Abstract
IN his book on “The Birth and Death of the Sun”, Prof. Gamow revealed himself as a witty and enthusiastic writer with a remarkable flair for successfully popularizing current problems of stellar evolution. He has now applied his lively style of exposition to the life-story of the earth. The book deals broadly with the age and origin of the earth ; the birth of the moon ; the internal structure of the earth ; the origins of mountain ranges and continents ; climatic changes ; the origin and evolution of life ; and the final melting of the earth “in the last desperate explosion of its dying parent”-the sun. The narrative is as vivid and exciting as before, but this time, unfortunately, it is no longer sustained by an adequate background of expert knowledge. In consequence the book is seriously marred both by carelessness as to facts and by an uncritical adoption of many highly speculative hypotheses.
Biography of the Earth
Its Past, Present and Future. By Prof. George Gamow. Pp. xiv + 242 + 27 plates. (New York: The Viking Press ; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1941.) 12s. 6d. net.
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HOLMES, A. Biography of the Earth. Nature 150, 391 (1942). https://doi.org/10.1038/150391a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/150391a0
