The Field Guide to Geology

Praise for the previous editions:
"An innovative, clearly descriptive, and enjoyable introductory earth science book. Highly recommended..." American Reference Books Annual

Written by a team of eminent geologists and educators, The Field Guide to Geology, New Edition features revised information that brings the previous edition up to date. Clear graphics and simple field-guide procedures offer readers ready access to the topic. This edition features 200 new two-color illustrations (more than 750 in all), updated graphs and tables, as well as two new chapters titled "Monitoring the Earth's Changes" and "Geologists of Note." This volume's lucid, easy-to-follow text covers all the key rudiments of geology and is the perfect reference for students and geology lovers alike who share an interest in the great outdoors.

Topics covered include:

• Air currents
• Composition
• Desertification
• Greenhouse effect
• Ice changes
• Seafloor profiling
• Seismic activity
• Submersibles
• Tides
• Waterflow
• and more.

Grade 8 Up—Since the first edition of this book was published in 1998, technology for geological fieldwork has improved immensely. The coverage of these innovations, in a new chapter called "Monitoring Earth," is this book's best feature. It provides useful overviews, at a level of detail and in a vocabulary that is perfect for the audience, of concepts such as satellite laser ranging, which is used to measure the movement of continents, and the use of satellites in mapping the ozone layer. The rest of the book discusses the planet's formation; plate tectonics; methods of rock creation; how the sea, ice, and wind change the landscape; deciphering Earth's history from fossils and other rocks; exploitation of rocks and minerals, and, in another updated section, provides lists of prominent geologists and relevant institutions. The presentation in these chapters is overly succinct for such complex information, resulting in difficult reading (with no glossary) and loss of important detail. In one chapter, a 543-million-year-period is shoehorned into 30 pages. The illustrations are particularly disappointing. It is standard practice to show geological processes in simple line diagrams. These are provided, and are useful, as far as they go. But the few photographs mean that students have little opportunity to see the features produced by the forces that are so ably diagrammed. Apart from the information on new technologies, students would do better with Timothy M. Kusky's Encyclopedia of Earth Science (Facts On File, 2005).—Henrietta Thornton-Verma, School Library Journal
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