{"product_id":"9780393070934","title":"The Mountains of Saint Francis: Discovering the Geologic Events That Shaped Our Earth","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe major new work by the best-selling author of \u003cem\u003eT. Rex and the Crater of Doom\u003c\/em\u003e--a fascinating history.\u003c\/p\u003e Walter Alvarez and his team made one of the most astonishing scientific discoveries of the twentieth century--that an asteroid smashed into the Earth 65 million years ago, exterminating the dinosaurs. Alvarez had the first glimmer of that amazing insight when he noticed something odd in a rock outcrop in central Italy. Alvarez now returns to that rich terrain, this time to take the reader on an distant past. We encounter the volcanoes that formed the Seven Hills of Rome; the majestic limestone Apennine mountains that started to develop millions of years ago \u003cem\u003eunder water\u003c\/em\u003e; the evidence that the Mediterranean Sea completely evaporated to a sunken desert, perhaps several times; and the proof that continental plates once overran one another to form telling, all major geologic episodes are as dramatic as the great impact that killed the dinosaurs, even when they happen over eons and without huge creatures to witness them.","brand":"Norton, W. W. \u0026 Company, Inc.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47121401839856,"sku":"9780393070934","price":25.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780393070934_p0.jpg?v=1763696489","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780393070934","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}