REPCHECK, Jack 1957(?)-

PERSONAL: Born c. 1957; married; five children. Education: Pennsylvania State University, B.A.; University of Wisconsin-Madison, M.A.

ADDRESSES: Home—Newton Township, PA. Agent— c/o Author Mail, Perseus Books Group, 387 Park Avenue S, New York, NY 10016.

CAREER: Editor and author. W. W. Norton & Company, New York, NY, acquisitions editor; has also worked for Addison-Wesley and Princeton University Press.

WRITINGS:

The Man Who Found Time: James Hutton and theDiscovery of Earth's Antiquity, Perseus Books (Cambridge, MA), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS: Jack Repcheck, an acquisitions editor for New York City-based publisher W. W. Norton & Company, is the author of The Man Who Found Time: James Hutton and the Discovery of Earth's Antiquity. Hutton, an eighteenth-century farmer, is regarded as the founder of modern geology; through his observations of the land formations in southern Scotland, he irritated many of his devout countrymen when he theorized that the Earth is much older than its long-accepted biblical age. In the words of American Scientist reviewer Greg Ross, "This insight laid the foundations of modern geology and provided a necessary backdrop for the theory of evolution."

In The Man Who Found Time, Repcheck "details the social milieu of Hutton's time, blending science with the social factors contributing to Hutton's personality and discoveries," wrote Library Journal reviewer Andy Wickens, while in Publishers Weekly a reviewer dubbed The Man Who Found Time an "engaging account of scientific discovery" that hopes to position its subject "into the lofty company of Copernicus, Galileo, and Darwin, as one who wrested modern science from the 'straight jacket of religious orthodoxy.'" Spectator critic Robert Macfarlane added, "Readers who are looking for a clear and intelligent explanation of Hutton's life and legacy will find much to please them here."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Scientist, November-December, 2003, Greg Ross, "Nanoviews," pp. 555-558.

Antiquity, September, 2003, N. James, review of TheMan Who Found Time: James Hutton and the Discovery of Earth's Antiquity, p. 595.

Booklist, May 15, 2003, Gilbert Taylor, review of TheMan Who Found Time, p. 1623.

Choice, November, 2003, J. W. Green, review of TheMan Who Found Time, pp. 570-571.

Free Inquiry, February-March, 2004, James Sullivan, "Remembering a Forgotten Scientist," pp. 56-57.

Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2003, review of The ManWho Found Time, p. 593.

Library Journal, May 15, 2003, Andy Wickens, review of The Man Who Found Time, p. 121.

Nature, June 26, 2003, David R. Oldroyd, "Discover-ing Geological Time," p. 920.

Publishers Weekly, April 7, 2003, review of The ManWho Found Time, p. 54.

Science News, August 23, 2003, review of The ManWho Found Time, p. 127.

Spectator, September 13, 2003, Robert Macfarlane, review of The Man Who Found Time, pp. 62-63.

Times Higher Education Supplement, April 23, 2004, Nick Petford, review of The Man Who Found Time, p. 26.

Washington Times, August 17, 2003, Charles Rousseaux, "Did He Know the Age of Earth?"

ONLINE

BookSense,http://www.booksense.com/ (August 14, 2003), "Very Interesting People."

PhillyBurbs,http://www.phillyburbs.com/ (June 5, 2003), Katrina O'Toole, "Providing History to the Public—One Page at a Time."*