Silence (2016) is the latest film by Martin Scorsese starring Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson and Japanese actors Tadanobu Asano, Yosuke Kubozuka, and Issei Ogata based on the 1966 novel Silence by Catholic Japanese author Shusaku Endo. It's about two Jesuit priests coming to a xenophobic Christian-persecuting
Japan in the mid-17th Century looking for their mentor.
This is less of a movie review and more of an historical look at the background to the film and novel and how the Christian persecutions came about.
The pictures are either from me, Wikipedia, or from the film Silence.
Kindle $17.99Read with Our Free App Audiobook 1 Credit Great on Kindle Great Experience. Great Value. Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the Kindle edition of this book. Learn more about Great on Kindle, available in select categories. Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the Kindle edition of this book.
Harvard’s acclaimed geologist “charts Earth’s history in accessible style” (AP)
“A sublime chronicle of our planet." –Booklist, STARRED review
How well do you know the ground beneath your feet?
Odds are, where you’re standing was once cooking under a roiling sea of lava, crushed by a towering sheet of ice, rocked by a nearby meteor strike, or perhaps choked by poison gases, drowned beneath ocean, perched atop a mountain range, or roamed by fearsome monsters. Probably most or even all of the above.
The story of our home planet and the organisms spread across its surface is far more spectacular than any Hollywood blockbuster, filled with enough plot twists to rival a bestselling thriller. But only recently have we begun to piece together the whole mystery into a coherent narrative. Drawing on his decades of field research and up-to-the-minute understanding of the latest science, renowned geologist Andrew H. Knoll delivers a rigorous yet accessible biography of Earth, charting our home planet's epic 4.6 billion-year story. Placing twenty first-century climate change in deep context, A Brief History of Earth is an indispensable look at where we’ve been and where we’re going.
Features original illustrations depicting Earth history and nearly 50 figures (maps, tables, photographs, graphs). Read less
Print length
277 pages
Product description
Review "A fantastic distillation of Earth's history, from one of the world's leading geologists: Andrew H. Knoll has written an engrossing, witty, and eminently readable romp through our home planet's 4.5 billion years, from trilobites and dinosaurs to human origins and our rapidly changing modern times."--Steve Brusatte, New York Times bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs
"Charts the planet's history in accessible style, from its beginning as 'a small planet accreted out of rocky debris circling a modest young star' through the development of minerals, geographical formations, atmosphere, and life forms large and small." --Associated Press
A sublime chronicle of our planet's formation and beginnings, the perhaps unlikely yet awe-inspiring interactions that created life, diverse and abundant, and mass extinctions and recoveries. Knoll skillfully presents the extreme conditions, violence, and delicate fragility that mark the cycles and evolution of our home.--Booklist (starred review)
Covers the arc of our planet's history from its earliest formation to the present day in a succinct and deftly-written way.--Forbes
Having spent decades at the forefront of discovery and research, Andrew H. Knoll has been one of our planet's leading scientists. In A Brief History of Earth, Knoll treats us to a 4.6-billion-year detective story revealing the origins and inner workings of our home in the solar system. In these pages you'll discover something profound: how our past, present, and future are grounded in Planet Earth.--Neil Shubin, author of Your Inner Fish and Some Assembly Required
Skillfully condenses the history of the Earth. ... An expert primer on the history of everything.--Kirkus Reviews
The type of book that is sorely needed at this moment in history. ... Knoll assembles facts from a wide variety of fields to tell our planet's story in a clear and accessible narrative.--Scientific Inquirer --This text refers to the paperback edition. About the Author
Andrew H. Knoll is the Fisher Professor of Natural History at Harvard University. His honors include the International Prize for Biology, the Charles Doolittle Walcott and the Mary Clark Thompson Medals of the National Academy of Sciences, the Paleontological Society Medal, and the Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society of London. For nearly two decades he served on the science team for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission. Knoll is also the author of Life on a Young Planet, for which he received the Phi Beta Kappa Book Award in Science.--This text refers to the paperback edition.
Product details ASIN : B08D9HVKJG Publisher : Custom House (27 April 2021) Language : English File size : 77714 KB Text-to-Speech : Enabled Screen Reader : Supported Enhanced typesetting : Enabled X-Ray : Enabled Word Wise : Enabled Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe Print length : 277 pagesBest Sellers Rank: 174,213 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)22 in Geology (Kindle Store) 64 in Astronomy (Kindle Store) 74 in Environmental EcologyCustomer Reviews: 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,182 ratings
About the author Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations. Follow Andrew H. Knoll
Andrew H. Knoll is the Fisher Professor of Natural History at Harvard University. His research focuses on the early evolution of life, Earth’s early environmental history, and the interconnections between the two. Knoll has also contributed to our understanding of mass extinction, the evolution of life on land, and biomineralization, and he served on the science team for NASA’s MER mission to Mars. Honors include the Walcott and Thompson medals of the US National Academy of Sciences, the Paleontological Society Medal, the Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society (London), the Sven Berggren Prize of Royal Physiographic Society, Sweden, and the International Prize for Biology. A member of the US National Academy of Sciences and foreign member of the Royal Society of London, Knoll received the Phi Beta Kappa Book Award in Science for Life on a Young Planet.
Top reviews
Top review from Australia
By J 5.0 out of 5 stars LOVEReviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on 24 October 2021 Verified Purchase Super concise yet detailed history of earth. Explores all the relevant scientific areas with up-to-date research and a comforting writing style which makes it so accessible to everyone, with or without a background in science. Also, not as relevant, but I love the cover art!! Beautiful work!!!
Top reviews from other countries Sukhvir singh 5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent 👌👌👌Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 1 March 2023 Verified Purchase
Very crips and to the point......... Every chapter include 4-5 figures/images/statistics......... Unlike other books this book not let you feel boring while reading Report Amazon Customer 5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on 6 December 2022 Verified Purchase
Simply but expertly details the major periods of Earth's history with a good prognosis of where we are now and may be headed if we don't take care. Very well written. Report DW Pipella 5.0 out of 5 stars Every person on earth should read this, especially young students of all studiesReviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on 26 February 2022 Verified Purchase
Well written , simple to follow study of life with a clear explanation of how the study of life is backed up by proven science to reveal the facts of life and time on earth. Report Dhiman Basu 5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant book. Read it.Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 19 September 2022 Verified Purchase
It is a beautiful book written by a great scientist. Read it and enjoy. Report Stephen Garrity 4.0 out of 5 stars A must readReviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on 10 February 2022 Verified Purchase
Informative, and great for both the novice geologist and the expert. Report
Audible sample
Audiobook
