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Plate Tectonics: A Ladybird Expert Book: Discover how our planet works from the inside out: 4 (The Ladybird Expert Series, 4) Hardcover – Illustrated, 22 Mar. 2018
How do plate tectonics work? Learn from the experts in the ALL-NEW LADYBIRD EXPERT SERIES
Discover in this accessible and authoritative introduction the fundamental theory of how our dynamic planet works.
You'll learn about the make up of the Earth in the past and the present, from monsoon-like currents in our planet's radioactive interior to magnetic force lines and what the planet would look like without water.
You will learn about:
- Our planet as an active living system
- The planetary force field
- Fault lines that cross continents
- How plates tectonics protects life on Earth
- And much more . . .
Written by the celebrated geologist, academic and popular science presenter Iain Stewart, Plate Tectonics explores the Earth as a planetary machine and investigates the people and ideas that changed the way we look at the world.
Learn about other topics in the Ladybird Experts series including Gravity, Quantum Physics, Climate Change and Evolution.
Written by the leading lights and most outstanding communicators in their fields, the Ladybird Expert books provide clear, accessible and authoritative introductions to subjects drawn from science, history and culture.
For an adult readership, the Ladybird Expert series is produced in the same iconic small hardback format pioneered by the original Ladybirds. Each beautifully illustrated book features the first new illustrations produced in the original Ladybird style for nearly forty years.
- ISBN-100718187180
- ISBN-13978-0718187187
- EditionIllustrated
- PublisherMichael Joseph
- Publication date22 Mar. 2018
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions11.99 x 0.79 x 18.01 cm
- Print length56 pages
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- Publisher : Michael Joseph; Illustrated edition (22 Mar. 2018)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 56 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0718187180
- ISBN-13 : 978-0718187187
- Dimensions : 11.99 x 0.79 x 18.01 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 664,312 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 83 in Geology References
- 92 in Earth History
- 93 in Historical Geology
- Customer reviews:
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- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 June 2022My friend loved his gift
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 June 2018Excellent service. Good read
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 July 2018Nice little book.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 August 2019This is a good book but is more about the history of tectonics and the scientists rather than the science itself. For this reason, I have given only 4 stars. However, if what you are looking for is a very brief look and the history then this is a good start.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 September 2018Should have had a reading age. Wouldn't normally say this but it seems a bit old for an 8 year-old. Even a bright one. Will give it to him eventually.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 April 2018As a starting point in assessing this book it's essential to know the cultural background of Ladybird books in the UK. These were a series of cheap, highly illustrated, very thin hardbacks for children, ranging from storybooks to educational non-fiction. They had become very old-fashioned, until new owners Penguin brought back the format with a series of ironic humorous books for adults, inspired by the idea created by the artist Miriam Elia. Now, the 'Ladybird Expert' series are taking on serious non-fiction topics for an adult audience.
The good news is that, unlike the other entries in this series I've seen so far (Big Bang and Artificial Intelligence), Iain Stewart (not to be confused with mathematician Ian Stewart) has a topic in plate tectonics where the illustrations can sometimes put across some useful information, as opposed to being mere irritating decoration. This only applies to the theoretical topics - for the historical pages, which is more than half of the book, we're back to the sort of illustrations that make this a very embarrassing book for an adult to read in public.
Given the relatively small amount of space, far too much of it was given over to step-by-step historical development. A page would tell us about one person or set of people's small contribution to the development of the theory. Then we would get another page with a different person's contribution, without any sense of narrative flow: it felt very jerky to read. It didn't help the large number of individuals Stewart felt it necessary to introduce. It became a bit too much of an academic name check, rather than the story of the quite interesting battle to bring the concept of plate tectonics to the fore.
To give Stewart his due, he did manage to make he first few pages quite interesting (though not in the QI sense), but he was unable to overcome the reality that geology is the hardest of the sciences to make anything but dull to a popular audience. At times the progress from page to page as we were told about a gradual change in scientific understanding seemed (appropriately) glacial.
It's possible when focussing on, say, Wegener's story to produce something that has the potential to grip the reader. But overall, this Ladybird simply didn't work for me.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 July 2021My son loved this book
Top reviews from other countries
- Porreca, JoannaReviewed in the United States on 16 February 2020
4.0 out of 5 stars Earth history explained!
Very good for young readers as it simplifies and give a very good basic understanding. Not only for young readers, but good for curious adults!
- Anirban MazumderReviewed in India on 9 March 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Great series
Another great edition from Ladybird expert series.