- ISBN13: 9780226322933
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Taking advantage of recent advances throughout the sciences, Matthew Hedman brings the distant past closer to us than it has ever been. Here, he shows how scientists have determined the age of everything from the colonization of the New World over 13,000 years ago to the origin of the universe nearly fourteen billion years ago.
Hedman details, for example, how interdisciplinary studies of the Great Pyramids of Egypt can determine exactly when and how these incred… More >>
The Age of Everything: How Science Explores the Past
Tags: colonization of the new world, great pyramids of egypt, hedman, incred, interdisciplinary studies, origin of the universe, pyramids of egypt, science, scientists
#1 by G. Poirier on June 30, 2010 - 3:13 pm
As indicated in the introduction, the aim of this book is to provide the public with a sampling of the methods that are used to measure the ages of various things. It is based on a series of lectures that the author has given on this subject. Using as tools the precession of the earth’s axis, the decay of radioactive isotopes of certain elements, DNA, light from distant stars, cosmic background radiation, etc., the items whose ages are explored include (but are not limited to) the Classic Mayan civilization, Egyptian pyramids, various archaeological artifacts, events in human evolution, meteorites, stars and even the universe. Since the book is aimed at the general public, mathematical details have been omitted. However, the author pulls very few punches regarding the level at which each case is presented. As a result, readers may find some chapters challenging if they have little or no prior familiarity with the basics of the topics presented. The book contains many diagrams and plots that complement the main text very well. The writing style is clear, authoritative, generally friendly but occasionally dry. This book can be enjoyed by the more serious general reader but it will likely be appreciated the most by science buffs. There is much too learn from this book. As a result, it would likely make a useful reference in university courses on this subject.
Rating: 5 / 5
#2 by L. Kelly on June 30, 2010 - 4:28 pm
This book would be the perfect gift for the educated reader who has an interest in any of the following topics: the ancient Maya, ancient calendrical systems, human evolution, radiocarbon dating, potassium-argon dating, so-called “molecular clocks,” the evolution of animals, the age of the universe, etc. Dr. Hedman demonstrates a thorough knowledge of a very wide range of scientific topics which are all thematically tied together by the idea of determining chronology and age. Anyone who has read Spencer Wells’s popular books on human ancestry (or Brian Sykes’s) will probably enjoy this book, which complements the others rather than duplicating their more involved discussions about molecular biology (the author is an astronomer-anthropologist rather than a geneticist). This book might also appeal to those who enjoy Jared Diamond’s work. I think the book might be especially appealing to engineers and others with a grounding in “hard science” who have always had an interest in archaeology, human evolution, etc, but its inter-disciplinary focus makes the book appealing to a wide audience.
The only issue I have with the book is one common to non-specialists who write about archaeological cultures such as the ancient Maya: they are the Maya, not the Mayans (just as the term for one ancient culture in the South American Andes is the Inca [or Inka, to use a more modern, quechuanized spelling], not the Incans). You would think that editors from a top-notch academic press like Chicago would have insisted on using the correct terminology!
Rating: 5 / 5