The Dating Game: One Man's Search for the Age of the Earth
Description: The Dating Game: One Man's Search for the Age of the Earth chronicles Arthur Holmes's efforts to establish an accurate geological timescale and determine the Earth's age amid scientific challenges and personal struggles
ISBN: 0521893127
Found in 1 comment on Hacker News
View on Amazon
We may earn a commission from purchases made through links on this page.
Not ready yet? Get weekly book picks.
Get the best books from Hacker News each week
Join 4,500+ subscribers and get the best books mentioned on Hacker News every Thursday.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Dating-Game-Search-Earth/dp/052189...
by Cherry Lewis [0].
It's an informative read. Especially the stuff about the actual calculations. It's fun to realise how massively the early approaches (salinity, heat transfer considerations, etc.) were blown out of the water by good old nuclear decay (Rubidium->Strontium, as I recall).
Once again, nuclear phenomena are damn near magical.
[0]: http://www.bris.ac.uk/earthsciences/people/cherry-l-lewis/in... . It's a solid department (though I'm biased - I used to study there). They're totally immersed in all things earth science. Rarely seen so much enthusiasm.