A Wilder Time, by William E. Glassley

William E. Glassley is a geologist with UC Davis, drawn to the slow yet inexorable movement of rock within and upon our planet. This book is his Walden, part scientific inquiry, part travelogue of solitude in one of the last truly wild places on earth. His musings can sometimes get repetitive, but the message is still powerful: we must protect these spaces, if not for themselves, then at least for us, as a mirror against which to hold our humanity, our civilization, which is nothing unless it stands against the wilderness. We need something of the world that has no US in it, to be reminded of our place within the vastly complex ecosystem of the planet.

Glassley was invited to Greenland by two fellow geologists who were on a mission to prove a theory they had postulated years before, but that had been refuted by another group. Their argument is that Greenland was the site of great continental collision and drift, the joining seam of two continents millions of years ago. In fact, the rocks and rock formations they found proved their point and more, displaying evidence of incredibly deep movement that indicates that plate tectonics were active many millions of years earlier than previously thought. It's a fascinating look into our planet's early history, an atmospheric journey into the wild and what it can teach us.

If you're in the Bay Area, Glassley will be speaking at the Napa Library on 2/28 at 7:00!


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