Hugh Miller: Stonemason, Geologist, Writer

Ross-shire-born polymath Hugh Miller (1802-56) was famous in his lifetime across the English-speaking world. After starting his working life as a stonemason, he became a social commentator and crusader and an inspiring (pre-Darwinian) writer on fossils. Michael A. Taylor’s biography – the first synoptic reassessment to draw upon new research – was first published in 2007. It quotes generous chunks of Miller’s own still immensely readable writings (he was known as ‘the supreme poet of geology’) and covers the full range of Hugh Miller, from stonemason through geologist and editor to private family man, with a surprising conclusion regarding his suicide. This new edition has some minor amendments and a new cover.

Reviews of Hugh Miller: Stonemason, Geologist, Writer

' … it takes someone with equally wide interests and skills to write his biography. For this task Michael Taylor is ideally equipped … a compact but well-rounded biography … well illustrated … ' International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences