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Ice Age
John and Mary Gribbin tell the remarkable story of how we came to understand the phenomenon of Ice Ages. They focus on the key personalities obsessed with the quest for answers to tantalizing questions.How frequently do Ice Ages occur? How do astronomical rhythms affect the Earth's climate? Have there always been two polar ice caps? What does the future have in store?With startling new material on how the last major Ice Epoch could have hastened human evolution, Ice Age explains why and how we learned the Earth was once covered in ice—and how that made us human."Best work of science exposition and history that I've read in many years!"—Charles Munger, Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corporation
112 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
124 people are currently reading
2534 people want to read
About the author
John Gribbin
376 books829 followersJohn R. Gribbin is a British science writer, an astrophysicist, and a visiting fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex. His writings include quantum physics, human evolution, climate change, global warming, the origins of the universe, and biographies of famous scientists. He also writes science fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
May 24, 2017
I chose this book after coming across an article about Charlie Munger (of Berkshire Hathaway). He recommended it due to the clear and persuasive way that it lays out the science. I agree, assuming that it is consistent with the known facts about ice ages -- this is the first, and probably only, book I've read on that topic. The book is unusually short and laser-focused on its subject matter. There is absolutely no discussion of how human activity affects ice ages, which would seem to be a more useful topic than the causes of the 10000-year cycle of major ice ages.
October 21, 2017
Imagine if we had a way to gather information about our world, think up ideas about how it got to be this way and then test those ideas against other sets of information and ideas. Then imagine if those ideas led to more ideas and better ways to gather information, and more collaborations that further refined and broadened our ideas about our world and its history. Not every idea would necessarily be right, but that wouldn't matter because the process actually benefits by using what is wrong about an idea to refine future ideas. Having better and better ideas about the past could help us understand the present and anticipate the future, which would be good, right?
Oh yeah, we do have that way, and it's called Science.
Read the history of a science, any science (because there isn't just one monolithic entity despite my capitalization) and you will learn that the path to knowledge is a winding one, with dead-end paths and seemingly uncrossable streams, giant boulders blocking the way, but it's a path that does lead to something, and that something is not imaginary.
This particular history deals with climate change, but the kind that happens over tens of thousands of years. A misreading of this gloss could easily lead to thinking that it is a refutation of anthropogenic warming (the stuff we've caused by pumping carbon into the air), or even that what we're causing is even a good thing (it isn't), but the author preempts this at the outset.
Some critics have mentioned that this book is, in fact, too brief, but I would say that for those interested in climate science, it's a very good introduction to the short history of the long cycles of our current icy epoch.
Oh yeah, we do have that way, and it's called Science.
Read the history of a science, any science (because there isn't just one monolithic entity despite my capitalization) and you will learn that the path to knowledge is a winding one, with dead-end paths and seemingly uncrossable streams, giant boulders blocking the way, but it's a path that does lead to something, and that something is not imaginary.
This particular history deals with climate change, but the kind that happens over tens of thousands of years. A misreading of this gloss could easily lead to thinking that it is a refutation of anthropogenic warming (the stuff we've caused by pumping carbon into the air), or even that what we're causing is even a good thing (it isn't), but the author preempts this at the outset.
Some critics have mentioned that this book is, in fact, too brief, but I would say that for those interested in climate science, it's a very good introduction to the short history of the long cycles of our current icy epoch.
November 28, 2019
A short book on ice ages, interglacial period, epochs and events, the wobbling-precession-orbital eccentricity of earth, magnetic pole flips and how it all affects the climate and how ice-ages forced evolution of proto-apes to homo sapiens. A great short book for the inquisitive people.
November 29, 2020
How ice ages occur and recede, and how do we know that
The book narrates how we came to realise (in the 19th century) that there existed times in the past when large parts of Earth’s surface were covered by ice. We found it incredible at that time and it took decades to establish that the Ice Age really existed. After that, geologists and astronomers started efforts to figure out when and how the ice age occured and receded. With the aggregation of knowledge, advancement in technologies, and hard work by geniuses, it was known that ice ages are a recurring phenomenon. A complete cycle of an ice age followed by an interglacial (the time between two ice ages) repeats every few 10,000 years. The book reveals how various astronomical factors (like minor changes in Earth’s orbit around the Sun and its tilt) and changing geography (changes in shapes & locations of continents and resultant changes in ocean currents) conspire to begin and end ice ages. The book also gives a fair bit of idea about various technologies to convey how we know what we know. Finally, there is an attempt to relate the time-scale of recent ice ages with the evolution of humans.
