Ice Ages: Solving the Mystery

by John Imbrie, Katherine Palmer Imrie, Katherine Palmer Imbrie

Book Overview

This book tells the exciting story of the ice ages--what they were like, why they occurred, and when the next one is due. The solution to the ice age mystery originated when the National Science Foundation organized the CLIMAP project to study changes in the earth's climate over the past 700,000 years. One of the goals was to produce a map of the earth during the last ice age. Scientists examined cores of sediment from the Indian Ocean bed and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674440757
• ISBN13: 9780674440753
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.8" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Historical and Astronomical foundations.

This book is a readable account of the historical explanations for the ice ages. It provides some details of the lives of those involved in the building of the theory and the issues encounter in bring it to the front on science. The book also provide details on the current theory including the geological and astronomical evidence to support it. In addition in the last short section attempts to project in to the future what should be expected and a little of what is occurring that may change that. If you wish to know about the current ice age theory this is certainly one book to consider.

Interesting Book

I found this a well written account of the subject. The authors include an extensive history of the intellectual development of the concept as well as scientific documentation of the cyclical nature of ice ages. This would be a good book to read along with The Ice Finders, which is a somewhat more intimate account of the early research on ice ages.

A very interesting, readable book

In addition to providing an interesting explanation for long-term climate change, this book gives a fascinating account of the dawning realization first that the Earth had ever experienced an Ice Age, then that the Earth had in fact experienced numerous Ice Ages, and finally that the Ice Ages have come and gone in time with variations in the Earth's orbit. While some of the early work was carried out by the usual lot of well-bred and well-educated (but sometimes eccentric) elites, the stories behind Croll and Milankovitch leave one amazed at the degree of focus that some individuals can bring to bear on a problem. It is a level of obsession and dedication that has to excite a certain amount of admiration.I thus recommend this book for its historic, personal, and scientific content. Read it!

Very well done indeed...

I am very impressed with this book and use it as a textbook for side reading in my glacial geology classes.

Excellent overview of Ice Ages and their mechanics

I read this book a couple of years ago and was engrossed from cover to cover as i learnt about the Ice Ages the processes that are thought to drive them over millions of years.According to the authors a complex motion of changes in the axis of Earth across all its cycles leads eventually to the conditions that result in a cascading drop in temperatures that eventually corrects itself via other climatic processes.Easy to read and understand while maintaining a good narative of scientific process and discovery.