Impact
eBook - ePub

Impact

How Rocks from Space Led to Life, Culture, and Donkey Kong

  1. 304 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Impact

How Rocks from Space Led to Life, Culture, and Donkey Kong

Book details
Table of contents
Citations

About This Book

A Short History of Nearly Everything meets Astrophysics for People in a Hurry in this humorous, accessible exploration of how meteorites have helped not only build our planet but steered the evolution of life and human culture.

The Solar System. Dinosaurs. Donkey Kong. What is the missing link? Surprisingly enough, it's meteorites. They explain our past, constructed our present, and could define our future.

Impact argues that Earth would be a lifeless, inhospitable piece of rock without being fortuitously assaulted with meteorites throughout the history of the planet. These bombardments transformed Earth's early atmosphere and delivered the complex organic molecules that allowed life to develop on our planet. While meteorites have provided the raw materials for life to thrive, they have radically devastated life as well, most famously killing off the dinosaurs and paving the way for humans to evolve to where we are today.

As noted meteoriticist Greg Brennecka explains, meteorites did not just set us on the path to becoming human, they helped direct the development of human culture. Meteorites have influenced humanity since the start of civilization. Over the centuries, meteorite falls and other cosmic cinema have started (and stopped) wars, terrified millions, and inspired religions throughout the world.

With humor and an infectious enthusiasm, Brennecka reveals previously untold but important stories sure to delight and inform readers about the most important rocks on Earth.

Frequently asked questions

Simply head over to the account section in settings and click on “Cancel Subscription” - it’s as simple as that. After you cancel, your membership will stay active for the remainder of the time you’ve paid for. Learn more here.
At the moment all of our mobile-responsive ePub books are available to download via the app. Most of our PDFs are also available to download and we're working on making the final remaining ones downloadable now. Learn more here.
Both plans give you full access to the library and all of Perlego’s features. The only differences are the price and subscription period: With the annual plan you’ll save around 30% compared to 12 months on the monthly plan.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn more here.
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Yes, you can access Impact by Greg Brennecka in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Physical Sciences & Cosmology. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher
William Morrow
Year
2022
ISBN
9780063078949
Topic
Physical Sciences
Subtopic
Cosmology

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Dedication
  4. Contents
  5. Introduction: And So It Begins
  6. One: Important Early Meteorite Strikes
  7. Two: Cosmic Cinema for Early Humans
  8. Three: Humans and Heavens Collide
  9. Four: Prognostication, Panic, and Scientific Progress
  10. Five: Ingredients for Success
  11. Six: Free Samples from Mars
  12. Seven: From Space to the Laboratory
  13. Eight: Meteorite Mischief and Mitigation
  14. Nine: Modern Meteorite Research
  15. Acknowledgments
  16. Appendices: Notes on the Basics of Meteorite Research
  17. Sources and Additional Reading
  18. Index
  19. About the Author
  20. Copyright
  21. About the Publisher