SCRAPS of iron found scattered around what became known as convinced geologist Daniel Barringer that a huge iron meteorite lay buried there. From 1903 to 1929 he spent a fortune trying to dig it up, and was heartbroken when it proved to have been largely vaporised, leaving very little metal behind.
Barringer is one of a handful of history’s most passionate meteorite hunters profiled in The Fallen Sky. Their stories, richly told and a delight to read, are interspersed with accounts of the author’s own pilgrimages to major craters and meteorite sites, though at times…
