Richard Fortey’s wonderful The Earth (Harper Perennial, £9.99) is now in paperback. Ted Nield reviewed it for 91av saying, “Books with a title this ambitious generally do not live up to their billing. This one does.” Fortey takes us around the world, showing that it is “forever in transit”. The evidence he gives us ranges from the glassy strands that form as gases burst through molten lava to rocks thrown up from Earth’s core. Those delicate filaments, known as “Pele’s hair” in Hawaii, are clues to the volcanic action that shaped the Hawaiian islands. Even a single crystal in a mineral or rock can reveal how the earth has moved. Buy yourself a copy, and prepare to share it around.
Digging Up Deep Time (ABC Books, Australia, A$34.95) takes you round 16 sites that are the key to Australia’s past, from ancient bacteria and dinosaurs to kangaroos. Paul Willis and Abbie Thomas are great guides as they unravel the mysteries of fossils in shale, sand mines and stones, from pike-like fish to the ankle bone of the ozraptor, Australia’s only carnivorous dinosaur. Superior armchair reading and invaluable to travellers.
