The Energy of Nature by E. C. Pielou, University of Chicago Press, published
in mid May, $25, ISBN 0226668061
THE trouble with geology is all the arm waving. Even the biggest, most
destructive earthquake loses something of its awe-inspiring might when you can’t
say how big it was, or how it compares with a hurricane or a cometary impact. In
The Energy of Nature, E. C. Pielou rights this wrong by setting out the
fundamental physics behind the workings of the Earth, dead and alive, from
atmosphere to core.
Her ambitious goal is to write the balance sheet for natural…
