"Strata, like its subject, is deep and richly layered with stories—of the planet, and of the people doggedly trying to decipher the tales locked within its rocks. It left me with a profound appreciation of our world, and the sheer amount of history upon which we stand."— Ed Yong, Pulitzer Prize-winner and author of An Immense World
"Like the earth itself, Strata is a work of many layers. It’s about the deep past, about how geologists work and think, about the great changes that have taken place in geological history and the ones that lie ahead. Laura Poppick is an elegant writer and an intrepid reporter."— Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction
"[Strata] offers an accessible introduction to what we know of the vast, obscure past that predates us, one layer of rock at a time."— Colin Dwyer NPR
"Lushly descriptive … In Poppick’s hands, something as simple as a rime of muck around the edge of a driveway is an invitation to wonder about relationships and changes that can only be understood through layers of stone stacked like storybook pages … Poppick’s lavish writing presents a gem on nearly every page … [Readers] will turn the final page with a new way of looking at the interplay between the world we know and its backstory."— Riley Black Science
"Poppick is an elegant writer and able guide through the layers of sediment and history that made human life possible, and in the profiles of scientists whose work helps us understand our planet’s past we can see the best in humanity."— Kate Tuttle Boston Globe
"A fascinating peek into the globe’s core that might offer clues about sustainability."— Bethanne Patrick Los Angeles Times
"[A]n emotional, humane book that explores geology in a new way."— Meghan Bartels Scientific American
"In Strata, journalist Laura Poppick offers a paen to this subtle science of reading the rocks, and the lessons it can teach us about how the planet responds and recovers from periods of upheaval."— James Dinneen New Scientist
"For some writers, exploring a particular moment in time isn’t enough—instead, they need to think on a planetary scale. That’s fueled notable books by John McPhee and Robert Macfarlane, and it’s done the same for Laura Poppick’s Strata. In delving into the very stuff of our planet, Poppick illuminates transformative moments from history—and explores where we might go from here."— Tobias Carroll InsideHook
"Strata is brilliant, outstanding, and impressive in its accurate representations of stratigraphy. … [R]iveting, addictive even, thanks to [Poppick's] explanations of sometimes difficult and strange phenomena, occurring over long stretches of time on a global scale … She is a marvelous storyteller. … It should be required reading in any introductory course to geology and paleontology."— Edward J. Valauskas First Monday
"Understanding how the Earth reacts to change wasn’t always considered central. Now, in the era of climate change, it is viewed as vital … A lyrical book that will appeal to science and literature buffs alike."— Kirkus Reviews
"Making a convincing argument that understanding strata can help scientists better respond to climate change, Poppick movingly describes these layers of rock and sediment. … [Strata] provides an impressive look at how scientific ideas take shape and evolve as new data enters the picture. … Poetic and passionate, this is science writing with flair."— Publishers Weekly
"Laura Poppick takes readers deep into the minds of geologists working to interpret the sedimentary chronicles of four critical 'moments' in Earth's past. Revealing the logic used to decode the rock record—and the reasons geologists sometimes disagree about the details of the translation—Strata is an extraordinary book."— Marcia Bjornerud, author of Turning to Stone: Discovering the Subtle Wisdom of Rocks
"Rock has never felt more alive, nor deep time more current, than in Laura Poppick’s absorbing, illuminating Strata…This book is an indispensable guide to the dynamic stories our planet writes in stone."— Ben Goldfarb, award-winning author of Crossings and Eager
"It is one thing for a book to transform your knowledge of the world, and another for its lyricism to shape how you perceive yourself in it, too. Reading Laura Poppick’s Strata felt like being gifted a pair of magic glasses through which I could not only revel anew in our planet’s geology, but understand myself—and our warming future—within it."— Erica Berry, author of Wolfish
"In Laura Poppick’s wise and wonderfully observant Strata, Earth is not a static stage but an epic told in silt, sand, and microscopic fossils. A rare and exhilarating view of our ever-changing planet."— Michelle Nijhuis, author of Beloved Beasts
"In prose as graceful and clear as a mountain stream, Laura Poppick guides us on a journey through the stone palimpsest that is Earth’s crust. . . . Thoroughly researched, lovingly crafted, and eminently approachable."— Ferris Jabr, author of Becoming Earth
"Traipsing through ancient mud flows and across the frozen rind of early Earth, and imagining the origins of our atmosphere along with its searing hot future, Laura Poppick introduces us to a cast of characters working to peel back the layers of Earth history. Threads of memoir and poetry remind us that while the work of geology is timeless, it happens on personal timescales. In the tradition of our best natural history writers, Poppick understands the true gift of geology is the perspective of deep time, where we come to understand that not even stone is indelible. Strata offers a reminder that the things which connect us, and will outlast us all, are deeper still: the iron in our blood, the oxygen we breathe, and the stories we tell."— Rebecca Boyle, author of Our Moon
"Poppick paints a fascinating word picture of dramatic change, the hallmark of billions of year of Earth’s history—all written in the layers, thick and thin, of the rock beneath our feet. Read her words and know the stories she tells provide solace that change has always been part of Earth’s DNA—but rarely at the breakneck speed at which people are altering the planet today."— Paul Bierman, geologist and author of When the Ice Is Gone
2025-04-16
Looking at what lies beneath.
This book about Earth’s endless stacks of rock and sediment begins with a quote from famed environmentalist Rachel Carson. “The sediments are a sort of epic poem of the earth. When we are wise enough, perhaps we can read in them all of past history.” Author Poppick, a science journalist, methodically, yet gracefully, brings the reader through much of that now-understood past. As she writes, “Beyond an accrual of knowledge, I have found that my own understanding of strata has given me a deeper and still deepening love of Earth in all its layered complexity.” Since Carson’s death, in 1964, Poppick notes, we have found that oxygen appeared only halfway through Earth’s existence, when cyanobacteria, the “greatest environmental engineers in the planet’s history,” began using solar energy to “turn sunshine into sugar” by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. The following eruptions of oxygen, when aided by the rise of “solar panels” of protective manganese, let cyanobacteria rewrite “the chemical composition of the Earth from the seafloor to stratosphere,” ultimately generating literal oceans of multicellular life. Turgid but relentless glacier invasions then dislodged and stirred that life to “explode and diversify.” And the mud that oozed out of rewarming oceans finally expelled life onto land. Understanding how the Earth reacts to change wasn’t always considered central. Now, in the era of climate change, it is viewed as vital. For the ancient past has taught us that ecosystems can adapt to change at a slow rate. “But,” Poppick concludes, quoting a farsighted geologist, “the minute you start ramping the rates up, that’s when we start seeing extinctions.”
A lyrical book that will appeal to science and literature buffs alike.
