#Geology Reference?
5 messages in this thread
I am interested in getting any reference material on Basic Geology. Can anyone
recommend a good text book on this subject? Please include
title/author/publisher as I will probably need to order it from a bookstore. I
live in Chicago and most of the book stores have nothing on this subject. Can
someone recommend one? Also is there a trade magazine for the geological
hobbyist? If so please reply with the publishers phone number. Thanx in
advance.
-Gary Mushinski
Hi …
My favorite is a book called Dance of the Continents by Harrington. General
geology and real good on continental drift and general earth history.
Interesting tidbits like the fact we're on our second atmosphere (!#!@) and so
well-written it is an absolutely joy. You can the author, who is a retired
college professor, just loves his work, which is inspiring.
I found nothing on the counters of bookstores which would help me out, so being
a total, hopeless amateur, I went to the library and took out textbooks that
looked easy, then ones that looked harder, and then ones that looked
impossible. Even when the mathematics went beyond what I could cope with, I
still got many wonderful things out of them.
I'm sorry I don't have publisher's phone numbers to give you, but if somebody
gives you a book reference you think you want to act on, call the reference
section of the library and ask them to look it up in a book called BOOKS IN
PRINT. They'll find it for you! They live to find this stuff for people!!
In the meantime, have great fun. It is an endless joy …
My personal favorite for a basic Earth Science book is _The Field Guide to
Geology_ by David Lambert (ISBN 0-8160-2032-9). It is well illustrated, and the
writing, while not in great depth, is clear and lets you begin looking for more
detailed answers to questions. If your not familiar with the John McPhee series
of profiles of geologists and their geological specialty you should be. The 4
books are _In Suspect Terrain_, _Rising from the Plains_, _Basin and Range_,
and _Assembling Caifornia_. The series basically looks at the geology of the US
across Interstate 80 and 4 geologist who study different aspects of the
continent. You can probably find all of these books in Chicago at the big K&B
on Wabash. They might have to order the Lambert book for you but the McPhee's
are probably regular stock items.
_Earth Magazine_ gets my vote as a really neat magazine. Kroch's probably has
it too.
jf
I most heartily recommend _PLANET EARTH, Cosmology, Geology and the Evoultion
of Life and Environment_, Cesare Emiliani, Cambridge University Press, ISBN
0-521-40949-7. Your local bookseller can definitely get it. Just ask them to
order it for you.
This is by far the clearest, best organized, and comprehensive description of
the earth that I have come across. Check it out!
Hi, Gary–
Welcome to the forum/section!
Note GEOMAG.TXT in this forum's library – it has a list of subscription info
for a number of rockhound mags. Earth magazine, mentioned by someone else, is
in there – it is the only one that sounds right for what you are seeking.
–Doug