ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, September 22, 1996 TAG: 9609240090
SECTION: BOOKS PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: BOOK REVIEWS
Earth's life history explored
Reviewed by RANES CHAKRAVORTY
A SHORT HISTORY OF PLANET EARTH: Mountains, Mammals, Fire and Ice. By J.D. MacDougall. John Wiley and Sons. $24.95.
J.D. MacDougall is director of Earth sciences at the University of California, San Diego. He explains the geologic and biologic history of our planet in a concise, easy to understand format.
People have been fascinated by the Earth's age and its creatures since at least the beginning of recorded history. Each culture has its own history of creation.
The English prelate James Usher, basing his beliefs on the Bible, calculated that the Earth was created in 4004 B.C. Scientific investigations have, of course, pushed back this date of creation considerably - to 4.5 billion years. MacDougall explains this figure was arrived at by looking at geologic formations and radiocarbon dating. He discusses the geologic upheaval that gave the Earth its structure and the gradual evolution of life about 3.5 billion years ago.
The distribution and structure of the Earth's landmasses are the result of an ongoing shifting of the Earth's outer layers (mantle), and also upheavals in the molten core. The movement of portions of the Earth's solid surface was first postulated by a German scientist, Wegener, almost 100 years ago.
In the 1960s, the movements of the lithosphere, the solid surface of the Earth, were better understood and confirmed by mapping the ocean floors and measuring their magnetic orientation. The science of plate tectonics makes it possible to understand the rise and fall of mountain ranges, distribution of volcanoes and prediction of earthquake sites.
Fossil records of evolution and the presumed progress from unicellular organisms to complex plants and animals is briefly sketched. Geologic records indicate mass extinction from time to time. In the 1980s, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, proposed the theory that a mass extinction (including that of the dinosaurs) occurred at the end of the Mesozoic era, marking the boundary between Cretaceous and Tertiary periods. This was attributed to a large impact by an asteroid. The author summarizes the evidence that supports this view.
A similar major extinction in the oceans happened at the junction of the Permian and Triassic eras. The reasons for this are not clear. But such mass extinctions have happened a number of times, and the timing and underlying causes are the subject of scrutiny.
In the last chapter, the author considers the implications of the geological record for what can be expected to happen to the Earth, and its inhabitants, in the future.
The conclusions are supported, and the presentation is simple but not simplistic. The book uses a number of tables and diagrams and a comprehensive glossary. There also is a short list of suggested reading for those who want to pursue the topic further.
Ranes Chakravorty is a surgeon at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem and a member of the University of Virginia medical faculty.
Discoverer of sunken Titanic tells life story
Reviewed by ROBERT ALOTTA
EXPLORATIONS: My Quest for Adventures and Discovery Under the Sea. By Robert D. Ballard, with Malcolm McConnell. Hyperion. $14.95.
As an individual with less interest in undersea exploration than in mud wrestling, this reviewer was completely mesmerized by "Explorations."
The book chronicles the life and legend of Robert Ballard, the scientist who, among other things, led the expedition that found the "unsinkable" Titanic, more than 12,500 feet deep beneath the icy North Atlantic. Although that might have been a high point, it was just another of Ballard's successes in a 30-year career as a scientist and underwater explorer.
Beginning with his "career" (Ballard served much of his naval duty with his future employer, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, on Cape Cod, Mass.), Ballard relates how the world's knowledge of the undersea frontier has changed radically in the last 30 years.
Ballard's forte was in the promotion and development of equipment that allows oceanic explorers to probe deeply into the seas. His ideas caught on in many circles including, most importantly, the U.S. Navy. After giving a lecture at the Naval War College on the strategic importance of using deep ocean terrain in future submarine warfare, naval officials agreed to finance the field testing of his submersibles in exchange for the right to use it in times of national emergency.
The technology that Ballard and his team developed was used to search for sunken submarines. Ballard found the Thresher and Scorpion submarines and helped the Navy determine if the Thresher was leaking radiation and if the sinking of the Scorpion was caused by a malfunctioning homing device on a torpedo. A few days after scouting the Scorpion, Ballard found the Titanic.
Ballard's autobiography, complete with dimples and warts, is eloquently told. The author takes the reader through the death of his oldest son, Todd, and the collapse of his first marriage. After finishing "Explorations," this reviewer dug out copies of "The Lost Ships of Guadalcanal" and "Discovery of the Titanic," both by Ballard - and enjoyed them all over again.
Robert Alotta is an author and talk show host in Harrisonburg.
