From Publishers Weekly
Science writer Cutler (a contributing editor to The Forces of Change: A New View of Nature) re-creates a fascinating 17th-century world of political and religious upheaval and the progress achieved by curious scientists like the Danish anatomist and (according to Cutler) founder of geology, Nicolaus Steno (1638-1686). A one-time medical student renowned for "his preternatural skill with a scalpel," Steno discovered the parotid gland, which produces saliva, and tear glands. Steno's genius for anatomy provided him the tools to work on the mystery of fossils and the question of how seashells could be found in the rocks of mountains far from the sea. He hypothesized that layers upon layers of earth formed sediments in a sequence, recording a series of events and telling a story about the age of the earth. According to Steno, the stratum at the bottom is the oldest and that at the top is the youngest. Seashells, he said, found their way to mountaintops not by the great biblical flood, as many of his contemporaries believed, but by constant erosion and the sedimentation of soil. Steno published his discoveries in De Solido, after which he abandoned science, converted to Catholicism and spent the last 20 years of his life as an ascetic priest and eventually a bishop. In 1988, he was beatified. Cutler's animated and energetic prose provides a page-turning thriller of scientific discovery, and this splendid biography captures in intimate detail not only its subject but also the tenor of Steno's times.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Seventeenth-century Danish anatomist Nicholai Steno spent much of his scientific life working for the Medicis in Florence, where he was renowned for his skill in dissection. When he turned his attention to fossils, he invented the basic principles of studying the Earth's strata, demonstated that our planet was much older than was then believed, and showed that fossils are the remains of animal life, rather than animal-like fossils. He is today recognized as the "founder of the science of geology." Grover Gardner gives a straightforward rendition. His performance is all that one would expect from an AUDIOFILE Golden Voice--no histrionics; no unnecessary embellishments; just a clear, enjoyable listen. R.E.K. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
In piquant contrast to the oft-told tale of Galileo, the acclaimed martyr of astronomy, Cutler recounts the little-known story of Nicolaus Steno, the neglected saint of geology. Living scant years after Galileo, Steno devoutly embraced the church even as he advanced a revolutionary science that tested orthodoxy at least as much as Copernicanism. Despite his conversion to Roman Catholicism, Steno was undeterred from his scientific quest to understand why petrified sharks' teeth--and other remains of sea creatures--frequently appeared in rocks high in the Tuscan mountains. With his publication of the principle of superposition, Steno gave scientists a key to reading the history of the planet in its rock layers, a premise still central to modern geology. His theory discredited many traditional readings of Genesis, but Cutler finds no evidence that church censors disapproved of Steno's work or that Steno himself ever regarded his theory as a threat to his faith. Indeed, Steno concluded his life in holy orders and ultimately qualified for posthumous beatification. A sophisticated portrait of a forgotten pioneer. Bryce Christensen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Simon Winchester, The Boston Globe
Delightful…one of the best books of scientific history in recent years.


The Seattle Times
A book as complex and intriguing as the rocks that Steno studied.


Book Description
Seventeenth-century scientists were baffled: How did the fossils of seashells find their way to the tops of mountains? Nicolaus Steno, hailed by Stephen Jay Gould as "the founder of geology," solved the puzzle, looking directly at the clues left in the layers of the Earth. Paradoxically, at the same time his ideas were undermining the Bible’s authoritative claim as to the age of the planet, Steno was entering the priesthood and rising to bishop. He would ultimately be venerated as a saint and beatified by the Catholic Church in 1988. A thrilling tale of scientific investigation and the portrait of an extraordinary genius, The Seashell on the Mountaintop is the story of how a scientist-turned-priest forever changed our understanding of the Earth and created a new field of science.


About the Author
Alan Cutler has a Ph.D. in geology and is a writer affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. Cutler was a contributing editor to the book Forces of Change: A New View of Nature, a joint publication of the Smithsonian and the National Geographic Society; contributors included Stephen Jay Gould, John McPhee, and David Quammen. Dr. Cutler’s writing has also appeared in The Washington Post and The Sciences, among other publications.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Seventeenth-century scientists were baffled: How did the fossils of seashells find their way to the tops of mountains? Nicolaus Steno, hailed by Stephen Jay Gould as ￯﾿ﾽthe founder of geology,￯﾿ﾽ solved the puzzle, looking directly at the clues left in the layers of the Earth. Paradoxically, at the same time his ideas were undermining the Bible's authoritative claim as to the age of the planet, Steno was entering the priesthood and rising to bishop. He would ultimately be venerated as a saint and beatified by the Catholic Church in 1988.

A thrilling tale of scientific investigation and the portrait of an extraordinary genius, The Seashell on the Mountaintop is the story of how a scientist-turned-priest forever changed our understanding of the Earth and created a new field of science.