Product Description

Did the Earth once undergo a super ice age, one that froze the entire planet? A global adventure story and a fascinating account of scientist Paul Hoffman's quest to prove his maverick 'Snowball Earth' theory, this is science writing at its most gripping. In "Snowball Earth", Gabrielle Walker takes us on a thrilling natural history expedition in search of supporting evidence for the audacious theory which argues that the Earth experienced a climatic cataclysm 600 million years ago that froze the entire planet from the poles to the equator. Because the global snowball happened so long ago the ice has now long gone - but it left its traces in rocks around the world and in order to see the evidence, Walker visited such places as Australia, Namibia, South Africa and Death Valley, USA. Part adventure story and part travel book, it's a tale of the ultimate human endeavour to understand our origins.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50883 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The idea that the Earth has been completely frozen over by ice and snow might seem fanciful and deeply worrying, if true. Gabrielle Walker's Snowball Earth is the remarkable story of the theory, the evidence for it, the geologists who are behind it and those against it. The bad news is that it is highly likely to be true. As Gabrielle Walker expertly explains for the general reader, there have indeed been several such runaway glacial events. Polar ice caps, continental ice sheets and sea ice grew to such an extent that they all met in the tropics and our green and pleasant planet was whited out.

The good news is that it all happened a very long time ago, the last time around 650 million years ago and is highly unlikely to happen again, even in the distant future. Snowball Earth theory has been gathering strength over the last few decades and is one of the most remarkable discoveries in Earth science at the end of the last century. You might wonder why such major Earth encompassing and catastrophic events have gone unnoticed for so long. Well, it is a complicated and interesting story and Gabrielle Walker is well qualified to tell it as she has a science doctorate and has worked as an editor for Nature and New Scientist, so she has seen this idea grow over the years. More importantly, as she acknowledges has been a Snowball Earth groupie attending conferences, field trips, lectures and campsites around the world. Consequently, she has been at the coal face, seen the critical rocks which are now scattered around the world, thanks to an ongoing process known as plate tectonics which opens and closes oceans and shuffles the continents about. Walker has talked to the scientists involved about the evidence and the problems of their interpretation, so we hear directly from the mouths of the various horses. It's a fascinating story, well told and there are notes and further reading for those that want more details and a very useful index. --Douglas Palmer

Review
'An engrossing book on the emergence of a stunning new account of events on our primordial planet fascinating' Sunday Telegraph 'Riveting in its vivid portrayal of the great icy catastrophes which may have gripped our planet both the geological and the human story are brilliantly told' Oliver Sacks 'This is a story worth telling Walker is an ideal person to tell it Racy and pacey, with a focus on the people involved A very entertaining read' Independent 'She takes a cold topic, and creates a warm, readable story' Ireland on Sunday

Guardian
Part vivid scientific travelogue as well as an engaging account of a theory

Customer Reviews

A snowballs chance
I was really looking forward to this book, given Ms Walkers work on New Scientist and I was intrigued by the theory, but was yet to be convinced, so this I hoped would help me make my mind up.

But I am sorry to say that I found the book disappointing making me wish for another book on the subject, written in a different way.

My problem is that the book goes into huge detail on the personalities, academic arguments and even the athletic activities of Paul Hoffman. Fine, but I was interested in the theory and did not want a biography of the scientist concerned as I fail to see what relevance it had to the theory.

Now that would have been OK, had the book contained photographs of the rock formations, diagrams of the strata and paleo tectonic maps for example. The book contained none and in an expensive hardback science book I find this a major omission. While given my lack of expertise I may not have been able to read too much from the pictures, I would have liked at least to have had the choice. Compare this to Michael Benton's masterly work on the Permian extinction and this book, while enjoyable simply is in a lesser class.

That said I would certainly look out for Ms Walker's future books.

A Snow job or a revelation?
Gabrielle Walker's first book portrays the struggle of a renegade scientist to establish a theory of evolution's progress. Charles Lyell's established "uniformitarianism" in geology, followed by Charles Darwin's application of it in his theory of evolution by natural selection. The concept of gradual change in life as reflected in the fossil evidence is being challenged by some scientist. Paul Hoffman's research in Namibia indicated that Earth was subjected to an intense Ice Age prior to the Cambrian, severely interrupting life's progress. Walker introduces us to Hoffman and other major contestants in this game of reading the rocks. She presents him and the arguments with dynamic style, giving the book a certain panache.

Even under Walker's admiring scrutiny, Hoffman doesn't appear as an endearing figure. Yet, the very characteristics some find irritating are the same drives that kept the theory of Snowball Earth alive. Walker shows how combative science can be, with contenders sniping and quarreling like feuding families. They all have fossils, climate mechanisms and glacial processes on show. Walker attempts to give them all a hearing, but the opponents make but cameo appearances. She gathered her evidence by extensive journeys - her travel budget must have been prodigious. Walker reveals their peccadilloes and their strengths. When you are done, you feel a sense of identity, even intimacy with them.

Whether you are convinced of the thesis remains problematic. Walker's own sketchy knowledge forces a pause, wondering about the validity of her presentation. Her admission of being a "Snowball Earth groupie" erodes credibility. She offers many assertions as givens, such as the asteroid dinosaur extinction thesis. Theory popularity is good journalism, but sketchy science. Her journalist role leads her to overuse of buzzwords - "Slimeworld", the habit of bacteria to form mats - achieves fatiguing redundancy.

The predominant question, which Walker addresses only superficially, examines what process life underwent under these conditions. There was life before the Cambrian - clearly multi-cellular. How complex was it, and how resistant to the environmental crisis evoked by the Snowball Earth hypothesis? Ediacaran life was shallow sea bottom or surface dwelling. An ice blanket a kilometre or more thick would have been devastating to this population. Walker and her "group" are unable to form a coherent thesis of how life achieved complexity after the Snowball's meltdown, only that it must have happened - otherwise "we wouldn't be here". A valid statement, but one needing further support for how it might have occurred.

Walker's personalised account makes engaging reading, presenting a new idea needing more attention. While various modifications of the Snowball Earth notion have been offered, final judgment remains deferred. This is a good, but limited, overview of the debate and the participants. At some point, someone qualified will enlighten us further. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Snowball earth by Dr. G. Walker
As an avid reader of new scientist and listener to general bbc radio science programmes(sad I know but now got a biology degree out of it) the name Gabrielle Walker was one I'd come to recognise, firstly as a "by line" and then as features editor.
the book itself recounts the process where Paul Hoffman tries to proove the theory that 700 mil years ago a climactic cataclysm (I love that term) caused the creation of complex life, ie unicell joined and became multicells.
the book is not just the theory but also a bio of the man behind the theory, the history of the world it'self but also the journey whch Gabrielle herself took to the four corners of the world (literally),.
at this point I finish my review as I wouldn't want to disrupt anyone's read by telling it all. but it's a good easy to read book, with just the right mix of hard science, anecdotes, and geat prose. I highly recommend it to all whether science is your thing or not.