Principles of Geology (Penguin Classics) Book

One of the key works in the nineteenth-century battle between science and Scripture, Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology (1830-33) sought to explain the geological state of the modern Earth by considering the long-term effects of observable natural phenomena. Written with clarity and a dazzling intellectual passion, it is both a seminal work of modern geology and a compelling precursor to Darwinism, exploring the evidence for radical changes in climate and geography across the ages and speculating on the progressive development of life. A profound influence on Darwin, Principles of Geology also captured the imagination of contemporaries such as Melville, Emerson, Tennyson and George Eliot, transforming science with its depiction of the powerful forces that shape the natural world.

Influencing Darwin Tennyson and Dickens among others Lyell's Principles was an ambitious attempt to forge links between observable causes - volcanoes earthquakes rivers tides and storms - and the current state of the earth. This edition has an introduction by Jim Secord.

Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology (1830-33) profoundly influenced Darwin as he voyaged on the Beagle and developed the theory of natural selection.