Preface p. ix
Preface from the first edition p. xii
Acknowledgments from the first edition p. xv
Part 1 The Earth Experienced p. 1
1 Eyewitness Accounts of Earth Events p. 3
1-1 Los Angeles Against the Mountains John McPhee p. 4
1-2 The Night the Mountain Fell Gordon Gaskill p. 6
1-3 The Turtle Mountain Slide R.G. McConnell and R.W. Brock p. 11
1-4 Candide Voltaire p. 12
1-5 The Lisbon Earthquake James R. Newman p. 15
1-6 The Temblor Mary Austin p. 18
1-7 The Alaskan Good Friday Earthquake Jonathan Weiner p. 21
1-8 Tsunami Francis P. Shepard p. 23
1-9 Not a Very Sensible Place for a Stroll Haroun Tazieff p. 24
1-10 Last Days of St Pierre Fairfax Downey p. 29
1-11 Beacons on the Passage Out Hans Cloos p. 32
1-12 Eruption of the Oraefajokull, 1727 Jon Thorlakson p. 35
2 Exploration p. 38
2-1 The Voyage of the Beagle Charles Darwin p. 38
2-2 The Map that Changed the World Simon Winchester p. 40
2-3 The Exploration of the Colorado River John Wesley Powell p. 42
2-4 Mono Lake-Aurora-Sonora Pass William H. Brewer p. 44
2-5 Thrills in Fossil Hunting George F. Sternberg p. 45
2-6 The Creative Explosion John E. Pfeiffer p. 47
2-7 Attending Marvels: A Patagonian Journal George Gaylord Simpson p. 49
2-8 Explorations Robert D. Ballard p. 50
2-9 The Blue Planet Louise B. Young p. 53
3 Geologists are also Human p. 54
3-1 Stepping Stones Stephen Drury p. 55
3-2 William Buckland Elizabeth O.B. Gordon p. 56
3-3 The Old Red Sandstone Hugh Miller p. 60
3-4 A Long Life's Work Sir Archibald Geikie p. 64
3-5 Life, Time, and Darwin Frank H.T. Rhodes p. 66
3-6 King's Formative Years R.A. Bartlett p. 69
3-7 With Shackleton in the Antarctic M.E. David p. 72
3-8 The Great Diamond Hoax William H. Goetzmann p. 76
3-9 Sand, Wind, and War p. 79
3-10 Ship's Wake Hans Cloos p. 81
4 Celebrities p. 85
4-1 Benjamin Franklin and the Gulf Stream H. Stommel p. 85
4-2 Leonardo Da Vinci as a Geologist Thomas Clements p. 87
4-3 Mineralogy, Geology, Meteorology R. Magnus p. 89
4-4 Megalonyx, Mammoth, and Mother Earth E.T. Martin p. 93
4-5 Three Short, Happy Months William A. Stanley p. 96
4-6 Mountain-Worship W.G. Collingwood p. 98
4-7 Stanford University, 1891-1895 Herbert C. Hoover p. 100
Part 2 Interpreting the Earth p. 103
5 Philosophy p. 105
5-1 Concerning the System of the Earth, its Duration and Stability James Hutton p. 106
5-2 The Method of Multiple Working Hypotheses T.C. Chamberlin p. 110
5-3 Historical Science George Gaylord Simpson p. 113
5-4 What is a Species? Stephen Jay Gould p. 116
5-5 Messages in Stone Christine Turner p. 119
5-6 Natural Science, Natural Resources, and the Nature of Nature Marcia G. Bjornerud p. 120
5-7 Does God Play Dice? Ian Stewart p. 123
6 The Fossil Record p. 126
6-1 Earth and Man Frank H.T. Rhodes p. 127
6-2 Flowering Earth Donald Culross Peattie p. 129
6-3 Habits and Habitats Robert Claiborne p. 134
6-4 Diplodocus, The Dinosaur James A. Michener p. 137
6-5 A Window on the Oligocene Berton Roueche p. 141
6-6 A Fish Caught in Time Samantha Weinberg p. 143
6-7 Ape-like Ancestors Richard E. Leakey p. 145
6-8 The Relic Men Loren Eiseley p. 146
7 Geotectonics p. 151
7-1 From the Boundless Deep & The Birth of the Rockies James A. Michener p. 152
7-2 When Pigs Ruled the Earth Anna Grayson p. 155
7-3 The Living Planet David Attenborough p. 158
7-4 The Road to Jaramillo William Glen p. 161
7-5 Mao's Almanac: 3,000 Years of Killer Earthquakes J. Tuzo Wilson p. 163
7-6 Geologic Jeopardy Richard H. Jahns p. 167
8 Controversies p. 171
8-1 Apes, Angels, and Victorians William Irvine p. 172
