No other book comes even close to proposing that there is a huge mass of life living within the earth, that it is sustained in its sunless and airless subterranean environment by hydrocarbons, and that those hydrocarbons--natural gas and petroleum--are not fossil fuels but a primordial basic component of our planet and the universe.
From the reviews:
"always original, always important, usually controversial, and usually right"
- FROM THE FOREWORD BY FREEMAN DYSON
"an extraordinary theory from one of the world's most original minds."
- NIGEL HAWKES, THE TIMES, LONDON
"The leading supporter of the abiotic theory in the U.S. is Prof. Thomas Gold of Cornell. His 1999 book, The Deep Hot Biosphere (Springer-Verlag) is a thorough discussion of the issues. It is based in part on research financed by the U.S. Geological Survey. Among prominent scientists whose work supports the abiotic theory are Jean Whelan of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Mahlon Kennicutt of Texas A&M University, and J.F Kenny of the Gas Resources Corporation."
- http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=4092
"There is much to be said about this important book ? . Gold exhibits the irreversible and universal genius that we recognize in Aristotle and Leonardo da Vinci. ? The versatility and rangeof knowledge exhibited is remarkable. ? The Deep Hot Biosphere is a highly interesting and important book; it should be required reading for every geology student." (David Deming, Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 17 (2), 2003)
"Thomas Gold is a physicist who is not afraid of controversy. ? His big new theory ? is that oil and natural gas are produced by geology and chemistry of the hot deep layers below the Earth's surface ? . The book is the best kind of science writing: contentious and passionate, with all the evidence there for you to weigh up." (New Scientist, August, 2001)
