Intellectual historian RJ Mayhew describes the work as "an unparalleled study of remarkable depth, detail and quality of a key development in our ideas about how the Earth functions.

"[4] Canadian geologist and Sturgis Hooper Professor Emeritus of Geology at Harvard University, Paul Hoffman states that "Every historian of 20th-century Earth science will need these volumes close at hand; there is no substitute.

"[6] British geologist Anthony Hallam characterizes the work as "veritably Germanic in its comprehensive thoroughness and exceptional attention to detail with extensive interviews and correspondence with leading protagonists and use of archival material.

"[8] The Continental Drift Controversy was selected as a CHOICE outstanding academic title of 2012[9] as well as receiving the 2012 Mary B. Ansari Best Research Resource Award from the Geoscience Information Society.

He also received the Sue Tyler Friedman award from the Geological Society of London in 2013 for his long-term and determined effort to understand the central scientific issues involved in the continental drift controversy.