Abstract
IT is unusual, in Great Britain at all events, to find a book of elementary science enlivened with facetious illustrations. Such, however, is the case in. “Down to Earth”, a volume of nearly five hundred pages by Croneis and Krumbein, published by the University of Chicago Press. There is a large number of figures of which one may be cited as a sample of many. It is entitled “Earth has not yet answered the question of her origin” and Earth is represented as a girl in a straw hat, short skirt and apron scratching her head, and is being pointed at by three stars in top hats and walking sticks. In addition to the many figures there are sixty-three plates which at first sight look as if they had been taken from some weekly illustrated magazine. Yet the book is a very good one. The plates, each one made up of several good photographs o<fc. occasions diagrams, convey a great deal of sound” information on various aspects of geology, palaeontology and their applications to modern life. Not all the text figures are humorous; many are the more usual form of diagrammatic illustration, portraits or reproductions of historical medieval text figures. The text is good and conveys a great deal of information. A school boy or girl might perhaps be attracted by the lighter aspects of the volume to absorb the more solid parts, which in fact form the larger part of the work.
Down to Earth:
an Introduction to Geology. By Carey Croneis and William C. Krumbein. Pp. xviii + 501 + 64 plates. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press; London: Cambridge University Press, 1936.) 17s. 6d. net.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Down to Earth. Nature 138, 527 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/138527b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/138527b0