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Title: The Seashell on the Mountaintop: A Story of Science, Sainthood, and the Humble Genius Who Discovered a New History of the Earth by Alan Cutler ISBN: 0-525-94708-6 Publisher: E P Dutton Pub. Date: 14 April, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.69 (16 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Fascinating Portrait
Comment: One of the most hotly debated topics of 17th century science concerned a naturally occurring riddle. Why do seashell fossils appear in mountainous areas so far away from the sea? The great flood that created the need for Noah's arc might be one explanation, but scientists quickly noted that a flood of 40 days duration was not enough time for clams to move to such distant and elevated locations. This problem engendered a number of interesting hypotheses, among them that the earth somehow created the shells.
The riddle was finally solved, at least for the scientifically minded, through the careful observations of a Danish scientist named Nicolaus Steno. Steno traveled far from his native Copenhagen and ultimately moved to Italy where he observed fossilized seashells in the Italian Mountains. Already famous for his work in anatomy, Steno was a true Renaissance man with a passion for collecting and understanding items from nature. His observations led to his theory that the earth has a history and that this history includes periods of changing seas and powerful geologic forces that deposit rocks, minerals, and fossils far inland. His pioneering work has earned him the title of founder of geology among contemporary scientists.
Geologist Alan Cutler paints a fascinating portrait of Steno. Given various elements of Steno's personality and the time in which he lived, this is no small feat. Steno was a deeply religious man, and Cutler doesn't miss the irony involved with his formulating theories that were at odds with the officially sanctioned explanations of the earth. The fact is that as he aged Steno became more concerned with religion than with science. He eventually converted from the Lutheranism of Denmark to Catholicism and died a Bishop at the age of forty-eight. Although his fame as a clergyman never matched that of his fame as a scientist, the Catholic Church beatified Steno in 1988. In writing about Steno as a scientist and as a religious figure, Cutler gives us an entertaining and balanced look at the life of a little known but influential thinker.
Rating: 5
Summary: Mysteries in moutaintops
Comment: This engaging and informative little book traces the life of the founder of the science of geology. One of the intitial voices of the Enlightenment, Nicholas Steno spent a life wandering over the face of Europe. In this biography, Cutler's luminous prose takes the reader back to the mid-17th Century intellectual environment. He eloquently describes the rise of "the new science" in the face of traditional dogma. It wasn't a straightforward confrontation, however. Personalities and ideas alike clashed, sometimes savagely. Cutler ably shows how science struggled to find its feet in this time, with Steno's career and heritage providing the exemplary model.
Nicholas Steno, born in Lutheran Denmark, led a peripatetic erratic life. He was an anatomist, geologist, innovator and a proponent of empirical science. In an age steeped in ancient philosophy, in which tradition substituted for measurement and experiment, Steno rejected what could not be observed or proven. He mingled with Dutch merchants and the many religions existing in that Calvinist, yet commercial republic. Later, in Florence, he noted the stability provided by the well-established Church. In an age of inquiry, the Church tolerated the emerging science, so long as published works didn't directly challenge Scripture. The Galileo episode, says Cutler, cast a long shadow, and the Vatican didn't want a reprise. Steno not only evaded Church censorship, notes Cutler, he was encouraged to further his studies. Thus, his later conversion to Roman Catholicism shocked many, not least because he abandoned his studies for an ascetic life and attempts to convert Protestants.
In Florence, Steno was championed by the ruling Medici family. He took up the question of fossil seashells, a topic that had intrigued the Greek philosophers and Leonardo alike. Were they "spontaneously generated" in the deep earth, remnants of ancient life, or evidence of Noah's cataclysmic Flood? Steno's solution was not novel in itself. His real contribution was his explanation of how these shells and "tonguestones" were found on high mountain locations. Although published in a brief volume, his "De solido", would ultimately become the foundation stone of modern geology. Indirectly, writes Cutler, Steno's ideas and meagre publications led to the greatest idea of all - Darwin's concept of evolution by natural selection.
Cutler has encompassed many and varying themes in this book. It is one of the finest presentations of the issues addressed by the Englightenment in print. The names of such notaries as Newton, Leibnitz, and Boyle flit through the narrative. Even Thomas Jefferson makes an appearance - with lines that may surprise. Just enough graphics are used to illuminate the characters or a point. Highly recommended for many reasons, not least of which is the persistence of centuries-old dogmas in the face of the revelations of science. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Rating: 3
Summary: An interesting life
Comment: I read this book for a Geology project. I love a good biography and Cutler delvered a good biography. Was his portrayal of Steno accurate? I don't know. Part of the problem seems to be that much of Steno's work has never been available in English. We should at least give Cutler credit for trying to make Steno more accessible to English readers.
One of the parts covered in the book is Steno's conversion from Lutheranism to Romanism. Since other reviewers have not covered this aspect I thought it might be helpful to do so.
Cutler gives quite a few details about is Steno's Christianity. Cutler describes Steno's Lutheran upbringing, his exposure to the religious pluralism afforded by the enterprising Dutch Calvinists (pg. 35), and finally his embrace of the Italian Catholics. Particularly noted by Cutler are two aspects of Steno's conversion to Roman Catholicism. First was his rejection of the Bible as the literal word of God (pg. 144). Secondly, Steno seemed to be "emotional[ly]" drawn to Romanism by its ceremony, or maybe more accurately, by its superstition. (pg. 91) Eventually, Steno became a Roman Catholic priest, and then the titular Bishop of Titiopolis. This sounds impressive but it is actually rather tragic. The Bishopric was of an area long abandoned to Muslims, and in the region where Steno was sent to minister he was rejected by most of his fellow Catholics as being too serious. His life ends with him starving himself into poor health, and eventually death. It was a sad end to a brilliant man.
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Title: The Man Who Found Time: James Hutton and the Discovery of Earth's Antiquity by Jack Repcheck ISBN: 073820692X Publisher: Perseus Publishing Pub. Date: 13 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: Life on a Young Planet : The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth by Andrew H. Knoll ISBN: 0691009783 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 17 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: In the Blink of an Eye by Andrew Parker ISBN: 0738206075 Publisher: Perseus Publishing Pub. Date: 15 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: When Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time by Michael Benton, Michael J. Benton ISBN: 050005116X Publisher: Thames & Hudson Pub. Date: May, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Snowball Earth : The Story of the Great Global Catastrophe That Spawned Life as We Know It by GABRIELLE WALKER ISBN: 0609609734 Publisher: Crown Pub. Date: 18 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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