The Legend of Atlantis & the Science of Geology
by Joseph O’Donoghue
Style: Nonfiction / Science
ISBN: 9798350910278
Print Size: 376 pages
Reviewed by Erica Ball
A thought-provoking ebook on how the existence of the legendary Atlantis won’t be as far-fetched as we’ve been led to consider
Say the phrase “Atlantis” and also you’ll both pique somebody’s curiosity or paint your self as a crackpot. Effectively, the latter is what Joseph O’Donoghue, geologist-turned-science-critic and writer of Atlantis and Disaster: Fable or Actuality?, is making an attempt to alter.
And he’s planning on being thorough, taking a complete of eight books to do it, with a sequence known as The Legend of Atlantis and The Science of Geology. This serieswill share the outcomes of his decades-long analysis into the Atlantis fable, why it’s turn into as controversial because it has, and whether or not it might however have been based mostly the truth is.
Atlantis and Disaster: Fable or Actuality? is the primary quantity that delves into the Atlantis story itself, as documented by Plato, in addition to the way it was handled very in another way by Plato’s successors and different students than it’s right now. It additionally consists of how and when that change in perspective took place.
The idea of this sequence started with the writer’s personal disillusionment with what he noticed as a closed-minded perspective inside geology. Whereas he ended up leaving that profession, he by no means misplaced his curiosity in geology. Additionally lengthy intrigued by Atlantis and whether or not the sinking of such a spot was doable from a geological standpoint, his private curiosity led to a long time of studying and researching that branched into disciplines as assorted as philology, classics, archeology, comparative mythology, physics, astronomy, and extra.
His analysis bolstered his impression that the geological institution had purchased too far into one principle of pure forces, to the extent that they needed to shut their eyes to any details that contradicted it. In consequence, that they had made themselves blind to apparent and observable phenomena that their principle couldn’t clarify.
The idea in query is uniformitarianism, which is the concept that the forces at work within the pure world (like erosion) haven’t modified over time, and so every thing we observe should have an evidence that’s nonetheless at work. It additionally implies that adjustments occur very slowly and step by step. On the floor, this appears logical, however issues come up as a result of it merely can’t clarify every thing. There are some occasions we all know occurred, just like the Ice Age, that aren’t explainable by this principle, or that may solely have occurred by huge catastrophes.
As soon as uniformitarianism is questioned, quite a lot of matters turn into much less taboo, like the potential for the sinking of a legendary landmass. And as soon as his analysis started, the writer discovered there was loads of proof that it might effectively have occurred simply as Plato described.
And it’s not simply the Atlantis fable that then turns into a possible avenue for scientific inquiry, however historic legends from all around the world that cope with nice floods, fires, and earthquakes, all of which have been summarily dismissed as nonsense as a result of there is no such thing as a room for such potentialities underneath uniformitarianism.
The writer argues, briefly, that the precise observable details of the world have taken a backseat to ideology or the egos of the individuals concerned, that information handed down by way of the ages has not been correctly explored as a result of it posed a risk to the scientific institution, somewhat than resulting from an absence of benefit by itself half.
So, along with being of apparent curiosity to those that are drawn to the potential for superior historic civilization as supplied by the Atlantis fable, this ebook may even be intriguing for these finding out the historical past of the pure sciences, each historic and trendy. As it’s interdisciplinary in scope, it should additionally attraction to readers of archeology, mythology, Egyptology, and the classics. The textual content is at occasions technical, so some familiarity with educational writing in a number of of those disciplines is advisable.
The quantity of proof inside this ebook is compelling in scope and breadth. I can solely think about what’s to return within the forthcoming volumes. It’s clear that the Atlantis query, together with many others, has been too simply dismissed as a topic deserving of analysis.
This ebook joins a rising checklist of those that argue for a return to fact-based analysis and the formation of theories that really handle and clarify all observable phenomena. It’s a name to return to true science, which is able to assist us each be taught from our previous and inform our future.
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