Synopses & Reviews
The new seven-volume Discovering the Earth set examines the efforts made by scientists in the fields of environment, environmental protection, and environmental science. Covering a broad range of topics--including the Earth sciences, atmosphere, oceans, ecology, animals, plants, and exploration--the books in this comprehensive set provide a panorama of brief accounts of particular discoveries and the people who made them. These stories explain the problems that were solved, the ways they were approached, and, in some cases, the dead ends that scientists sometimes reached. Ideal for high school and college students and particularly valuable to students of environmental studies, ecology, biology, geography, geology, and the humanities, the books in the Discovering the Earth set shed light on the way the scientific aspect of Western culture has developed. Written in clear language and requiring no mathematical knowledge, these helpful books feature sidebars where necessary to explain a particular concept as well as full-color photographs, tables, charts, and further resources.
Synopsis
People have been at the mercy of weather since they first learned to cultivate plants and raise domesticated animals. A single hailstorm can destroy a crop. Alternatively, enough rain at the right time mixed with sun will ripen plants and create an abundant harvest. Because it is a matter of life and death, people have tried to understand weather patterns throughout history. Interesting theories of weather phenomena have since evolved from the notion that supernatural beings were attributed to atmospheric conditions and could bring suffering and death. The scientific study of the atmosphere was born more than 2,000 years ago in Greece, as philosophers realized that weather patterns had more to do with natural processes than with the intervention of gods.
Synopsis
Atmosphere tells the story of the atmospheric sciences, beginning with the recognition that air is a material substance a mixture of gases and describes the unraveling of its chemical composition. This new resource examines the invention of the barometer and thermometer, which are the most basic of meteorological instruments, and how they came to be calibrated by Daniel Fahrenheit and Anders Celsius. Complete with full-color photographs, sidebars, and further reading, Atmosphere is an essential book for students interested in the atmospheric sciences.