Snowball Earth : the story of the great global catastrophe that spawned life as we know it

[This book] is riveting in its ... portrayal of the great, icy catastrophes which may have gripped our planet nearly a billion years ago, and in its depiction of the very human scientists involved - their mutual influences and conflicts, their fascinatingly different styles. [The book is an] illustration of how science works. Scientists don't simply have the truth handed to them. They dream up wild ideas and then fight for them tooth and nail, while other scientists try to show that they're wrong. [In the book, the author] has provided [an] account of both the science and the scientists.-Dust jacket.