Customer Reviews

The Dynamic Earth: An Introduction to Physical Geology

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Skinner, Porter and Park give you a richly illustrated introduction to geology. The text spans the breadth of modern geology, and shows an exciting and changing planet. There are numerous photos of examples of terrain, often accompanied by schematics to aid understanding. The latest techniques practised in geology are explained. Especially noteworthy is the extensive use of GPS. This has greatly aided recording the location of interesting geological samples.

Earthquakes are also well covered, and will probably be of interest to many readers, especially if you are in California. The history of the Richter and Mercalli scales is gone into. Unfortunately, predicting quakes is still very uncertain!

The discussion on earthquakes is also used as a good example of plate tectonics, where the latter is probably the central idea of geology.

This book is one of the standard university texts in physical geology, along with Understanding Earth by Frank Press et al. The book is well written and very well illustrated. The discription of plate tectonics and it's integration throughout the book is very well done. Like most such texts, it has the disadvantage of being written by lifelong academics with little or no contact with the extraxtive industries. Their treatment of energy extraction is superficial at best. One of the most important developments in geology over the past 30 years, that of sequence stratigraphy, does not even get a mention, perhaps because it came out of the oil exploration industry. (Understanding Earth does devote a paragraph or two to sequence stratigraphy.)

I confess that I did not buy a copy from Amazon. I picked mine up at a Border's Bookstore in London. The only difference in my copy and one bought in the US is a large graphic on the cover saying "Restricted: not for sale in North America". Why the restriction? Like many university textbooks, this one can be bought in overseas at a fraction of the US price. My undiscounted Border's London price was $59.19, a little more than half the US price. Quite remarkable, considering the current weakness of the US dollar to the UK pound.

Very satisfied with this purchase. Exactly what I expected. The book was the correct edition and in a condition accurate to what was said in the description.

It was an interesting book that I am going to use also after graduation. Even if I don't speak fluently English, the book was easy to understand. I had the book as recommended litterature in a Geology course. And after reading it I did pretty well on the exam.

Book was marked in 'Good' condition. It was very highlighted, and I was pretty disappointed when I first received it. Nonetheless, I have gotten used to the marks and don't really mind them anymore.

Great book . Unfortunately, the CD rom is for windows 2000, and not upgradable to XP , let alone 7. Wiley seems to have little interest in helping. A little support would be appreciated.

This book is for all persons, students and others, who wish to learn geology with over 500 easy-to-read pages. The Earth is a giant machine, a machine that never stops. How the Earth-machine works is the story told in this book, and it is a fascinating story. The science that studies the Earth is geology, and those involved in the study are geologists. Physical processes are shaping the Earth now and have been shaping the Earth over the past 4.5 billion years.