The Floating Egg: Episodes in the Making of Geology - Hardcover

Osborne, Roger

3.98

48 ratings by Goodreads

9780224050289: The Floating Egg: Episodes in the Making of Geology

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0224050281 ISBN 13: 9780224050289

Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd, 1998

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Twenty-five stories are contained in this text, beginning with the search for an alchemist's secret, and ending with the re-imagination of a past world. Each is connected to a remote corner of north-east England, and each exploring the uncertain line where myth is dissolved into science, and belief gives way to knowledge. Different episodes show how the fall of Constaninople converted the common rock of the Yorkshire cliffs into a source of extraordinary wealth and power, and how this in turn uncovered the inhabitants of a succession of past worlds; how a stone falling from the sky near this same coast changed the minds of all the natural philosophers of Europe; and how a new science was born on the top of the tower of York Minster. The stories move from documentary accounts to fictional recreations of historic events, from contemporary writings and illustrations to present-day reflection. By using different ways of describing the world of scientific endeavour, the author has produced an entertaining book which allows the reader to witness the birth of a new science - the science of geology.

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Review:

The Northeast of England might seem a limited base for insights into the discovery of Earth's "deep history", its extinct inhabitants, the geography of the world and meteorites, but Roger Osborne draws out a fascinating story from his home ground. Such is the rich cultural, economic and scientific history of Britain, founded on a uniquely varied geological substrate, that even relatively small regions like Yorkshire and the Northeast have rich and "deep histories" just waiting to be re-excavated by a skilled and trained "miner" like Osborne.

Using his geological background to full advantage, Osborne digs into the past to recover fragments of historical and scientific documents that authenticate his stories. Their language sets an appropriate tone to support the introduction of perfectly plausible fictional characters. Encompassing a wide array of sources, from seemingly unpromising geological strata and the mining of alum, or the discovery of fossil reptiles and ammonites from Jurassic age sea-cliffs, through hyena bones from Kirkdale cave and the ice age Lake Pickerin to well-known local heroes such as William Smith and Captain James Cook, Osborne excavates deep "shafts" through rich seams of the particular into the more general.

The Floating Egg makes rewarding reading for the general reader, and those with a more specialised interest will never guess what the title refers to. It's worth reading the book to find out. --Douglas Palmer

Review:

"A wonderful tome...beautifully structured...utterly fascinating... Reading The Floating Egg is a captivating experience because there is at least one surprise in every chapter... Roger Osborne has combined portions of history, biology, architecture, palaeontology, astronomy - and a large dose of humour - and produced the fascinating story of how geology came to be" (The Times)

"His exploration of geology's Yorkshire roots is infallibly entertaining...A delightful book...quirky and thoroughly Yorkshire, and all the better for that" (New Scientist)

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