What Geologists and Political Scientists Can Learn From One Another
Born of Ice & Fire by Graham Shields Reviewed by Oliver Shields Life gnaws its way up through the lithic layers of time, shapeshifting, taking any form it can that will fit through the path it creates ahead. Abstract: Examining how my father’s book “Born of Ice & Fire: How Glaciers and Volcanoes (with a Pinch of Salt) Drove Animal Evolution” (2023) relates to my life and research, I first review the narrative choices made by the author and then propose a common historical framework for the disciplines of geology and political science that sheds light on life’s problem-solving behavior. This cross-pollination is prompted by the scientific framework linking geology with economics that Graham Shields puts forward and amends, rooted in Enlightenment Age thinking, which I proceed to uproot and turn on its head. My earliest memories are dominated by dinosaur dreams and real-life Australian fauna, always held firmly apart by layers upon layers of rock down to my synapses. I h...