Marcia Bjornerud

This book departs from the processes surrounding a work of art by Alvaro Campo. An artwork that is partly powered by the sun and excess heat, that transforms and grows. The idea of rewilding, within the context of nature conservation, is about finding ways to help nature heal itself, and then letting it take its course without human intervention. Perhaps the rewilding of time is simply about trying to find ways to carve out a time that is not related to the clock? Is it even possible to approach a time that is not dependent on energy and technology? Can we approach longer, cyclical time spans and natures own time? Boken utgår från processerna kring ett konstverk av Alvaro Campo. Ett konstverk som delvis drivs av sol och spillvärme, som förändras och växer. Med den här boken har vi velat spegla denna rytm och förvandling. Tanken om återvildande handlar inom naturvårdsamanhang om att hitta sätt att hjälpa naturen låta läka sig själv, och sedan ha sin gång utan mänskliga interventioner. Kanske handlar tidens återvildande helt enkelt om att försöka hitta sätt att mejsla ut den tid som inte förhåller sig till klockan? Går det ens att närma sig en tid som inte är beroende av energi och teknologi? Kan vi närma oss längre, cykliska tidsrymder och naturens egen tid?

WINNER OF THE 2025 JOHN BURROUGHS MEDAL FOR DISTINGUISHED NATURAL HISTORY WRITING'Vast and arresting' SPECTATOR'A remarkably human take on the geological world' NEW STATESMANRocks are the record of our creative planet reinventing itself for four billion years. Nothing is ever lost, just transformed.Marcia Bjornerud's life as a geologist has coincided with an extraordinary period of discovery. From an insular girlhood in rural Wisconsin, she found her way to an unlikely career studying mountains in remote parts of the world. As one of few women in her field, she witnessed the shift in our understanding of the Earth, from solid object to an entity in a constant state of transformation. In the most tumultuous times of her own life, a deep understanding of our rocky planet imbued her life with meaning.The lives of rocks are long and complex, spanning billions of years and yet shaping our own human lives in powerful, invisible ways. Sandstone that filters out pathogens creating underground oases in aquifers of clean water. Ecologite is "the chosen rock" whose formation keeps the planet running. Earth is not just a passive backdrop, or a source of resources to be mined, extracted, and carved out. Rocks are full of wisdom, but somewhere along the way many of us have forgotten how to hear it.When we are uncertain about where to find truth, a geocentric worldview reminds us that we are Earthlings, part of a planetary community where we can find wisdom in the most unlikely places.More praise for TURNING TO STONE:'Marcia Bjornerud writes evocatively' COUNTRY LIFE'A nuanced celebration of the language of stone' DAVID GEORGE HASKELL'A unique and timeless book' ROBERT HALZEN

Winner of the 2025 John Burroughs Medal for Natural History Writing "A beautiful book--at once intimate and sweeping, informative and moving." --Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Under a White Sky Earth is vibrantly alive and full of wisdom for those who learn to listen. Earth has been reinventing itself for more than four billion years, keeping a record of its experiments in the form of rocks. Yet most of us live our lives on the planet with no idea of its extraordinary history, unable to interpret the language of the rocks that surround us. Geologist Marcia Bjornerud believes that our lives can be enriched by understanding our heritage on this old and creative planet. Contrary to their reputation, rocks have eventful lives-and they intersect with our own in surprising ways. In Turning to Stone, Bjornerud reveals how rocks are the hidden infrastructure that keep the planet functioning, from sandstone aquifers purifying the water we drink to basalt formations slowly regulating global climate. Bjornerud's life as a geologist has coincided with an extraordinary period of discovery in the geosciences. From an insular girlhood in rural Wisconsin, she found her way to an unlikely career studying mountains in remote parts of the world and witnessed the emergence of a new understanding of the Earth as an animate system of rock, air, water and life. We are all, most fundamentally, Earthlings and we can find existential meaning and enduring wisdom in stone.

'Vast and arresting' SPECTATOR'A remarkably human take on the geological world' NEW STATESMANRocks are the record of our creative planet reinventing itself for four billion years. Nothing is ever lost, just transformed. Marcia Bjornerud's life as a geologist has coincided with an extraordinary period of discovery. From an insular girlhood in rural Wisconsin, she found her way to an unlikely career studying mountains in remote parts of the world. As one of few women in her field, she witnessed the shift in our understanding of the Earth, from solid object to an entity in a constant state of transformation. In the most tumultuous times of her own life, a deep understanding of our rocky planet imbued her life with meaning.The lives of rocks are long and complex, spanning billions of years and yet shaping our own human lives in powerful, invisible ways. Sandstone that filters out pathogens creating underground oases in aquifers of clean water. Ecologite is "the chosen rock" whose formation keeps the planet running. Earth is not just a passive backdrop, or a source of resources to be mined, extracted, and carved out. Rocks are full of wisdom, but somewhere along the way many of us have forgotten how to hear it.When we are uncertain about where to find truth, a geocentric worldview reminds us that we are Earthlings, part of a planetary community where we can find wisdom in the most unlikely places.More praise for TURNING TO STONE:'Marcia Bjornerud writes evocatively' COUNTRY LIFE'A nuanced celebration of the language of stone' DAVID GEORGE HASKELL'A unique and timeless book' ROBERT HALZEN

Rocks are the record of our creative planet reinventing itself for four billion years. Nothing is ever lost, just transformed.Marcia Bjornerud's life as a geologist has coincided with an extraordinary period of discovery. From an insular girlhood in rural Wisconsin, she found her way to an unlikely career studying mountains in remote parts of the world. As one of few women in her field, she witnessed the shift in our understanding of the Earth, from solid object to an entity in a constant state of transformation. In the most tumultuous times of her own life, a deep understanding of our rocky planet imbued her life with meaning.The lives of rocks are long and complex, spanning billions of years and yet shaping our own human lives in powerful, invisible ways. Sandstone that filters out pathogens creating underground oases in aquifers of clean water. Ecologite is "the chosen rock" whose formation keeps the planet running. Earth is not just a passive backdrop, or a source of resources to be mined, extracted, and carved out. Rocks are full of wisdom, but somewhere along the way many of us have forgotten how to hear it.When we are uncertain about where to find truth, a geocentric worldview reminds us that we are Earthlings, part of a planetary community where we can find wisdom in the most unlikely places.

