Pg. 99: Chris Turney's "Ice, Mud and Blood"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Chris Turney's Ice, Mud and Blood: Lessons from Climates Past.

About the book, from the publisher:

Imagine a world of wildly escalating temperatures, apocalyptic flooding, devastating storms and catastrophic sea levels. This might sound like a prediction for the future or the storyline of a new Hollywood blockbuster but it’s actually what occurred on earth in the past. In a day and age when worrying forecasts for future climate change are the norm, it seems hard to believe that such things happened regularly over time. Can humankind decipher the past and learn from it?

As science gains new understanding of how the planet works, it’s becoming increasingly clear that no one place is disconnected from anywhere else. From the Alps to the Andes, seemingly unrelated parts of the world are connected in one way or another. By reading this book you’ll realize that we're facing challenges beyond anything our species has had to contend with before.

Among the acclaim for Ice, Mud and Blood:

"Chris Turney's 'Ice, Mud and Blood' is lively, well-researched, and up-to-date. A summary of key discoveries by scientists about past climate change, it ranges widely across time and all over the planet. Turney begins many of these stories with delightful anecdotes about people who centuries ago stumbled on confusing observations that in time came to be understood as the result of climate change."
--Prof. William F. Ruddiman, author of Plows, Plagues and Petroleum

"Chris Turney has unveiled a climate crystal ball. It’s made of ice, covered in mud, and tells the past and likely future of life on Earth. Join him as he delves expertly into the layered depths of climatic history and exposes the stark warnings to all fossil-fuelled humanity that they hold."
--Dr Dave Reay, author of Climate Change Begins at Home

"A great read on a critically important subject. Turney's best book yet."
--Prof. Tim Flannery, author of The Weather Makers

Learn more about Ice, Mud and Blood and its author at Chris Turney's website.

Chris Turney is a Professor in Physical Geography at the University of Exeter. He did the radiocarbon dating on the "Hobbit" fossil of Flores, Indonesia, that hit the headlines worldwide. He also the author of Bones, Rocks and Stars: The Science of When Things Happened.

The Page 99 Test: Ice, Mud and Blood.

--Marshal Zeringue