4.42 A&G • August 2012 • Vol. 53

Reviews

Exploring the origins of orogenesisOrogenesis: the Making of Mountains Michael R W Johnson and Simon L Harley, 2012, Cambridge University Press, £45, hbk.Earth is the only planet known to have plate tectonics: a shell of

largely rigid plates in constant motion forming part of the physical and chemical circulation of the planet. The movement seems to regulate our long-term climate, provides abundant niches for life to exist and evolve, and may (or may not) be a necessary feature for the existence of complex life. Our tectonic regime is therefore something that planetary scientists need to understand. But it is not a discipline that has long been studied from a planetary perspective, rather it has been tackled from the ground up, by scientists focusing on aspects of the problem, such as faulting, or metamorphism, or the age of the ocean floor. A more holistic approach

is therefore timely, and it is one that is taken by the authors of Orogenesis: the Making of Mountains. The authors have used the more general term orogenesis in their title because they consider here both today’s topographically obvious mountain belts that arise from plate tectonics – such as the Alps – and those long since eroded, yet which preserve information about planetary mechanisms. Michael John-son and Simon Harley draw together this very diverse dataset in order to synthesize general ideas about how orogenic belts form and affect the planet as a whole, for example its climate.

It is no simple task, yet it is one that is made both possible and scientifically rewarding by the revolution in data collection, manipulation and storage of the past few decades. This has made it possible to map and model large-scale orogenic features and to examine other types of information, such as the details of timing pre-served in metamorphic histories from ancient orogenies and the plate movements mapped in more recent belts.

More and better data does not in itself help; it

can merely confuse the picture. However, this is where Orogenesis makes a difference. The authors have kept the focus on well-studied orogenies – the Himalayas, the Alps, the Andes and the Caledonides – to look at the physics and chemistry of mountain-building. Specific problems, such as the deep structure of moun-tains, are then discussed with reference to other regions. The book starts with description and definitions – necessary when bringing together insights from such a broad range of disciplines, and in regions where decades of work have imposed regional and topical jargon. (Brittle–ductile transition, anyone? Or do you prefer frictional–viscous?) The synthesis developed by the authors means that this book is a valu-able reference for anyone wanting answers to questions such as “How fast do faults move?” or “How long does a mountain belt take to form?” But it is the examination by Johnson and Har-ley of the whole lifecycle of orogenic belts that is especially valuable. Their examples allow examination of all stages of collision, uplift and collapse, and the combination of physical

The crescent of the Western Alps shown on 17 January 2011 by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellites. This natural-colour image shows snow-capped mountains and vegetated valleys. (Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC)

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Reviews

and chemical data sources highlights the value of, for example, developing pressure–tempera-ture–time histories for different styles of meta-morphism preserved in orogens.

The focus on selected orogenic belts means that it is possible to compare and contrast their evolution and examine questions such as “Why are orogens curved?” The Himalayas curve as a result of the shape of the Indian impactor, but what about the Alps? Are there traces of the shape of the colliding plates, or did the curve develop as the belt grew? Orogenesis provides an excellent basis for understanding the current

state of play across many fields, making it an excellent starting point for considering what these processes contribute to the evolution of the planet as a whole.

Planetary scientists will find a summary of current thinking across many aspects of current Earth sciences here, and especially the chapters on long-term change and the effects on climate. The consideration of heat flow and melting in the body of the book, for example, gives context to the discussion of the time of onset of subduc-tion and the formation of the continents – key areas for planetary and exoplanetary evolution,

especially in the context of the origin of life.All in all, Johnson and Harley have produced

a remarkable synthesis of one of the most sig-nificant features of our planet, using the forma-tion of mountain belts to delve into the details of the whole tectonic process. They have fitted together the myriad jigsaw pieces of, for exam-ple, deep seismic profiles, field geology, geo-thermometry and geobarometry, among many many more. This work makes the conclusions from these areas accessible to a wider range of researchers than the specialists who in general produced them. SB

In a nutshellTweeting the Universe: Tiny Explanations of Very Big Ideas Marcus Chown and Govert Schilling, 2011, Faber and Faber, £12.99, hbk.Soundbite science is the derogatory term fre-

quently ascribed to attempts to summarize com-plex scientific ideas in short, sharp sentences. Science, the argument goes, is a complex edifice of interdependent ideas that demand thoughtful explanation, qualification and extended argu-ment to be fully appreciated. Laudable though that aim may be, it falters in the face of short, sharp questions such as “How do stars work?”, “What is dark energy?” and “What does the ultraviolet sky look like?” Tweeting the Uni-verse is an attempt to match such snappy ques-tions with answers that are equally to the point. Marcus Chown and Govert Schilling have risen to the challenge of responding to questions on the Twitter website by producing a series of answering tweets, using the limit set by Twit-ter, of 140 characters per point.

The challenge is that of any short communica-tion: to get the message across without missing out the important points. And this the authors achieve, providing answers that are intriguing as well as informative and draw the reader in. They do rely on analogy, as does so much explanation of science in languages other than mathematics, but hard facts have a place as well, as would be expected from two such experienced science communicators. For example, the answers to the questions above include “A star may win a few battles against gravity, but it never wins the war”, “No one knows”, and “unimpressive”. In short, this book answers tricky questions with useful facts and analogies, making it just the sort of book you would like to have on hand when with curious children. Not just sound-bites, then, but definitely science. SB

Galaxies from another angleA Panchromatic View of Galaxies Alessandro Boselli, 2011, Wiley-VCH, £85, hbk.The breadth of infor-mation available from observatories on the ground and in space is changing the way that

astrophysicists regard the skies. Classifications of astronomical objects based on how they appear to the eye have proved deceptive and even limiting compared to the physical understanding that can come from stepping back and looking at sources in terms of their radiation across the spectrum. This is what Alessandro Boselli’s A Panchromatic View of Galaxies aims to do, summarizing the increasingly widespread use of multifrequency datasets and examples of how they can be used to understand galaxy evolution.

