The Meteorites: Encounters With Outer Space & Deep Time
by Helen Gordon
Genres: History, Non-fiction, SciencePages: 265
Rating:
Synopsis:From your window you can see the stars and distant planets: light years away, it's easy to think that our existences and theirs will never intersect. Yet meteorites - mysterious, irregular rocks of sometimes immense value - connect us with the vastness of the universe. They may have brought the first life to our planet, and today they still reveal extraordinary scientific insights.
Helen Gordon reveals the fascinating stories of fallen meteorites and the lives they've touched - from collectors to kings, scientists to farmers. She meets amateur astronomers and gem dealers, goes meteorite hunting across rooftops and learns what objects moving through space can tell us about the fragility of life on Earth.
Helen Gordon’s The Meteorites is an exploration of what meteorites are and what they’ve meant to humanity. It digs into some of the science around meteorites, but also discusses historical meteorites (collected long after they fell) both scientifically and socially, and meteorites that were adapted by people of the past into keepsakes and monuments, and other modern ways of engaging with meteorites (like collecting them).
For me, there was maybe a bit more focus on the social side of meteorite-appreciation than I was interested in. People wanting to appreciate the aesthetics of meteorites and use them for decorations aren’t that interesting to me — for many of them, meteorites are like any prestigious art object, a way to show off. Some are interested in the rarity, whether or not the meteorites are beautiful. Ludicrous amounts of money changes hands, with some specimens getting lost to science. Gordon writes about non-scienticist collectors in quite a few chapters, and while some are responsible and willing to share their meteorites for testing etc, I have questions about treating meteorite collection like a hobby.
Mind you, citizen science around micrometeorites could be pretty cool and useful, so I guess it’s not so clear-cut.
Anyway, where it stuck to the more scientific stuff I was more interested, but I didn’t particularly feel connected with the whole… sense of wonder, numinous, connection-to-the-cosmos type bits. I get that more through doing science or reading about people doing science, generally; the idea of standing where a significant meteorite fell is fairly uninteresting to me.
Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)
This sounds really interesting to me. Although I’m a history fan too.
Huh, seems odd to interpret this post as being about me not liking history, a prominent category of review on my blog. As I said in the review, I wasn’t interested in the chapters about (modern) meteorite collecting, or the idea of connecting with meteorites because they’re special in and of themselves without study.
I’m with you on private collectors of meteorites. While I appreciate the lay person’s fascination with them, let scientists do their thing.
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Definitely. I can see a role for private collecting when it comes to the newer stuff about micrometeorites, since those are so tiny and ubiquitous — surely there’s a role for citizen science there. But the trade in meteorites for bragging rights or aesthetics troubles me a lot. Some collectors do provide samples/make their meteorites available for study, but… I’m sure it’s not everyone.
I enjoyed reading your review, thanks for sharing your thoughts
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Thanks for dropping by!
I love that we love so many of the same topics, I find so many interesting titles because of you!
Same, haha!
I read this a year ago and really enjoyed it, I liked that she included the social justice side of things and thought that by including so many facets of meteorites she would attract lots of different kinds of people to read about them. Of course I agree about collectors who then just want an art work and the meteorite is lost to science, though! My review’s here: https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2025/02/16/book-review-helen-gordon-the-meteorites/
I liked that chapter too — I wish there’d been more of that kind of thing, and less about the dealers/aesthetic buyers.