Turning to Stone

March 1, 2024

Bjornerud (author of the LJ Best Book Geopedia), a professor of environmental studies and geosciences at Lawrence University, returns with this exploration of the ways geology explains the planet and its constantly changing state. In addition to tracing her life as a scientist and the many transformations of her field, she delves into the rocks. Prepub Alert.

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June 10, 2024
In this stimulating blend of memoir and science, Bjornerud (Geopedia), a geology professor at Lawrence University, meditates on the rock formations she’s encountered throughout her life and what they reveal about natural and human history. She recounts traveling to the Canadian Arctic to study turbidites (“distinctive, repetitively layered, sedimentary rocks” that form around the edges of continental shelves) and describes how in the 1960s, research on such rocks led to the discovery that mountains are created by continental collisions. Other chapters focus on humanity’s relationship with the land, as when Bjornerud laments how oil companies have destroyed farmland around her northwestern Wisconsin hometown by mining it for sandstone, which they use to prop open underground fissures in fracking operations. Bjornerud’s distinctive perspective encourages readers to view rocks as active protagonists in Earth’s history. She notes, for instance, that surging basalt lava flows 250 million years ago expelled huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and triggered the largest mass extinction the planet has ever experienced. Throughout, the lithe prose impresses (she writes of the sandstone-lined creeks she frequented as a child, “Great cascading icicles would form on the banks, some like stately architectural colonnades, others suggesting the fangs of monstrous creatures”). It’s a remarkably human take on the geological world. Agent: Eric Henney, Brockman, Inc.

August 1, 2024
A story of a lifelong love for our "wise old planet." "Earth is vibrantly alive," writes geologist Bjornerud, "and speaking to us all the time." This she has believed since she first began working, though she has not always felt comfortable admitting it. Scientific orthodoxy demands a dispassionate and analytical approach; animism is taboo in the academy. Now, after several other geology books for general audiences (Reading the Rocks, Timefulness, Geopedia), Bjornerud has written the story of her deepening relationship to the idea of an "animate, sentient, and creative" Earth. Thirty years into her career, she is no longer wary of owning this belief. In fact, she argues, we may need it now more than ever. Our species is dangerously out of alignment with "the system that sustains it," fantasizing about Mars or the "metaverse" as potential new human homes. If we were to understand that Earth is "distinguishe[d] from its lifeless siblings" by its sacraments and rituals--if we "came to think of ourselves as Earthlings with deep bonds of kinship with each other, and all components of nature"--we might get ourselves into sync with that system. Bjornerud would like readers to feel love for the Earth, but it can be difficult to get passionate about abstractions; her passion for the planet comes across most vividly in the book's specifics. When Bjornerud explains in interesting, accessible language how plate tectonics makes Earth's volcanoes different from those on Mars, how the appearance of vegetation altered the life cycle of sandstone, or what it is like to live in tents and study rocks in polar bear country under a midnight sun, readers can experience for themselves an earth scientist's enthusiasm and joy in knowledge. Urgent lessons about the Earth, told through one geologist's career.

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July 19, 2024
Bjornerud, a geologist studying mountain-building processes, conveys the story of her expanding relationship with Earth as her area of expertise has experienced an exceptional period of scientific discovery since she entered the field in the late 1970s. The text consists of 10 chapters, each titled after a specific type of rock, including sandstone, dolomite, granite, and quartzite. With eloquent writing, the author interlaces stories of her family and career with details of the science and history of the rocks being profiled. The chapter on sandstone describes her childhood running through sand to catch the school bus while also describing the processes for how sandstone helps to conduct, store, and distill groundwater. Meditating on what rocks reveal, Bjornerud relays her fieldwork experiences in sites worldwide, including Svalbard, Norway, and Ellesmere Island, Canada. Also included are explanations of various earth systems such as how rocks help mitigate the effects of climate change by sequestering carbon. Bjornerud's curiosity and enthusiasm for the rocks she studies shine on the page and will inspire readers to rethink their relationship with Earth and its ancient rocks.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.