A garden of geologic delights for all EarthlingsGeopedia is a trove of geologic wonders and the evocative terms that humans have devised to describe them. Featuring dozens of entries—from Acasta gneiss to Zircon—this illustrated compendium is brimming with lapidary and lexical insights that will delight rockhounds and word lovers alike.Geoscientists are magpies for words, and with good reason. The sheer profusion of minerals, landforms, and geologic events produced by our creative planet demands an immense vocabulary to match. Marcia Bjornerud shows how this lexicon reflects not only the diversity of rocks and geologic processes but also the long history of human interactions with them.With wit and warmth, she invites all readers to celebrate the geologic glossary—a gallimaufry of allusions to mythology, imports from diverse languages, embarrassing anachronisms, and recent neologisms. This captivating book includes cross-references at the end of each entry, inviting you to leave the alphabetic trail and meander through it like a river. Its pocket-friendly size makes it the perfect travel companion no matter where your own geologic forays may lead you.With whimsical illustrations by Haley Hagerman, Geopedia is a mix of engaging and entertaining facts about how the earth works, how it has coevolved with life over billions of years, and how our understanding of the planet has deepened over time.Features a cloth cover with an elaborate foil-stamped design

Why an awareness of Earth's temporal rhythms is critical to our planetary survivalFew of us have any conception of the enormous timescales of our planet's long history, and this narrow perspective underlies many of the environmental problems we are creating. The lifespan of Earth can seem unfathomable compared to the brevity of human existence, but this view of time denies our deep roots in Earth's history—and the magnitude of our effects on the planet. Timefulness reveals how knowing the rhythms of Earth's deep past and conceiving of time as a geologist does can give us the perspective we need for a more sustainable future. Featuring illustrations by Haley Hagerman, this compelling book offers a new way of thinking about our place in time, showing how our everyday lives are shaped by processes that vastly predate us, and how our actions today will in turn have consequences that will outlast us by generations.This edition includes discussion questions for reading groups.

Why an awareness of Earth’s temporal rhythms is critical to our planetary survivalFew of us have any conception of the enormous timescales in our planet’s long history, and this narrow perspective underlies many of the environmental problems we are creating for ourselves. The passage of nine days, which is how long a drop of water typically stays in Earth’s atmosphere, is something we can easily grasp. But spans of hundreds of years—the time a molecule of carbon dioxide resides in the atmosphere—approach the limits of our comprehension. Our everyday lives are shaped by processes that vastly predate us, and our habits will in turn have consequences that will outlast us by generations. Timefulness reveals how knowing the rhythms of Earth’s deep past and conceiving of time as a geologist does can give us the perspective we need for a more sustainable future.Marcia Bjornerud shows how geologists chart the planet’s past, explaining how we can determine the pace of solid Earth processes such as mountain building and erosion and comparing them with the more unstable rhythms of the oceans and atmosphere. These overlapping rates of change in the Earth system—some fast, some slow—demand a poly-temporal worldview, one that Bjornerud calls “timefulness.” She explains why timefulness is vital in the Anthropocene, this human epoch of accelerating planetary change, and proposes sensible solutions for building a more time-literate society.This compelling book presents a new way of thinking about our place in time, enabling us to make decisions on multigenerational timescales. The lifespan of Earth may seem unfathomable compared to the brevity of human existence, but this view of time denies our deep roots in Earth’s history—and the magnitude of our effects on the planet.

Liberation Science is the practice of using the knowledge and methods of science to solve the social and environmental problems faced by the poor. Liberation Science can address these problems because it has been freed from the flawed scientific paradigms that are linked to the flawed social paradigms of nationalism and capitalism. Three themes of Liberation Science are: 1) The definition of an ecosystem becomes both more expansive and more holistic to include humans, cultural practices, and the built environment, together with the possibility that an ecosystem could mimic the behavior of a single organism. 2) The logic and methods of science are made available to ordinary people, empowering them to understand the ecologies of their own communities. 3) Science becomes open to complementary philosophical approaches that draw upon cultural and spiritual traditions of particular regions or communities.

To many of us, the Earth's crust is a relic of ancient, unknowable history. But to a geologist, stones are richly illustrated narratives, telling gothic tales of cataclysm and reincarnation. For more than four billion years, in beach sand, granite, and garnet schists, the planet has kept a rich and idiosyncratic journal of its past. Fulbright Scholar Marcia Bjornerud takes the reader along on an eye-opening tour of Deep Time, explaining in elegant prose what we see and feel beneath our feet. Both scientist and storyteller, Bjornerud uses anecdotes and metaphors to remind us that our home is a living thing with lessons to teach. Containing a glossary and detailed timescale, as well as vivid descriptions and historic accounts, Reading the Rocks is literally a history of the world, for all friends of the Earth.