Story to save rain forest may lose reader
Reviewed by BOB FISHBURN
HUMANITY'S DESCENT: The Consequences of Ecological Instability. By Rick Potts. William Morrow. $25.
AMAZON STRANGER: A Rain Forest Chief Battles Big Oil. By Mike Tidwell. Lyons & Burford. $22.95.
One of the many, seemingly endless arguments over the environment is whether "nature" is in a state of equilibrium that mankind upsets only at its peril, or in a perpetual flux that makes industrial man's assaults relatively harmless in the long run.
The implications of those polar presumptions are profound, particularly as reflected in governmental policy.
The current administration, under Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, is solidly in the former camp, which might be summed up as "man vs. nature'': Natural areas must be set aside to protect "ecosystem stability."
Ricky Potts, director of human origins at the Smithsonian Institution, appears at first reading to be in the second camp: The natural world, he says, has had a long history of radical instability, and man's history has been one of responding to radical changes in his surroundings, not in adapting to gradual shifts. But he stops short of saying that because nature is unstable, man's contribution to that instability is minimal. Mankind, he says, has become part of the forces of instability, and only by understanding and working with nature can we avoid environmental disaster in the long run. His final word is: We are an integral part of the vast scheme; first, do no harm.
The Tidwell account of one man's battle to save a portion of a rain forest and the small tribe that inhabits it, although often fascinating, is, like the forest itself, overripe in places and almost impenetrable in others.
Bob Fishburn is former editor of this newspaper's commentary page.
BOOKMARKS
Still life comes up flat
Reviewed by MARY ANN JOHNSON
'SHINE. By Rodger Doss. Doscar. $11.95.
As a Franklin County resident, I wanted to like this book. Set in the Callaway area, it relies on familiar place names and activities, and for that reason, it has appeal. Also the incident the story is based on, the liquor conspiracy of 1934 and subsequent murder, is true. The cover art by Dell Siler is colorful and eye-catching. Another plus is the way the author relates the popularity of auto racing to the history of moonshine running. And there is Kurt Rheinheimer's glowing description on the back.
Some problems, though, hold the book back. The plot, presented as fiction, is obscured by stronger factual asides that are never directly linked to the story. Characters tend to be stereotypes rather than well-developed individuals. These difficulties may be overlooked in favor of Doss' obvious love for his subject, but the countless grammatical errors relentlessly point to a need for editing.
The concept of a novel based on the business (and to these folk it was legitimate business) of making and running 'shine, is a good one. The mash here has flavor - it just didn't stay in the still long enough.
Mary Ann Johnson is book page editor.
Books in Brief
Understanding the stars
Reviewed by PAUL DELLINGER
BLIND WATCHERS OF THE SKY.
By Rocky Kolb. Addison-Wesley. $25.
During a dinner at a physics conference seven years ago, the author was seated next to a historian who was an expert on the year 1857. When he asked why she chose that year, she replied that it spawned a remarkable idea. He asked if she meant Kirhoff's discovery of the chemical composition of the sun. No, she meant the publication of Karl Marx's political theories. To this day, Kolb finds it hard to understand why an economic theory (since discredited) could be seen as more important than learning the stuff of which stars are made.
In whimsical fashion, Kolb gives us a history of astronomy in a fashion understandable to non-astronomers and sprinkled with humorous footnotes. His account moves from Tycho Brahe and Galileo (with a fuller understanding of how Galileo and the Catholic Church came to be at odds) right on up to Edwin Hubble (for whom the space telescope is named) and the "big bang" theory of the creation of the universe.
For readers with a curiosity about how we gradually came to understand what we do about the heavens, Kolb's book will be a treat.
BRAVING THE ELEMENTS: The Stormy History of American Weather.
By David Laskin. Doubleday. $23.95.
You may never look at weather in the same way again.
David Laskin's book delivers a weather-eye history of North America, starting with the rising ocean that trapped Asian nomads who had unwittingly crossed over into the New World. We learn how close Thomas Jefferson came to establishing an early national weather prediction system, and read about promises of paradise-like lands that lured settlers west into what often proved a deadly new home. Laskin provides an overview of weather forecasting from TV's "weather girls" to today's Weather Channel. He discusses the influence of "greenhouse effect" warming predictions on public weather perceptions and where our near-future weather may be heading.
The influence of the weather in the history of our nation may have been underrated in the past, and it may have a greater impact on the future than many of us anticipate.
Paul Dellinger covers Pulaski County and Southwest Virginia for this newspaper.
LENGTH: Long : 192 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. photo of Earth as seen from the moon.by CNB2. 'Shine book cover