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Loading... Why Hell Stinks of Sulfur : Mythology and Geology of the Underworld| 68 | 2 | 388,456 | 
(3.72) | 2 | When people go looking for hell, they go underground. Dante, Aeneas, and Odysseus all journeyed beneath the earth to find the underworld, a place where the dead are tortured according to their sins. Buffy the Vampire Slayer had to deal with a huge underground pit infested with demons below her high school called the Hellmouth. And when Homer Simpson ate the forbidden donut for which he'd sold his soul to the devil, he was sucked through a fiery hole in the ground. Though humans actually haven't gone more than 7.5 miles into the earth, we associate this mysterious underground realm with darkness and death, and the depths of the earth's interior remain an inspiration for writers and artists trying to imagine hell. Why Hell Stinks of Sulfur uses subterranean mythology as a point of departure to explore the vast world that lies beneath our feet. Geologist Salomon Kroonenberg takes us on an expedition that begins in Dante's Inferno and continues through Virgil, Da Vinci, Descartes, and Jules Verne. He investigates the nine circles of hell, searches a lake near Naples for the gates of hell used by Aeneas, and turns a scientific spotlight on the many myths of the underworld. He uncovers the layers of the earth's interior one by one, describing the variety of gasses, ores, liquids, and metals that add to the immense variety of color that can be found below us. Kroonenberg views the inside of the earth as a living ecosystem whose riches we are only beginning to discover, and he warns against our thirst for natural resources exhausting the earth. From the underground rivers and lakes that have never seen the light of day to the story of Saint Barbara--the patron saint of mineworkers--Kroonenberg's pursuit of the geological foundations of hell is a fascinating journey to the center of the earth.… (more) |
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Orde en netheid zijn overal van belang, zeker in een ingewand van een wereldbol. Tom Lanoye in 'Sprakeloos'  | |
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Voor mijn kleinkinderen. | |
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Waarom kregen astromen voor hun wetenschap de hemel, maar wij geologen de hel? | |
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▾References References to this work on external resources.  Wikipedia in English
None ▾Book descriptions When people go looking for hell, they go underground. Dante, Aeneas, and Odysseus all journeyed beneath the earth to find the underworld, a place where the dead are tortured according to their sins. Buffy the Vampire Slayer had to deal with a huge underground pit infested with demons below her high school called the Hellmouth. And when Homer Simpson ate the forbidden donut for which he'd sold his soul to the devil, he was sucked through a fiery hole in the ground. Though humans actually haven't gone more than 7.5 miles into the earth, we associate this mysterious underground realm with darkness and death, and the depths of the earth's interior remain an inspiration for writers and artists trying to imagine hell. Why Hell Stinks of Sulfur uses subterranean mythology as a point of departure to explore the vast world that lies beneath our feet. Geologist Salomon Kroonenberg takes us on an expedition that begins in Dante's Inferno and continues through Virgil, Da Vinci, Descartes, and Jules Verne. He investigates the nine circles of hell, searches a lake near Naples for the gates of hell used by Aeneas, and turns a scientific spotlight on the many myths of the underworld. He uncovers the layers of the earth's interior one by one, describing the variety of gasses, ores, liquids, and metals that add to the immense variety of color that can be found below us. Kroonenberg views the inside of the earth as a living ecosystem whose riches we are only beginning to discover, and he warns against our thirst for natural resources exhausting the earth. From the underground rivers and lakes that have never seen the light of day to the story of Saint Barbara--the patron saint of mineworkers--Kroonenberg's pursuit of the geological foundations of hell is a fascinating journey to the center of the earth. ▾Library descriptions No library descriptions found. ▾LibraryThing members' description
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Mythologie en geologie van de onderwereld
De aarde is de onderwereld, het dodenrijk, de hel, in bijna alle culturen van de wereld. In het aardedonker worden wij bang en denken aan de dood. En toch zit er zoveel moois in de ondergrond: glinsterende ertsen en metalen, prachtige gele zwavelkorsten, meterslange vlijmscherpe gipskristallen, druipsteengrotten, tere schelpjes uit het begin van de evolutie en reusachtige botten van uitgestorven monsters. Salomon Kroonenberg doet geologisch veldwerk in de hel, met hamer en kompas, in de voetsporen van de Bijbel, Homerus, Vergilius, Dante, Da Vinci, Descartes, Jules Verne en de moderne wetenschap, in elk hoofdstuk weer een stukje dieper.
Hij laat ons zien dat de aarde haar eigen geschiedenis schrijft. Zo leren wij dat wij de ondergrond niet langer moeten zien als een black box om tunnels in te graven, als een supermarkt voor grondstoffen, als een tapijt om afval onder te vegen, of als laatste rustplaats voor de doden, maar veeleer als een onvervangbaar archief, en als een levend ecosysteem waarvan we nog maar nauwelijks de rijkdom hebben kunnen peilen.
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Current DiscussionsNone Google Books — Loading... |
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De Nederlandse Geoloog Salomon Kroonenberg vertelt waaruit de aardbol bestaat en hoe die is ontstaan. Hij neemt strofes uit [[Dante]]'s hel als begin van elk hoofdstuk; hij gaat in elk hoofdstuk een laag dieper en probeert door te dringen tot de kern waar volgens verschillende ideeën de zwavelige hel is. Als eerste reist hij zelf de aarde af naar ingangen in de aarde, mbv verhalen in de bijbel en en Griekse mythologie en wetenschappelijke beschrijvingen uit alle eeuwen, komt hij bij kraters, grotten en onderaardse riviermondingen. Daarna zijn er hoofdstukken over speculaties over de materiën: Aarde, Lucht, Water, Vuur. De aardkorst waarin mijnbouw gepleegd en olie gewonnen werd en wordt. Tenslotte een verhandeling over speculaties van het binnenste der aarde, met de reis beschreven door [[Jules Verne]] hiernaartoe als gids.
Het is een boek met een groot thema, waar veel onderdelen kort en heel afwisselend beschreven worden: met eigen anekdotes en evaringen, meestal eenvoudige te begrijpen wetenschappelijke feiten, literatuurverwijzingen( fictie), enige kritiek op het huidige menselijke handelen, is het soms wat van-de-hak-op-de-tak, - maar nooit saai. Neem ik daarbij de vele verklarende en verluchtende wetenschappelijke en artistieke tekeningen en foto's dan kom ik tot een prettige, interessante inleiding tot de geologie.
Why Hell Stinks of Sulfur : Mythology and Geology of the Underworld:
The Dutch Geologist Salomon Kroonenberg tells out of what layers the planet exists and how it originated. He takes verses from [[Dante]] 's hell as the beginning beginning of each chapter; in each chapter he goes a layer deeper and tries to penetrate to the core where the sulphurous hell would be according to different ideas. First he travels over the earth to search for entrances into the earth, using stories in the Bible, Greek mythology , scientific descriptions of all ages.Hhe comes with craters, caves and subterranean estuaries. After that, there are sections on speculation about the ‘materiën’: Earth, Air, Water, Fire. After that about the earth's crust which held mining and oil and how these were recovered Finally, there is the treatise on speculation the bowels of the earth, with the described journey through [[Jules Verne]] as a guide.
It is a book with a broad theme, where many parts are briefly and very varied described: with personal anecdotes and experiences of usually simple to understand scientific facts, literally references (fiction), some criticism of the current human action, it feels sometimesas from-hither-to-thitter – i must think on [[Bil Bryson]], [[Oliver Sacks]] , [[Geert Mak]] – but never becomes boring. I like this book that is illuminated with a lot of scientific and artistic drawings and photographs; it’s a pleasant, interesting, introductional read to geology. (