Product Description

Documents and explains the natural climatic and ecological changes that have occurred during the past 2.6 million years. It also outlines the emergence and global impact of humans during this period.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #255098 in Books
• Published on: 1999-11-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Review
'A useful synthesis of information and ideas on environmental change in the last 3 million years.' - Dr Antoinette Mannion, Reading University

'A very clear and concise update of our present state of knowledge on long term climate and environmental change - perfect primer for advanced courses and essential reading for introductory geography and earth science courses.' - Dr D. J. A. Evans, Glasgow University

From the Back Cover
The Great Ice Age is also our age. The four and a half billion year evolution of the Earth and its biota culminated in the appearance of a life form capable of studying and manipulating the planetary systems at a time when the Earth experienced rapid and regular climatic changes. With human consciousness focusing as never before on the world around us, we are now beginning to realise the enormity of the global experiment we are conducting as the 'conscious forcing function' in the evolution of the Earth system. [np]Part I of The Great Ice Age documents the dramatic climatic changes that occurred over the last 2.6 million years of the Earth's history, and Part II outlines ways in which these affected life and the evolution of humanity.[np]Much of Part I is a detective story, discussing the clues (proxy climate indicators) that palaeoclimatologists use to reconstruct past changes and how they attempt to explain them. An underlying theme of this story is the interconnectivity of all the components of

Customer Reviews

An excellent review of the Earths varied climate
This book covers a wide range of areas within ice ages and does so in detail. Explanations are given for almost every step in this climatic structure. The 'great' ice age has revealled some significant finds contributing to todays scientific research and reveals some very interesting and even disturbing facts. An excellently produced and well written insight into the past and possible future of the ice age.