A Sample of geological textbooks: the book História Física da Terra (1943) by Alberto Betim Paes Leme

This paper focuses on a specific textbook, published in 1943, that was written by a Brazilian mining engineer educated in France - Alberto Betim Paes Leme, aiming to investigate its intellectual roots, structure and purposes. To discuss these issues I shall make use of some aspects of the theoretical framework put forward by Ludwik Fleck (1896-1961), especially the Denkstil (thought-style) and Denkkollektiv (collective of thought). The textbook under scrutiny here was a substantial general manual of geology, with extensive information about Brazil, and a representative bibliographical review, which comprised both national and international texts. Through the textbook, the author intended to address a wide educated public (Fleck’s exoteric circle), but also people illiterate in geosciences.