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  • Strata: Stories from Deep Time
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Strata: Stories from Deep Time Hardcover – July 15 2025

4.4 out of 5 stars 6 ratings

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"[A]n extraordinary book." —Marcia Bjornerud, author of Turning to Stone

A revelatory journey through four moments in Earth’s deep past, and their lessons for our future.

The epic stories of our planet’s 4.54-billion-year history are written in strata—ages-old remnants of ancient seafloors, desert dunes, and riverbeds striping landscapes around the world. In this brilliantly original debut work, science writer Laura Poppick decodes strata to lead us on a journey through four global transformations that made our lives on Earth possible: the first accumulations of oxygen in the atmosphere; the deep freezes of "Snowball Earth"; the rise of mud on land and accompanying proliferation of plants; and the dinosaurs’ reign on a hothouse planet

Poppick introduces us to the researchers who have devoted their careers to understanding the events of deep time, including the world’s leading stegosaur scientist. She travels to sites as various as a Minnesotan iron mine that runs half a mile deep and a corner of the Australian Outback where glacial deposits date from the coldest times on Earth. Ultimately, she demonstrates that the planet’s oceans, continents, atmosphere, life, and ice have always conspired to bring stability to Earth, even if we are only just beginning to understand how these different facets interact.

A work in the tradition of John McPhee, Strata allows us to observe how the planet has responded to past periods of environmental upheaval, and shows how Earth’s ancient narratives could hold lessons for our present and future.

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Review

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

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

[
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

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

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

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

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

About the Author

Laura Poppick is a science and environmental journalist whose writing has appeared in the New York Times, Smithsonian, Scientific American, Wired, Audubon, National Geographic, Science, and elsewhere. She has been listed as a finalist for the National Association of Science Writers Science in Society Journalism Award and the Maine Literary Awards Short Works Competition in Nonfiction, among others. She lives in Portland, Maine.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ WW Norton
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 15 2025
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1324021608
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1324021605
  • Item weight ‏ : ‎ 431 g
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 16.26 x 2.54 x 23.62 cm
  • 鶹 Rank: #10,315 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 6 ratings

About the author

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Laura Poppick
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Laura Poppick is a science and environmental journalist whose writing has appeared in the New York Times, Smithsonian, Scientific American, Wired, Audubon, National Geographic, Science, and elsewhere. She has been listed as a finalist for the National Association of Science Writers Science in Society Journalism Award and the Maine Literary Awards Short Works Competition in Nonfiction, among others. She lives in Portland, Maine.

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4.4 out of 5 stars
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  • Sara Sherr
    5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning read
    Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    A stunning exploration into the geological history of our planet and how it can impact our lives. Our lives are miniature in comparison to the rocks. Made me feel at once calm and in awe. I don’t think the person who left less than 5 stars read this book.
  • sumogirl
    5.0 out of 5 stars quality writing
    Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    Just started reading this and I'm thrilled. Excellent writing about a subject I've been interested in my whole life.
    Worth the money,imo.
  • Von Hawley
    3.0 out of 5 stars Siccar Point is in Scotland, not Ireland. This error needs correcting.
    Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    The concept of this book is excellent and deserves a wide audience. Having just purchased the book, I need to point out an error that I hope the author and publisher will correct before any subsequent printings of this book.

    Having visited Siccar Point, Scotland in late April, I looked for it in the index of this book. In the index on page 275, Siccar Point is referenced as being in Ireland. This is factually incorrect. Siccar Point itself is discussed in Chapter 11 on pages 168-70. The first sentence of the chapter states: "The western world's understanding of deep time has roots not far from Dingle, along the eastern shores of Scotland." This too, is incorrect. Dingle is in Ireland, not Scotland. Siccar Point is in Scotland, not Ireland. The last sentence of this small section on Siccar Point says, "Our road trip through southwestern Ireland would next take us to an extension of similar red sandstone on Dingle's northern shores, where it sits dripping with remnants of early roots and mud." This sentence may be correct, but it does not belong in this section about Siccar Point.