principle -- Splinters of the stars -- D-double-prime -- Dark matter -- Borderlands -- Plumes -- 'The old boy beamed upon me' -- The protector -- Magnetic dreams -- The terrella -- Reversal -- Inside the inside -- Stranger in a strange land -- The crystal forest -- Other worlds, other journeys -- Journey's end -- Playthings of the earth.

Subject Term:

Geology -- Popular works.

Seismology -- Popular works.

Geology. (OCoLC)fst00940627

Internal structure of the Earth. (OCoLC)fst01353357

Seismology. (OCoLC)fst01111306

Geology.

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
Searching... Sugar Grove - Todd Library	Book	QE509 .W49 2016	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

An enthralling and extraordinary adventure vividly charting the mysteries of the deep Earth, the history of our planet, and the latest discoveries about its inner core.

The journey to the center of the earth is a voyage like no other we can imagine. Over 3000 km below the earth's surface, an extraordinary inner world the size of Mars awaits us. Dive through the molten iron of the outer core and eventually you will reach a solid sphere --an iron-clad world held within a metal sea and unattached to anything above. At the earth's core is the history of our planet written in temperature and pressure, crystals and minerals ...

Our planet appears tranquil from outer space. And yet the arcs of volcanoes, the earthquake zones, and the auroral glow rippling above our heads are testimony to the remarkable happenings within the earth's core. For thousands of years these phenomena were explained in legend and myth. Only in recent times has the brave new science of seismology emerged. One hundred and fifty years after the extraordinary, imaginative feat of Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth , David Whitehouse embarks on a voyage of scientific discovery into the heart of our world.

Seismologists today reveal a planet astonishingly buried within a planet. We watch as supercomputers convert signals from the ground into three-dimensional scans of subterranean continents. We will visit laboratories where scientists attempt to reproduce the intense conditions at the center of the Earth, travel down the throat of a volcano, look into the deepest hole ever drilled, and imagine a voyage through enormous crystals of iron...all at the center of our incredible Earth.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Guided by the most up-to-date scientific findings, British science journalist Whitehouse (Renaissance Genius) commands an imagined voyage into Earth's interior. He frames his journey with Jules Verne's 1864 novel, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and interweaves elements of Verne's work into his own narrative. After a quick discussion of Verne's life and oeuvre, Whitehouse presents a quick synopsis of our current understanding of the Earth's layers and then descends into the Earth's crust as far as he is physically able-in his case, going down into the Boulby potash mine in northeast England. Filling his pages with curious facts, brief biographies, and scientific theories about Earth's inner structure, Whitehouse proffers explanations of Earth's formation, the origin of the Moon, and more. For instance, he thoroughly discusses the Earth's magnetic field, reassuring readers that a flip of the field-which last happened about 41,000 years ago-is unlikely to happen anytime soon. Whitehouse surveys the baffling nature of Earth's solid core and concludes his work, fittingly, with discussions of the planet's possible demise as well as those of other planets near and far. This is a fascinating investigation of geologic history. Illus. Agent: Jessica Purdue, Orion Publishing. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Review

In the spirit of Jules Verne's popular classic Journey to the Center of the Earth, Royal Astronomical Society fellow Whitehouse (The Sun: A Biography, 2005, etc.) describes how modern advances in geology provide insight into the evolution and dynamic structure of the Earth. "Astronomers often say we are made of stardust and are children of the stars," writes the author in this enthusiastic review of scientific discovery, "but the Earth is no less our parent." He explains that probes of the asteroid Vesta by a NASA spacecraft offer clues to the original building blocks of our own planet. At the same time, 4.2 billion-year-old rock samples have been found in western Australia with an isotope structure that appears to indicate the existence of surprisingly cool surface waters on Earth. Whitehouse reviews developments in seismology that have allowed scientists to infer the composition of the Earth below its crust by measuring the propagation of waves during earthquakes. "The Lisbon earthquake of 1755 marked a turning point in our understanding of the Earth," he writes. Collating measurements in different places have given scientists the opportunities to fully understand how earthquakes are created by waves beneath the surface of the Earth caused by shifting masses. In the 1890s, scientists were able to measure the speed at which different below-the-surface waves propagated, and improvement in the sensitivity of measuring devices led to the detection of an earthquake in Japan from a monitoring station in Germany. By the 1950s, advances in material science and quantum physics revealed the existence of new crystalline structures, and a mysteriously rotating iron ball was discovered at Earth's center. The author speculates that this below-the-surface activity not only creates earthquakes and volcanoes, but may also have played a part in the evolution of life by creating the necessary material and environment. Whitehouse takes readers on a richly rewarding journey through space and time in this scientific travelogue. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Choice Review

Jules Verne is the inspiration for scientist/journalist Whitehouse as he takes his readers on an imaginary journey to the center of Earth, thoroughly exploring the science and history that has given humankind information about the deepest parts of our planet. Through an eclectic writing style in which loops, diversions, and digressions are essential to the narrative, readers learn the earliest ideas about Earth's interior--gained through the horrific experiences of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The bulk of the book is essentially a popular history of geophysics, from development of the first seismographs through high-pressure petrology and whole-earth tomography. Some of the most vivid scenes are descriptions of the boundaries of Earth's layers, with images of giant iron crystals and long plumes ascending from the core-mantle interface. This book is not a systematic text (the chapter titles are not very informative, and there are no references). It is instead a good read about what is known about what lies beneath our feet and how it is known. The text is accessible to all adult readers, but audiences interested in Earth history and structure will especially enjoy this book. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. --Mark A. Wilson, College of Wooster

SD_ILS:218694

Journey to the centre of the earth

Whitehouse, David, author.

2016

2015

Into the heart of our world : a journey to the center of the earth : a remarkable voyage of scientific discovery

9781605989594

9781681773513

Into the heart of our world : a journey to the center of the earth : a remarkable voyage of scientific discovery

Journey to the centre of the earth

First Pegasus books hardcover edition.

M03400056594