|
In this fascinating history of the universe and its inhabitants,
one of America's most distinguished biogeologists leads us from the evolution
of the cosmos to speculation on the future of mankind. Preston Cloud begins with
the atom, the smallest known world out of which all other worlds are made. From
the behavior of protons, neutrons, and their satellite electrons, he turns to
the behavior of galaxies and the birth and death of stars, focusing on the life
cycle of our solar system and our own small planet. Cloud describes the stages
by which Earth, its atmosphere, and its oceans slowly became inhabitable by primitive,
then more complex, forms of life. In considerable detail he explains the controversial
chemistry by which life may have first been born into an inanimate universe.
Tracing the evolution of plants and animals, Cloud demonstrates
how the relatively recent development of a genius of primate mammals that calls
itself homo sapiens could have a disastrous effect on the planet. In a provocative
final chapter, Cloud places mankind within the framework of this evolving global
habitat and proposes a program for the survival of the human race. This
book is one of enormous range and complexity written in an admirably straightforward
and lucid style. Without pretending that the events and processes he describes
are simple, Cloud makes them accessible to the thoughtful reader. His final, disturbing
chapters are written with the dispassionate authority of a scientist and the humanity
of a profoundly concerned citizen of the universe. Preston
Cloud has had a long and distinguished career in biogeology, a scientific discipline
that he helped to create. The extraordinary range of this field -- it involves
atomic physics and the origins and evolution of the universe, Earth, and all forms
of life -- is reflected in Cosmos, Earth, and Man. Trained as a paleontologist,
Cloud spent World War II searching for strategic minerals with the United States
Geological Survey, for which institution he later did extensive geological mapping
in and under the Pacific Ocean. From 1949 to 1961 he was the survey's chief paleontologist,
advancing its work in stratigraphy and planning its marine geology program.
As Head of the School of Earth Sciences at the University
of Minnesota, Cloud turned his attention to two questions that have occupied him
since 1961: the evolution of the early lithosphere and biosphere and the effects
of human population growth on the Earth's resources and the environment. At various
times Cloud has also taught at Harvard and the universities of California at Los
Angeles and at Santa Barbara, where he is now professor emeritus of biogeology
and environmental studies. He remains a research biogeologist with the USGS. A
member of several honorary societies and holder of many scientific awards, Cloud
is known in his field as a pioneer in paleoecology, marine sedimentology, and
biogeology. He is the author of an influential model of primitive Earth and the
evolution of life, air, water, and sedimentary rock. |
