The Floating Egg : Episodes in the Making of Geology

The Floating Egg begins with the search for an alchemist’s secret and ends with the re-imagination of a past world. Each chapter is connected to a particular corner of northeast England, and each explores the uncertain line where myth is dissolved into science and belief gives way to knowledge. For example, one episode shows how the fall of Constantinople 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. 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 endeavor, the author has produced a fascinating, visually beautiful, and highly entertaining book that allows us to witness the birth of a new science—geology.