Naked Earth : The New Geophysics

Naked Earth is a comprehensive overview of geophysics, presented in a compact 208 pages. Vogel accomplishes this feat with concise, to-the-point prose. Yet she manages to cover all the major aspects of the field: the historical development of earth science, its major theories, and the personalities and conflicts of its developers. The level of detail given is not exhaustive, but thorough.The interior structure of the Earth was first explored via seismology. Vogel describes how the temperatures and densities of the various strata were mapped with the so-called p-waves and s-waves produced by seismic events (also by nuclear weapons tests). This gave the early geophysicists the current conception of the earth's division into crust, mantle, and core.She goes on to explain how this led to the notions of tectonic plates, earthquakes, continental drift, sea-floor spreading, magma convection within the mantle, and magma plumes. Her constant emphasis throughout the book concerns the ceaseless interactions between the various components of the earth's crust, mantle, and core, and the dynamics of the solid earth with its oceans, atmosphere, and magnetosphere. The book concludes with the place of the earth in the solar system, as a target for asteroids and comets.Throughout the book the scientific process is given due attention. Vogel explains how key ideas led to the development of further key ideas mainly by the patient aggregation of geological evidence; she makes the point that nearly nothing known in geophysics came about by some "breakthrough discovery". She also explains how the field's development was retarded at times because scientists had "crazy ideas" that they were afraid would damage their careers if made known, but which turned out to be entirely correct. I though that was a nice corrective to the common misconception of the genius scientist who figures out the whole thing in a burst of inspiration.As I said, the coverage is not exhaustive -- if the reader wishes to know in great detail about some particular aspect of geophysics, this book will probably not satisfy that curiosity. But for the casual reader who wishes to educate himself about the main ideas in geophysics and how they were developed, this is one concise book where he can gain a comprehensive overview of the field.

This is a beautiful intro into fascinating geology! It's written as a set of stories, making it appealing to the young audience, however it describes many complex geological notions and provides an insider view into this science and people in it, into research methods and history. I first took this book from the library but it was such a good read I wanted to have it so I could get back to it always. Highly recommend!

Reading Shawna Vogel's Naked Earth reawakened my interest in geophysics - it's a great read, and the best overview I've seen on both the huge changes in the field recently and the arguments that have occurred. My only criticism is that some diagrams would have helped a lot, but Vogel's writing is clear enough to carry the story.

It was boring.