8-2 The Great Piltdown Hoax William L. Straus, Jr p. 175
8-3 Fossils and Free Enterprisers Howard S. Miller p. 179
8-4 The K-T Extinction Charles Officer and Jake Page p. 182
8-5 The Founders of Geology Sir Archibald Geikie p. 185
8-6 To a Rocky Moon Don E. Wilhelms p. 188
8-7 Properties and Composition of Lunar Materials: Earth Analogies Edward Schreiber and Orson L. Anderson p. 190
8-8 CFCs Joel L. Swerdlow p. 192
Part 3 Language of the Earth p. 195
9 Prose p. 197
9-1 Out of Africa Isak Dinesen p. 197
9-2 Seven Pillars of Wisdom T.E. Lawrence p. 200
9-3 Green Hills of Africa Ernest Hemingway p. 201
9-4 Wind, Sand and Stars Antoine de Saint-Exupery p. 202
9-5 The French Lieutenant's Woman John Fowles p. 204
9-6 Trip to the Middle and North Forks of San Joaquin River John Muir p. 207
9-7 Roughing It Mark Twain p. 209
9-8 A Place on the Glacial Till Thomas Fairchild Sherman p. 211
9-9 Basin and Range John McPhee p. 213
9-10 Neanderthal John Darnton p. 215
9-11 Antarctica Kim Stanley Robinson p. 218
9-12 The Lost World Sir Arthur Conan Doyle p. 220
10 Poetry p. 223
10-1 Landscape and Literature Sir Archibald Geikie p. 224
10-2 The Excursion William Wordsworth p. 226
10-3 The Lisbon Earthquake Voltaire p. 227
10-4 The Fountains of the Earth C.S. Rafinesque p. 228
10-5 To a Trilobite Timothy A. Conrad p. 229
10-6 A Shropshire Lad A.E. Housman p. 230
10-7 Mente et Malleo Andrew C. Lawson p. 230
10-8 Selected Poems John Stuart Blackie p. 232
10-9 Lyell's Hypothesis Again Kenneth Rexroth p. 233
10-10 Selected Poems A.R. Ammons p. 234
10-11 Stone Charles Simic p. 236
10-12 Fossils J.T. Barbarese p. 236
10-13 Rock Jane Hirshfield p. 237
10-14 Poetry Matters: Gary Snyder W. Scott McLean and Eldridge M. Moores and David A. Robertson p. 238
10-15 Where Shall Wisdom Be Found? p. 242
11 Art p. 244
11-1 A Land: Sculpture Jacquetta Hawkes p. 245
11-2 Beyond Modern Sculpture Jack Burnham p. 247
11-3 Time's Profile: John Wesley Powell, Art, and Geology at the Grand Canyon Elizabeth C. Childs p. 249
11-4 Thomas Moran: American Landscape Painter R.A. Bartlett p. 253
11-5 Earth Calling Diane Ackerman p. 255
Part 4 The Crowded Planet p. 257
12 Human History p. 259
12-1 Minerals and World History John D. Ridge p. 260
12-2 A Land: Architecture Jacquetta Hawkes p. 261
12-3 The Geologic and Topographic Setting of Cities Donald F. Eschman and Melvin G. Marcus p. 263
12-4 Topography and Strategy in the War Douglas W. Johnson p. 266
12-5 Geology and Crime John McPhee p. 268
12-6 Tambora and Krakatau Kenneth E.F. Watt p. 269
12-7 Mortgaging the Old Homestead Lord Ritchie-Calder p. 273
12-8 Breathing the Future and the Past Harlow Shapley p. 275
13 Resources p. 277
13-1 Wealth from the Salt Seas Rachel L. Carson p. 278
13-2 Minerals, People, and the Future Charles F. Park, Jr p. 280
13-3 The Bingham Canyon Pit M. Dane Picard p. 282
13-4 The Geological Attitude John G.C.M. Fuller p. 284
13-5 Geology - For Human Needs Michel T. Halbouty p. 286
14 Benevolent Planet p. 289
14-1 Gaia James Lovelock p. 290
14-2 The Web of Life Fritjof Capra p. 291
14-3 Remember the Land Charles Morgan p. 292
14-4 Rachel Carson: The Idea of Environment Gabriele Kass-Simon p. 293
14-5 Silent Spring Rachel L. Carson p. 294
14-6 Who is El Nino? S. George Philander p. 295
14-7 Essay on the Earth Sciences p. 297
14-8 The Round Walls of Home Diane Ackerman p. 299
14-9 The Butterfly Effect Ernest Zebrowski, Jr p. 301
14-10 Pale Blue Dot Carl Sagan p. 304
Sources p. 305
Names index p. 315
Subject index p. 320