The Earth's Shifting Crust by Charles Hapgood - wire of information

AUTHOR'S NOTE: To the Layman and the Specialist
This book is addressed primarily to the layman. It is intended
to be read by everyone interested in the earth and in the history
and future of life on the earth.
I believe that the most important problems of science that
is, the most fundamental principles of scientific thought and
method may be understood by everyone. I think it is the ob-
ligation of scientists to make these essentials clear, for only in
this way can science arouse public interest. It is unquestion-
able that without a public interest science cannot flourish.
The impression that serious scientific problems are far be-
yond the understanding of the average man constitutes a serious
obstacle to the growth of this public interest. A caste
system of specialists has been created, and it has produced a
sort of intellectual defeatism, so that the layman tends to
think that the conclusions he can reach with his own faculties
are invalid, no matter how carefully he examines the evi-
dence. This is an error that inhibits the spread of scientific
knowledge and tends to discourage
the recruitment of scien-
tific workers, for every scientist has been an amateur to start
with.
In addressing this book to the general public, I hope not
only to promote a wider discussion of the basic problems of
the earth; I hope also that from such increased interest will
come more recruits for the study of the earth. This book is
addressed also to the youth of high school and college age,
who, in my opinion, are perfectly capable of reaching sound
conclusions on the evidence set forth in it. From many of
them, in the course of teaching, I have already received not
only an enthusiastic response, but active and practical help.
But this book is necessarily addressed also to the specialists
in the various fields with which it deals. These include geol-
ogy, geophysics, paleontology, and climatology. It is precisely