The appendix of this book is entitled 'Chronology of Discovery'. Running from 1815 to 1976 it highlights events ranging from the initial theory of a Great Ice Age, through various astronomical mechanisms to the analysis of geological and deep-sea sediment core information in support of a modified Milankovitch theory. This progression is amplified in the book, which is structured into three main parts: Ice Age Discovered, Explaining the Ice Ages and Ice Ages of the Future, with a brief epilogue on the last hillion years of climate.
The authors (father and daughter) first draw together the early investigations into the possibility of an ice age which followed the introduction of the Great Ice Age theory by Agassiz in Neuchfitel in 1837. A difficult but gradual winning over of the scientific community can be seen, followed by the theories of Adhemar, Croll and Milankovitch relating astronomical movements to the occurrence of ice ages. Working contemporaneously with the theorists were geologists, showing that not just one, but many, ice ages had occurred. Moving to the more recent period, the book stresses the importance of deep-sea cores and modem