Description:
A revelatory journey through four moments in Earth's deep past, and their lessons for our future.
"Deep and richly layered with stories.... [Strata] left me with a profound appreciation of our world, and the sheer amount of history upon which we stand." --Ed Yong
Finalist for the 2026 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award
Finalist for the 2025 Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Finalist for the 2026 Maine Literary Award
One of NPR's "Books We Love" for 2025 - A Scientific American Staff Favorite for 2025
Brief description: 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.
Review Quotes: [Strata] reminds us that the earth under our feet is not only our stable home but an ever-changing record of everything that's ever happened. 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"