The Seashell on the Mountaintop

by Alan Cutler

Book Overview

How could a seashell get into a rock? And how could that rock get to the top of a mountain? The seashell question plagues 17th century thinkers who fervently believed the planet was young and the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0452285461
• ISBN13: 9780452285460
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Plume Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.1" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Outstanding Contribution

I am a professor of geology who teaches History of Geology at a major US university. I used this book for the first time this year and it was very well received by the students. Cutler is an outstanding writer. He knows how to get the facts straight and at the same time tell an interesting story. I am a little perplexed at the claims made in another review of this book, namely that Seashell on the Mountaintop is "full of errors". Notably, the claimant doesn't list a single one of these supposed factual errors. I know a little bit about the History of Geology, and I have not yet found a single error in Cutler's manuscript. With regard to the reviewer's wish that Seashell on the Mountaintop "be burnt", I quote John Milton: "Who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God's image; but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were in the eye. Many a man lives a burden to the earth; but a good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life."Seashell on the Mountaintop is a very good book indeed.

a class act

Seashell on the Mountaintop intrigued me from page one. The work brings to life a fascinating time in the history of science that seems far different from our own. That rocks grow, or are in fact spontaneously generated seems absurd, ridiculous,.. but Cutlers's investigation into the life and times of Nicholas Steno seems to acurately portray a time and people who nearly held these ideas as inevitable. In Steno we find a man both spiritual and scientific whose independent, open minded, study and observations led to different conclusions. No revolutions, no public outcries, just a different set of conclusions from the same hard facts. The result, a new science of the past, present and future, called geology. That Steno, unlike other great scientists of the 17th century better known to us today, did not run a foul of the Catholic Church, and towards the winter of his life leaves science behind to become a priest, later saint, suggests that neither science nor religious belief hold firm precedence when interpreting the world. A view lacking today, and one impeding politics, society and civilization. Cutlers book is an excellent read, scholarly without heaviness and like Steno, intriguing with humble relevance.

Saint Steno

Nicolaus Steno first entered my consciousness when I took G. Sc. 1 or 2 at Penn State during the 1977-1978 school year. He hadn't been beatified yet, but our professor pointed out that some folks wanted him to be declared a saint. This seemed at odds with his extreme importance to the science of geology, at least to my 18 year old brain. At 44, I understand that humans can be extremely complex creatures and welcome Alan Cutler's wonderful Steno biography The Seashell On The Mountaintop to the lay-literature concerning the science of geology.Steno [aka Niels Steensens, Nicolai Stenonis] contributed [among other things] the principle of superposition to the science of geology, without which Earth history can not be done. After reading The Seashell On The Mountaintop, I better understand how the seemingly disparate elements of Steno's life flow one from the other. Cutler's prose style made Seashell an enjoyable read and I was particularly pleased that Seashell doesn't suffer from the hyperbole that scarred the otherwise fantastic The Map That Changed The World by Simon Winchester. I strongly recommend The Seashell On The Mountaintop to any reader interested in geology, history, biography, and the relationship between science and religion.As a high school earth science teacher, I'm very sensitive about the hegemony of biology, chemistry, and physics over science education in the United States. Maybe the recent string of popular books on geology and the other earth sciences will help a little to restore the earth sciences to their proper place in American life. I'm pretty sure Steno hasn't performed any miracles in my life, but he did inspire this little piece of grad school doggerel:Saint StenoWent to RenoLooking for an angle.He found some gold,Some riches untold,And he made the rocks untangle.