Salomon Kroonenberg

Salomon Kroonenberg studied physical geography at the University of Amsterdam and completed his doctorate there in 1976. Between 1972 and 1982 he worked as a geologist in Surinam, Swaziland and Columbia before becoming Professor of Geology and Mineralogy at the Agricultural University of Wageningen. In 1996 he left Wageningen to become Professor of Applied Geology at the Technical University of Delft. He is the author of The Human Scale (2006), which won him the Eureka Prize and has been translated into German, Chinese and Turkish.

The Human Scale

De aarde over tienduizend jaar

(Atlas, 2006, 334 pages)

The Human Scale sparkles with erudite iconoclasm. Salomon Kroonenberg tackles such explosive issues as climate change, the greenhouse effect and rising sea levels both unconventionally and incisively. His tone and line of reasoning demonstrate his aversion to doom-mongering; in fact he fires a formidable salvo of arguments at fashionable alarmist forecasts that suggest the earth is heading for man-made catastrophe.

Why Hell Stinks of Sulphur

Mythologie en geologie van de onderwereld

(Atlas, 2011, 400 pages)

We know almost everything about the exterior of the earth, but for most people its interior is completely unknown. Beneath us, stretching for a distance comparable to that between Paris and New York, lies an underground realm associated with darkness and death. It has inspired writers and artists since time immemorial; when trying to imagine hell, they have usually located it under the ground.

Levelling the Sea

The History of Mankind’s Struggle with Sea Levels

(Atlas Contact, 2017, 271 pages)

Geologist Salomon Kroonenberg believes we must go easy on the earth, but not drive ourselves crazy in the process. There is plenty to worry about, but rising sea levels have little if anything to do with the results of human activity. Many people worry about the warming of the climate, but in reality nothing exceptional is happening. For those concerned about rising sea levels, Kroonenberg offers the consoling message that the earth has experienced – and survived – this sort of thing before.

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