The Seashell on the Mountaintop: A Story of Science, Sainthood, and the Humble Genius Who Discovered a New History of the Earth

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review from Discover Great New Writers
The Seashell on the Mountaintop is a portrait of a rare genius, Nicolaus Steno, called "the founder of geology" because of his groundbreaking theories on the formation of the natural world. Steno began his career as an anatomist who refused to apply mere deductive reasoning to his experiments, insisting instead on empirical observation: Rather than fitting the facts to preconceived ideas, he adjusted his ideas to fit observable facts. When he applied his method to a mystery that had baffled the top scientific minds of his time -- why were the fossils of seashells found far from the sea? -- he reached a conclusion that would forever alter our understanding of the age of the earth.

In 17th-century Europe, the Church was the supreme authority, and the Old Testament the unquestioned source regarding the timetable of the earth. But for Steno, seashell fossils on mountaintops could be explained only in the context of a world old enough to have produced them, a world millions or perhaps even billions of years old. The most astounding twist in Steno's story was his decision to enter the priesthood just as his hypotheses began to cast doubt on the Bible's veracity as to the age of the earth. In time, Steno would rise to become a bishop, and he ultimately achieved sainthood in 1988. Summer 2003 Selection

FROM THE PUBLISHER

How did fossils of seashells find their way far inland, sometimes high up into the mountains? Nicolaus Steno, the man whom Stephen Jay Gould called "the founder of geology," explored beyond the pages of the Bible, looking directly at the clues left in the layers of the Earth. With his groundbreaking answer to the fossil question, Steno would not only confound the religious and scientific thinking of his own time, he would set the stage for the modern science that came after him. He would open the door to the concept of "deep time," which imagined a world with a history of millions or billions of years. And at the very moment his expansive new ideas began to unravel the Bible's authoritative claim as to the age of the Earth, Steno would enter the priesthood and rise to become a bishop, ultimately becoming venerated as a saint and beatified by the Catholic Church in 1988.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New York Times

Cutler's book is marvelous for making one think about what qualifies as an explanation, and for exploring the endless debates that mix strands of partial knowledge with the need to reconcile religious testaments. And it is timely. Nearly half the people in our country today don't accept evolution. Predictably, they have trouble with concepts of the age and structure of the earth, the generation and sequence of its fossil remains, and cosmology itself. For these people, the dialogue between religion and science has not changed much since the 1600's. So both the pious and the impious should find much to ponder in Cutler's account of Steno's times and the fate of his ideas. — Kevin Padian

Publishers Weekly

Science writer Cutler (a contributing editor to The Forces of Change: A New View of Nature) re-creates a fascinating 17th-century world of political and religious upheaval and the progress achieved by curious scientists like the Danish anatomist and (according to Cutler) founder of geology, Nicolaus Steno (1638-1686). A one-time medical student renowned for "his preternatural skill with a scalpel," Steno discovered the parotid gland, which produces saliva, and tear glands. Steno's genius for anatomy provided him the tools to work on the mystery of fossils and the question of how seashells could be found in the rocks of mountains far from the sea. He hypothesized that layers upon layers of earth formed sediments in a sequence, recording a series of events and telling a story about the age of the earth. According to Steno, the stratum at the bottom is the oldest and that at the top is the youngest. Seashells, he said, found their way to mountaintops not by the great biblical flood, as many of his contemporaries believed, but by constant erosion and the sedimentation of soil. Steno published his discoveries in De Solido, after which he abandoned science, converted to Catholicism and spent the last 20 years of his life as an ascetic priest and eventually a bishop. In 1988, he was beatified. Cutler's animated and energetic prose provides a page-turning thriller of scientific discovery, and this splendid biography captures in intimate detail not only its subject but also the tenor of Steno's times. (May) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

At a time when science adhered to biblical parameters, the only possible explanation for seashells found inland and on mountaintops was Noah's flood. Into this world a humble and quiet man named Nicolaus Steno introduced the idea of deep time and laid the foundation for the science of geology in a 78-page volume (best known by its abbreviated title, Prodromus) that remained dormant for more than 100 years. Born in Denmark, Steno was a remarkable 17th-century anatomist-turned-scientist whose studies carried him to Florence, where he became a priest (he was beatified by the pope in 1988). Science writer Cutler, who has a Ph.D. in geology, freely admits that this is not a comprehensive biography (several have been written in Danish, and the other works in English focus on Steno's beatification). Instead, Cutler skims over Steno's accomplishments as an anatomist and priest to concentrate on his work in geology. Like Dava Sobel's Longitude, Cutler's highly readable work compellingly depicts the significant discoveries of a single individual who changed prevailing perceptions. Highly recommended for all academic and larger public libraries.-Gloria Maxwell, Penn Valley Community Coll., Kansas City, MO Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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