The book is fascinating for the facts it reveals, concepts it teaches and makes us realize that we are living in a very special time-window in the Earth’s very long history. On the negative side, I think, the writing style could be more fluid and the details about the lives and characters of scientists could be avoided, although it is already a small book with 100-odd pages.
The book narrates how we came to realise (in the 19th century) that there existed times in the past when large parts of Earth’s surface were covered by ice. We found it incredible at that time and it took decades to establish that the Ice Age really existed. After that, geologists and astronomers started efforts to figure out when and how the ice age occured and receded. With the aggregation of knowledge, advancement in technologies, and hard work by geniuses, it was known that ice ages are a recurring phenomenon. A complete cycle of an ice age followed by an interglacial (the time between two ice ages) repeats every few 10,000 years. The book reveals how various astronomical factors (like minor changes in Earth’s orbit around the Sun and its tilt) and changing geography (changes in shapes & locations of continents and resultant changes in ocean currents) conspire to begin and end ice ages. The book also gives a fair bit of idea about various technologies to convey how we know what we know. Finally, there is an attempt to relate the time-scale of recent ice ages with the evolution of humans.
The book is fascinating for the facts it reveals, concepts it teaches and makes us realize that we are living in a very special time-window in the Earth’s very long history. On the negative side, I think, the writing style could be more fluid and the details about the lives and characters of scientists could be avoided, although it is already a small book with 100-odd pages.
March 28, 2023
This isn't a very long read, but it's a relatively complete history of the discovering of how the rhythm of the Ice Age and Interglacial periods work, which spans across several centuries.
The focus of the book is really more about the scientists that have each built on the discoveries of their predecessors, even at the face of a lack of recognition and popularity during their own time. I read this book due to a recommendation from Charlie Munger, and it's led me to be more fascinated about the pass-the-batton style history of scientists.
If I were to guess why Charlie Munger thought this was an interesting book, it may have simply been his fascination of the thinking process of scientists.
Due to this book I am now reading: The Scientists: A History of Science Told Through the Lives of Its Greatest Inventors, written also by the same author.
The focus of the book is really more about the scientists that have each built on the discoveries of their predecessors, even at the face of a lack of recognition and popularity during their own time. I read this book due to a recommendation from Charlie Munger, and it's led me to be more fascinated about the pass-the-batton style history of scientists.
If I were to guess why Charlie Munger thought this was an interesting book, it may have simply been his fascination of the thinking process of scientists.
Due to this book I am now reading: The Scientists: A History of Science Told Through the Lives of Its Greatest Inventors, written also by the same author.
December 16, 2024
What a read! I wholehartedly recommend it to you as one of the best expositions of science in the making I have read. Well and succinctly written.
´The Gribbins´ take us through the basics of the science behind ice ages and interglacials, and then through the evolving phases of several theories and technical developments within multiple subjects through skill, coincidence and serendipety to expose the theory and how it probably intertwined with geology, meterology and evolutionary biology to give a pathway for human existence.
I read this in concurrence with David Epstein´s "Range". And the story if this book is a very good example of how important science can be a product of people with interdiciplinary interests, luck and coincidence, lateral and analogical thinking and great synthesis by people roaming through several scientific diciplins.
´The Gribbins´ take us through the basics of the science behind ice ages and interglacials, and then through the evolving phases of several theories and technical developments within multiple subjects through skill, coincidence and serendipety to expose the theory and how it probably intertwined with geology, meterology and evolutionary biology to give a pathway for human existence.
I read this in concurrence with David Epstein´s "Range". And the story if this book is a very good example of how important science can be a product of people with interdiciplinary interests, luck and coincidence, lateral and analogical thinking and great synthesis by people roaming through several scientific diciplins.
July 18, 2018
This book is a delightful account of a case study in how the scientific method works in practice. Any high school student with a solid interest in the sciences would appreciate the way in which the book finds the right balance between explanations of the science and the narrative of the fascinating journey towards a complete model of ice ages (epochs). Starting with the first, Victorian era, attempts at an astronomical model for explaining ice ages and associated climate changes, the authors show how, through a series of fits and starts, the model developed into a powerful explanatory model by the 1970's.
April 3, 2020
Velika mala knjiga. Ovo je primjer dobro napisane popularno znanstvene knjige. Priča kako je nastala teorija o klimi, kako je stvara zemljina putanja oko sunca, kako su se otkrivale i dokazivale hipoteze o nastanku ledenih i toplih perioda i kako je sve to utjecalo na razvitak ljudske vrste. Jedan podatak mi zvoni u glavi: treba 80 puta više energije da se led na 0 stupnjeva rastopi na vodu 0 stupnjeva. Ako se sav led otopi a toplina i dalje pristiže, na koliko će se voda ugrijati?
