The Story of Earth: The First 4.5 Billion Years, from Stardust to Living Planet in Science and Inquiry

May 12, 2013 Charlene rated it really liked it

Shelves: general-science, geology, physics, evolution, chaos-complexity-emergence, biology

Wonderful, extremely detailed description of Earth's formation and the wonders hiding inside. A bit dry at times, but if you can stand that, great info. ...more

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Dec 21, 2023 Rusty rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science, prose, non-fiction

I must admit waiting for, in some cases, well over a year before reviewing a book I鈥檝e read is stupid. I continue to do it, and I don鈥檛 know why. It鈥檚 fine when I read something I truly loved (or hated) but all that middling stuff just sort of fades out of my mind.

So with this book, I got smart and asked ChatGPT to write my review. I told it to include a few bullet points and throw in a personal anecdote. It spat out this ridiculously over the top glowing review. Fair enough, I did include in m I must admit waiting for, in some cases, well over a year before reviewing a book I鈥檝e read is stupid. I continue to do it, and I don鈥檛 know why. It鈥檚 fine when I read something I truly loved (or hated) but all that middling stuff just sort of fades out of my mind.

So with this book, I got smart and asked ChatGPT to write my review. I told it to include a few bullet points and throw in a personal anecdote. It spat out this ridiculously over the top glowing review. Fair enough, I did include in my instructions it could rate it however it saw fit, but then I throught better of it and asked it to tone it down some. The second review chastised the book as being too technical and hard to understand. Again, that鈥檚 not fair either.

So, sigh. AI might be better at me that a lot of things, including art, grammar, and chess, but I鈥檓 glad to see it can鈥檛 read my mind yet. Cause that wasn鈥檛 what I wanted it to say.

What I wanted it to say was something along the lines of, 鈥淭his book was fine, but it wasn鈥檛 earth shattering. Just a good reminder of what we think we know about our origins.鈥�

Except, you know, snarky but not disrespectful of the author or anything. This had to be hard work and I presume a labor of love. I consumed it just after finishing a book about human-eating aliens and I liked them about the same amount. They were fine. Maybe even good. Just not breathtaking.

I did make a third attempt at getting something good. I hated it. See my prompt:

Using the above referenced book, please pontificate about man鈥檚 place in the universe and the meaning of life. Also include a subtle joke about being pretentious

And the response:

"The Story of Earth" prompts contemplation about humanity's place in the vast universe. In the context of our planet's 4.5-billion-year narrative, our existence seems like a fleeting moment. As we ponder the cosmic dance of stardust culminating in life on Earth, the question of meaning emerges.

Are we merely transient observers in this cosmic drama, or do we, as conscious beings, imbue life with purpose? Hazen's exploration of Earth's evolution encourages us to reflect on our interconnectedness with the planet and the intricate web of life.

Now, for a subtle joke about being pretentious: Delving into such profound cosmic musings sometimes feels like attending an intellectual soir茅e where everyone is discussing the meaning of life over artisanal tea. It's as if the universe itself is sharing a cosmic joke, leaving us to ponder whether we're in on it or merely playing the role of the slightly pretentious guest at the celestial party.

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Nov 16, 2014 Mag rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science, non-fiction

It's a fantastic treatise that argues that minerals and rocks are an intimate part of evolution. Evolution is a fundamental process of the universe, not just in living organisms, but everywhere, at every level. We don't perceive rocks in our notion of evolution but they, just like elements evolving to become compounds and then minerals, have evolved.
Rocks are an integral part of life- they came from life and became life. ...more

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