Sand: A journey through science and the imagination - Softcover

Welland, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 019958818X ISBN 13: 9780199588183

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 2010

Synopsis

This book is all about sand - sand in individual grains, each one a little different; sand in piles; sand in shoals and dunes; the science of sand but also, shot through the book, sand and imagination - the art and the music of sand. Did you know that the Sand Mountain in Nevada emits a low C, while dunes in Chile sound an F, and those in Morocco a G#? For all its ubiquity, sand is an extraordinary substance. For scientists, it is important in many ways: it represents the crushed remains of past rock, and builds up into layers in lake and ocean beds, layers of sandstone from which we can extract the history of deep time; its erosion creates complex landscapes of mounds and dunes which move in characteristic ways; its grains are remarkable individually and in their behaviour together as a granular material. And to travellers, poets and artists, the deserts it forms are full of grandeur and pathos. Michael Welland is a geologist who has a passion for sand. He shows that truly, one can see a world, both in space and time, in a grain of sand.

About this title

Review

Surprising and fascinating sandy facts in this information-dense book. (Zoe Kamen, Time Out)

Fascinating study. (PD Smith, Guardian)

About the Author

Michael Welland is a geologist who has worked around the world in the energy industry. He is a fellow of the Geological Societies of America and London and the Royal Society for the Arts and Commerce.

Edition details

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 019958818X
• ISBN 13: 9780199588183
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352