During a revolution of discovery in the late eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries, geologists reconstructed the immensely long
history of the earth--and the relatively recent arrival of human life.
Bursting the Limits of Time is a herculean effort by one of the
world's foremost experts on the history of geology and paleontology to
illuminate this scientific breakthrough that radically altered existing
perceptions of a human's place in the universe as much as the theories
of Copernicus and Darwin did.
Rudwick examines here the ideas and practices of earth scientists
throughout the Western world to show how the story of what we now call
deep time was pieced together. He explores who was responsible for the
discovery of the earth's history, refutes the concept of a rift between
science and religion in dating the earth, and details how the study of
the history of the earth helped define a new branch of science called
geology.
Bursting the Limits of Time is the first detailed account of this
monumental phase in the history of science.
"Bursting the Limits of Time is a massive work and is quite simply a
masterpiece of science history. . . . The book should be obligatory for
every geology and history of science library, and is a highly
recommended companion for every civilized geologist who can carry an
extra 2.4 kg in his rucksack."--Stephen Moorbath, Nature