October 10, 2024
Ice age
Very interesting book. Good summary overview of how we have arrived at our current understanding of ice ages and interglacial periods. The book at times delves into too much depth around the scientists who derived these theories and calculations. Just a personal note. The theories and calculations are described in detail, however still understandable to the normal reader.
Very interesting book. Good summary overview of how we have arrived at our current understanding of ice ages and interglacial periods. The book at times delves into too much depth around the scientists who derived these theories and calculations. Just a personal note. The theories and calculations are described in detail, however still understandable to the normal reader.
March 4, 2018
This is a great book if you enjoy stories about science. I loved how even in science there is an aspect of the unknown, the uncontrollable, the unexpected, and how truth brings everything back together. I want to learn to be an unassuming man, to truly listen to my peers, and this book helped me recognize that reality within me.
June 10, 2020
This book confirmed and updated what I had learned in geology 70 years ago that we are in an interglacial period with more glacial ice to come. And am now convinced this global warming scare is caused as the earth melts the accumulated ice in preparation for the next one. The only advantage of the co2 buildup will be to hold off the ice-oh well that's a ten K year worry not mine!
June 20, 2021
Quick and very interesting. Shows the significance of a life spent pursuing research, how it can bear fruits for successive generations, if rejected by your own.
Also crazy to see how quickly this outlook on earth's history came into being. No one was even talking about "Ice Ages" until the early 1800s!
Also crazy to see how quickly this outlook on earth's history came into being. No one was even talking about "Ice Ages" until the early 1800s!
February 27, 2024
Excellent and concise work on the history of scientific understanding of ice ages. It is always a good feeling to see the small steps taken over long periods of time that lead to scientific understanding of different processes that shape our natural world and give us better perspective on the future.
April 12, 2021
Enjoyable and educational.
In a time of intense misuse of scientific vocabulary and knowledge, specially in climatology, I'm really glad for having found a good quality text on the theme with no political agenda.
In a time of intense misuse of scientific vocabulary and knowledge, specially in climatology, I'm really glad for having found a good quality text on the theme with no political agenda.
July 15, 2024
I didn't know much about the theory of ice ages. This book was absolutely great at explaining how we got to this knowledge in a very compact and easy to read manner. The book is quite short and super super enjoyable. I would really recommend it to anyone who's not familiar with the subject.
November 16, 2018
Very interesting
The ice ages are explained with lucid detail. The connection of ice ages with human evolution makes it a compelling read.
The ice ages are explained with lucid detail. The connection of ice ages with human evolution makes it a compelling read.
June 22, 2019
Fascinating.
The history of an idea and how it was developed can as every bit interesting as the idea itself can be.
The history of an idea and how it was developed can as every bit interesting as the idea itself can be.
November 25, 2020
I love reading astronomy and geology books as they put in context how ineffectual we are and how much larger life is than us. This is a great primer on Earth’s ice ages and where we are now.
March 16, 2023
An interesting piece of science history, short and precise. I found myself wondering about the implications of many of the findings, which lead to me being slightly disengaged at times.
January 28, 2024
Short, simple book is study of ice age from its research origin to current reality of confirmation of Milankovitch Model and its cosmic effects on climate and humans. Well written.
May 5, 2024
Great, short read. Perfect for a weekend.
January 3, 2025
Quick read, history of science, might not have all the details about the discoveries as it is presented pretty linearly.
July 29, 2024
Is climate change real? Yes. Climate changes. It has been changing for billions of years. Are we humans affecting it endangering our future? Yes. But it has been politicized for profit and division. If you follow a political side on climate change but can’t define what climate is and how it happens - that is a problem.
Notes:
- We are currently in an interglacial period? In between the last ice age and an upcoming one.
- Climate is defined by astronomical influences mainly, causing oceanic influences and -as a consequence of that- you feel hot or cold or the wind.
- Did you know the earth supported life while having no ice for most of its existence? And that a north and a South Pole is a rare event?
- CO2 levels in the atmosphere today [ ~400ppm (10ppm is like 1 drop of water in one gallon)] is actually not dangerously high but dangerously low in the big picture. When politics say it’s high, do they mean, compared to 100 years ago? You gotta ask, compared to when?
- Dinosaurs and their nature lived under 1000-2000ppm.
- Our planet is warming because of astronomical and oceanic influences, and as we finish leaving the last ice age that started ~100,000 years ago and ended around 20,000 years ago, we’re now heading towards the next ice age.
Technically, things are about to get cool 😬.
Debatable: CO2 levels are indeed affecting us with more heat that we’re comfortable with in our lifetime however it seems it has also help slow down the next ice age.
