In Life As A Geological Force, Pieter Westbroek examines how life has an influence on the geology of the planet and also explores some of the holistic models of the geological Earth.
If that sounds quite “science-y” that’s because it is and the author is focused on the fine detail of what makes these ideas work in practice.
Why We Love Life as a Geological Force
We should note that Pieter Westbroek has not written an easy-to-digest piece of popular science here and instead, he’s worked from first principles to create a very exact set of models for the reader.
This is good news in that you get everything, and we do mean everything, you need to know, explained clearly but it also makes for hard going at times.
If you’re looking for an introductory text to Geology and the relationship with life on Earth, this is a great book to get started with.
Last Word
Life as a Geological Force is a textbook and you should pick it up if you want to take a deep dive into the subject area.
If that’s how you use it, you’ll find it to be a very rewarding book, but if you buy it as a casual read, it might be a little dry for most readers.
You can grab a copy online here.
If you’re looking for some other science focused works that touch on this subject area we can recommend Scientists on Gaia, Gaia’s Body and The Gaia Hypothesis too.