About this item
In this engrossing and accessible book, Doug Macdougall explores the causes and effects of ice ages that have gripped our planet throughout its history, from the earliest known glaciation -- nearly three billion years ago -- to the present. Following the development of scientific ideas about these dramatic events, Macdougall traces the lives of many of the brilliant and intriguing characters who have contributed to the evolving understanding of how ice ages come about. As it explains how the great Pleistocene Ice Age has shaped the earth's landscape and influenced the course of human evolution, Frozen Earth also provides a fascinating look at how science is done, how the excitement of discovery drives scientists to explore and investigate, and how timing and chance play a part in the acceptance of new scientific ideas.
About the Author
Doug Macdougall is a writer, geoscientist and educator. He is a former Professor of Earth Sciences (now Emeritus) at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, where he taught and carried out research in geochemistry for many years. An avid traveler, his research has taken him around the world, from Siberia and the Canadian Arctic to southern India, China, and the floor of the Pacific Ocean in the submersible Alvin. His non-fiction books aim to bring the excitement of geoscience research to a wide range of readers, and he has recently begun to write fiction with a first novel, Diamond Men - a novel that also has a geological backdrop. Macdougall is a passionate canoer and most summers he finds time to paddle the lakes of his native Ontario. Born in Toronto, Macdougall currently lives and writes in Edinburgh, Scotland.
