Worlds in Shadow
Submerged Lands in Science, Memory and Myth
-
- 14,99 €
-
- 14,99 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
Discover ancient civilizations that have disappeared beneath the ocean's surface and explore how the science of submergence adds to our knowledge of human history.
The traces of much of human history – and that which preceded it – lie beneath the ocean surface; broken up, dispersed, often buried and always mysterious. This is fertile ground for speculation, even myth-making, but also a topic on which geologists and climatologists have increasingly focused in recent decades. We now know enough to tell the true story of some of the continents and islands that have disappeared throughout Earth's history, to explain how and why such things happened, and to unravel the effects of submergence on the rise and fall of human civilizations.
In Worlds in Shadow Patrick Nunn sifts the facts from the fiction, using the most up-to-date research to work out which submerged places may have actually existed versus those that probably only exist in myth. He looks at the descriptions of recently drowned lands that have been well documented, those that are plausible, and those that almost certainly didn't exist.
Going even further back, Patrick examines the presence of more ancient lands, submerged beneath the waves in a time that even the longest-reaching folk memory can't touch. Such places may have played important roles in human evolution, but can only be reconstructed through careful geological detective work. Exploring how lands become submerged, whether from sea-level changes, tectonic changes, gravity collapse, giant waves or volcanoes, helps us determine why, when and where land may disappear in the future, and what might be done to prevent it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Geography professor Nunn (The Edge of Memory) surveys submerged lands in this unique if flawed outing. Nunn catalogs places that have been covered by water, and the stories that are told about them, in an effort to explore the intersection of "science, memory and myth": "understanding how our ancestors were affected by comparable changes and how they overcame these is at once a lesson in coping as well as a beacon of hope." He covers the Yapese people's stories about a sunken island called Sipin in the Pacific, sailor myths about submerged lands off the northwest coast of England, and well-known tales of Atlantis. The results, though, can become blurred, with little to differentiate the various locales, which end up coming across as something of a generic landmass hidden below the oceans and seas. But the topic's inherent spookiness helps Nunn maintain momentum and arrive at insights. For instance, when exploring anxiety about climate change leading to the drowning of coastal cities, he writes, "A sense of loss is part of what defines us as sentient beings, able to feel and express emotion." And the threat of climate change helps Nunn's tales of submerged lands gain a foreboding tone that prevents the book from falling into the trap of academic theorizing. Full of mystery, this will appeal to nature lovers, though it's best read in small doses.