The seashell on the mountaintop

About the Author Alan Cutler has a Ph.D. in geology and is a writer affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. Cutler was a contributing editor to the book Forces of Change: A New View of Nature, a joint publication of the Smithsonian and the National Geographic Society; contributors included Stephen Jay Gould, John McPhee, and David Quammen.  Dr. Cutler’s writing has also appeared in The Washington Post and The Sciences, among other publications. Product Description The story of enigmatic scientist-turned-priest, Nicholas Steno, who first proposed that the shell-shaped rocks commonly found on Italian mountaintops actually were fossils--a notion completely antithetical to the 17th century theological and scientific world view, which maintained that the earth was only 6000 years old. Placing Steno's story in the context of such characters as Darwin, Newton, Thomas Jefferson and Saint Augustine, Alan Cutler illuminates the subject of "deep time" by combining authoritative science with stories of extraordinary people to bring home the philosophical and personal significance of Steno's ideas, offering a fresh, new perspective on the very old planet on which we live.