The book starts with an overview of how gal-axies work and how the various frequencies of

radiation originate. Then Boselli examines rela-tionships between different parts of the spec-trum that provide information on properties such as gas or dust mass, and moves on to draw-ing these deductions together to track galaxy evolution. The author’s aim is to produce a book for postgraduate students and others working on galactic evolution; it is especially valuable because of the increase in survey-led astrophys-ics, where this approach offers a much better means of sample selection than some morpho-logical classifications. Boselli deals specifically with statistical tools and scaling relationships, before moving on to matter cycles and feed-back, finishing the book with a look at how the environment in which a galaxy forms affects its evolution. Overall, Boselli has more than made the case for this approach to galactic evolution. The book is well-sourced and draws widely on the literature, giving access to a wide range of examples of use of the methods the author advo-cates – and making the book an especially useful resource for those starting in the field. SB

This multiwavelength composite image of NGC 1512 comprises seven individual exposures made with the Hubble Space Telescope. These exposures were taken by the Faint Object Camera (FOC), Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), and the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS). (NASA, ESA, Dan Maoz [Tel-Aviv University, Israel, and Columbia University, USA])

Reviews

4.44 A&G • August 2012 • Vol. 53

RAS book series gathers paceTaking the Back off the Watch: A Personal Memoir Thomas Gold, 2012, Springer, £90 (£72 for Fellows), hbk.The RAS series of books on astronomy and geophysics, pub-lished for the Society by

Springer, is gathering momentum. In June the series published Taking the Back off the Watch, an autobiographical memoir of the late Thomas Gold FRS, who received the Society’s Gold Medal in 1985. He was one of the most remark-able astrophysicists in the second half of the 20th century and he attracted controversy throughout his career. I had the honour, and enjoyment, of editing Tommy’s draft for publication.

The book is a highly personal account of Gold’s remarkable life in science. He fled Vienna in 1933, eventually settling in England and com-pleting an engineering degree at Trinity Col-lege Cambridge. During the second world war he worked on naval radar research alongside Fred Hoyle and Hermann Bondi. An unlikely chain of events eventually led to Gold working with Bondi and Hoyle on steady-state cosmol-ogy. In 1968, shortly after the discovery of pul-sars at Cambridge, Gold produced the rotating neutron-star model. At Cornell University Gold and his colleagues persuaded the US Defense Department to fund the radio telescope at Arecibo in Puerto Rico. The book will inter-est historians of science on account of its many behind-the-scenes accounts of astronomy and space science in the period 1945–85.

As the commissioning editor of the series I

aim to publish books of outstanding merit that have a small market. Springer is supportive of this policy, which has enabled us to develop a list of academic and popular books on topics in the history of astronomy. In 2013 we expect to publish a scientific biography of Caroline and William Herschel, written by Michael Hoskin, as well as a book marking 30 years of science with the UK Infrared Telescope (UKIRT).

The series welcomes proposals for books based on conferences or themed sessions at the National Astronomy Meeting and the monthly meetings at Burlington House. The forthcoming UKIRT volume was based on papers given at a meeting to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the telescope. The so-called “Father of the Big Bang” is the topic of another collective work titled Georges Lemaître, his Life, Science and Legacy, which is currently in press with Springer.

As well as academic books, the series remit includes textbooks at all levels, lecture notes at postgraduate level, and advanced amateur astronomy. As the series editor I am available to help authors shape their proposals to take advan-tage of what the series has to offer. For books based on conference papers I provide practical advice and support to authors. I take all respon-sibility for finalizing the work package submitted to the publisher, and I handle all of the questions from our production and marketing colleagues at Springer. In practical terms the RAS series is a “full service” book-publishing operation within which I handle the seemingly tedious, but never-theless important, editorial details.

Fellows are entitled to a 20% discount on RAS books ordered from Springer. The RAS website has details on this offer at http://bit.ly/QpC8jt.Simon Mitton

Translations bring Galileo to lifeGalileo: Selected WritingsNew translations by William R Shea and Mark Davie, 2012, Oxford University Press, £10.99, pbk.This neat paperback brings together modern translations of Gali-

leo’s key writings, including A Sidereal Message and Observations on the Copernican Theory. The book includes substantial explanatory notes and a useful introduction, but what really brings it alive is the readable modern language of the translations. Indeed, in his translation of the Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems,

Galileo’s popular account of his ideas in the form of a conversation, Mark Davie has pro-duced a lively colloquial argument, albeit not quite the sort of thing you would hear in your local pub. But, as Galileo intended, it makes his ideas accessible.

This translation does the same for Galileo’s more formal descriptions of his observations and their significance, followed by an account of Galileo’s trial by the Pope’s Commission of Enquiry, concerning his publications including the Dialogue, his statements in his defence and his final abjuration of the idea that the Earth was in motion. Galileo defends his publications in the name of free scientific discussion, in terms that ring true today and are now available to a much wider audience. SB

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