It seems we are hurting ourselves to save our lives.
Notes:
- We are currently in an interglacial period? In between the last ice age and an upcoming one.
- Climate is defined by astronomical influences mainly, causing oceanic influences and -as a consequence of that- you feel hot or cold or the wind.
- Did you know the earth supported life while having no ice for most of its existence? And that a north and a South Pole is a rare event?
- CO2 levels in the atmosphere today [ ~400ppm (10ppm is like 1 drop of water in one gallon)] is actually not dangerously high but dangerously low in the big picture. When politics say it’s high, do they mean, compared to 100 years ago? You gotta ask, compared to when?
- Dinosaurs and their nature lived under 1000-2000ppm.
- Our planet is warming because of astronomical and oceanic influences, and as we finish leaving the last ice age that started ~100,000 years ago and ended around 20,000 years ago, we’re now heading towards the next ice age.
Technically, things are about to get cool 😬.
Debatable: CO2 levels are indeed affecting us with more heat that we’re comfortable with in our lifetime however it seems it has also help slow down the next ice age.
It seems we are hurting ourselves to save our lives.
September 1, 2021
I love that they kept this book short and sweet. No need to turn it into a 300 page book to sell more copies.
Read
April 10, 2016A short history (112 pages) on how the cycles of ice sheets advancing and retreating over the past 3 million years came to be recognized through geological evidence through the work of people like Charpentier and Agassiz and how the conditions that brought them about were explained theoretically through the work of Milankovitch. Then the book goes on to detail how the overwhelming weight of evidence over the last fifty years has come to support the so called Milankovitch cycles as the cause of the ice sheet cycles. (Surprisingly the cycle alone is not enough to cause the ice sheets to grow, the present configuration of the continents does not allow circulating ocean currents to completely melt the ice, allowing them to grow when the cycle conditions are favorable.)
March 25, 2015
If you're into the history of science and the discovery that Ice Age's have been a key feature of Earth's and humankind's evolutionary past, then this is a quick and easy to read book, which will well acquaint the reader to these ideas.
I was looking for a more factually dense and referenced book which could give me broad scientific insight into Ice Ages and their associated climate sciences. I wanted to know what processes occur to trigger Earth's entry and exit from Earth's freezer settings. This book does not provide this insight - and i accept this might be more about my expectations - but that was not easy to deduce from its promotional overview.
I was looking for a more factually dense and referenced book which could give me broad scientific insight into Ice Ages and their associated climate sciences. I wanted to know what processes occur to trigger Earth's entry and exit from Earth's freezer settings. This book does not provide this insight - and i accept this might be more about my expectations - but that was not easy to deduce from its promotional overview.
November 10, 2015
Feel like it could be a 5-star "within its genre".
This is a 'primer'/overview of how we discovered/confirmed the Ice Age cycle of the Earth.
It doesn't go heavily into math, but does a good job explaining some of the nuances and terms, while at the same time leaving me in awe of how we can figure out this stuff from the changing orbit of the Earth and the gravitational influence of other planets/stars on us over ... epochs. At one point, reading about these planetary timescales, I had a moment of clarity that all our hurried strivings can just, really, calm down.
I appreciated the straightforward, balanced tone and information of the authors. I would read other books by them.
This is a 'primer'/overview of how we discovered/confirmed the Ice Age cycle of the Earth.
It doesn't go heavily into math, but does a good job explaining some of the nuances and terms, while at the same time leaving me in awe of how we can figure out this stuff from the changing orbit of the Earth and the gravitational influence of other planets/stars on us over ... epochs. At one point, reading about these planetary timescales, I had a moment of clarity that all our hurried strivings can just, really, calm down.
I appreciated the straightforward, balanced tone and information of the authors. I would read other books by them.
March 25, 2016
Any questions you have about Ice Ages will be answered in this short but comprehensive summary on ice ages. Alternatively, you could look up 'ice age' on Wikipedia but I doubt it would give you as much detailed information. It's not only about why ice ages form and how frequently they form, but it also about the history of the how scientists figured out those things. It also made me think that the information that we take for granted these days (such as ice ages) was actually hotly debated only one hundred years ago.
Short and easy read that is recommended to anyone interested in climatology or science history in general.
Short and easy read that is recommended to anyone interested in climatology or science history in general.
July 19, 2015
A bit outdated and written in an extremely dull style.
June 12, 2017
- learnt about different Trial and error ways to guess ice age
- we are in an ice age, the earth is 4B years old and was super hot in the beginning.
- we are in an ice age, the earth is 4B years old and was super hot in the beginning.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews