Three books explore deep time and help us look forward - High Country News Each of these books can, in its own way, teach readers how to think about Earth's history, and how to apply lessons from the past to our future.

For @highcountrynews.org's latest issue on Deep Time, I reviewed 3 books that help us explore Earth's past in different ways: Basin and Range by John McPhee, Strata by @laurapoppick.bsky.social, and When the Earth was Green by @restingdinoface.bsky.social 🧪⚒️

www.hcn.org/issues/58-1/...

Congrats to @laurenmarkham.bsky.social, @laurapoppick.bsky.social, and all the other nominees whose names may or may not begin with L-A-U...!

The Pursuit of Life Where It Seems Unimaginable | Quanta Magazine A decade ago, Karen Lloyd discovered single-celled microbes living beneath the seafloor. Now she studies how they can survive in Earth’s crust, possibly for hundreds or thousands of years, and push li...

@laurapoppick.bsky.social's excellent Q&A with Karen Lloyd on the microbes that live deep in the Earth's subsurface and may divide only rarely over hundreds, thousands, millions of years www.quantamagazine.org/the-pursuit-...

Truly stunned. What an honor to have STRATA longlisted for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. Congratulations to all of the other authors listed 🌏 💫 .

@penamerica.bsky.social

pen.org/announcing-t...

So glad to hear, thanks for reading!

Becoming Earth by Ferris Jabr: 9780593133996 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A vivid account of a major shift in how we understand Earth, from an exceptionally talented new voice. Earth is not simply an inanimate planet on which life evolved, but...

H/t to fellow Earth history writer @ferrisjabr.bsky.social br.bsky.social for spotting this and letting me know!

Read his gorgeous book to learn more about other moments in deep time that brought our planet to life: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/623907...

File this under things I never expected to see 😳 🤩.

May the events of deep time continue to weasel their way into pop culture! 🌎 💫

If you love reading and discussing nonfiction books, and like the idea of someone else choosing your next book for you and sending it to your home, I recommend checking out this very cool service --> @readcurious.xyz.

RBmedia | Strata Listen to the audiobook Strata, written by Laura Poppick, narrated by Jeannie Sheneman.

🎉 STRATA's audiobook launches today! 🎉

rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/97...

Honored to know that Strata is off on a journey to #AGU25 ☺️

"When I'm looking at these beautiful chevron zigzag texture in the rock, that's the moment when that mountain was born... Those are the stories that the rocks hold inside them. If we can unlock them, it just gives you this immense sense of gravity of the time that passes." —Dr. Anjana Khatwa

🪨 Geologist @anjanakhatwa.bsky.social explains how embracing wonder and awe adds to our scientific understanding of the rocks that form our planet: buff.ly/teeT0NU

Thanks so much Margot! 🙏 🪨

WOW, thank you to @meghanbartels.bsky.social and @sciam.bsky.social for listing STRATA as a Staff Favorite Book of 2025. 🙏💫🌎

My own to-read pile just keeps growing and growing...so many gems on this list! 🤩

Thank you so much @anjanakhatwa.bsky.social 🙏 ☺️. Honored to be in your company this year, and may 2026 bring ever more attention to the rocks 🪨.

I love finding the talent of my friends prominently displayed 👏

Gorgeous. Where is this?

Strata, by Laura Poppick.

Have book will travel ... to the @nacis.bsky.social 2025 conference. I'm excited to be part of the #mappingwater session on Friday. And, thank you, @laurapoppick.bsky.social for the great reading material :)

😍 honored it made it into your carry-on luggage! And sounds like a very cool conference session...

My latest for @quantamagazine.bsky.social, a Q&A with @karenlloyd.bsky.social on the hidden worlds living within Earth's crust.

Favorite new word: aeonophiles, in reference to microbes that may live for 100,000s or even **millions** of years, just riding out the waves of geologic events 🤯.

Deep thoughts on deep time with August's book of the month Laura Poppick's "Strata" takes the long view on geology.

📣 Our book of the month for August is... STRATA: STORIES FROM DEEP TIME by @laurapoppick.bsky.social

We loved this detailed, deliberate overview of geoscience—and its mixture of lyrical prose and detailed profiles of researchers and the things they study.

newsletter.readcurious.xyz/p/announcing...

Honored that @pointreyesbooks.bsky.social selected Strata for their summer subscription! And also love that they have a subscription service, what a great idea. 🤩

Thanks Point Reyes Books and all of the other small independent bookstores helping to get this thing in the hands of readers 🙏.

In 2024, researchers reported a startling finding: deep-sea rock formations—known as polymetallic nodules—may be producing oxygen in total darkness. The phenomenon, dubbed “dark oxygen,” challenged assumptions about life-supporting chemistry in the deep ocean.

Watch the full video: bit.ly/4foQbHp

Thanks @literaryhub.bsky.social for listing Strata's cover as one of the best of July!

So grateful to Steve Attardo and the whole team at @wwnorton.com for designing this beauty that captures the essence of the book while also offering a real feast for the eyes.

lithub.com/the-11-best-...

Thanks for the shout-out @literaryhub.bsky.social!

And such company to be in, my summer reading list is piling up too quickly.

manage.kmail-lists.com/subscription...

Thank you @drymeadow.bsky.social, ‪so glad that you enjoyed!‬

Hah, and that compliment means a lot! If I've changed the way one reader views mud, I have achieved at least part of what I have set out to accomplish :).

I also LOVE that your cat's name is Strata...!!

"Earth itself shaped humankind as we have shaped the planet in return - a relationship that requires repair but that could be rehabilitated with a little more recognition of where we came from."

Thank you, @restingdinoface.bsky.social, for this beautiful review of Strata in @science.org today.

Delighted to have this excerpt from Strata out in @literaryhub.bsky.social this week 🧊 🎉

E.P.A. Is Said to Draft a Plan to End Its Ability to Fight Climate Change

"...it would not only erase all current limits on greenhouse gas pollution from cars, factories, power plants and other sources. It would prevent future administrations from trying to tackle climate change, with lasting implications."

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/c...

Thanks so much @mounty.bsky.social! I've been encouraging my Maine friends to find a beach to read it on, or some other sedimentary environment :).