Customer Reviews

The Field Guide to Geology

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3 star:		(1)
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As a student in engineering geology, I found this book to be
a very good reference but with no in-depth reading. For the novice, I would recommend
this to see if you're interested in the field of geology; but for an intermediate
or advanced geology enthusiast, I would recommend a more scientific book.

There are no photographs but rather drawings of the various
components of geology. The artist did well, but nothing can amount to the incredible
display of mass wasting, or the delicate detail of Micas

The words "field guide" imply a book that can be carried in the field to identify features (e.g. "Audubon Field Guide" series). A looser interpretation would be a manual that teaches people to interpret features in the field (e.g. Robert Compton's classic "Geology in the Field"). David Lambert's "The Field Guide to Geology" is neither. It is a simple introduction to geology accompanied by many drawings and diagrams. The book is useful for high school earth science students and younger, but any basic college-level physical geology text provides a more thorough introduction to geology -- with more sophisticated graphics, too.

So, if you want a snapshot of important concepts in basic physical geology, take a look at "Field Guide to Geology" or search in Wikipedia under "Geology." If you want a detailed introduction, take a look at an introductory-level college physical or historical (for fossils) geology textbook. If you want a true field guide, there are many good series such as the Audubon or Peterson series.

This is an excellent guide for beginning geology students and a very good review for more advanced students. Should be on all geologist's shelves.

This is a passport to unexpected discoveries at all scales and becomes a guide to seeing the world's longest running rocky picture show. Clearly written and with many times more illustrations than its 300 pages, it offers an accessible, inital overview of what forces created and distributed the crust of the Earth today and the incredibly powerful forces that continue to change it. Although it is recommended for grade 8 students and older, it is also for adults. This can be your starter book at any age to travel through time to distant planets--our Earth--distant in time, not outer space.

The physical world has not always looked as it is today, or for very long, for that matter when these rocks of ages have been measured in millions and billions of years. Much of North America was most recently altered on a colossal scale by the last ice age that retreated a mere 12,000 years ago or so. There have been many versions of the planetary crust we know as our home and there will be many more variations long after us. Find out why that is so through descriptions and explanations encompassing the endless cycle in the dance of Shiva, creating and destroying the face of the Earth. Learn to see evidence of deep time, geological time in your own surroundings. New Yorkers will discover what created the impressive Palisades along the Hudson river. Arizonans will see the remains of ancient volcanoes in addition to the famous forces of weathering that carved the Grand Canyon. Unexpected wonders are everywhere to read about and with this book's assistance, actually experience in nature. A general understanding is mandatory. By example, if we could drain Lake Michigan, Chicagoans could see an enormous geological surprise deeper, possibly in wonder, than even the Grand Canyon because it lies unexplored and its potential discoveries dormant without our cognizance. This book can describe for the mind what cannot be seen today for a variety of reasons. You will comprehend them nonetheless.

In fact, the distribution of land and water we recognize from childhood memories of our classroom globes has only existed in that specific, temporary manifestation for such a brief period in the history of the planet that it is considered by geologists as merely a blink in time. Mountain ranges and entire oceans have come and gone. Continents coalesced to form a single mega continent only to be eventually pulled apart into large fragments sliding under each other, violently colliding into each other with irresistible force that alters everythimg in their path without plan or purpose.

Ultimately everything is recycled by geological forces that create what the book illustrates, and that are produced as a consequence of astonishing extremes and combinations: of heat, cold, pressure, weight, vulcanism and more subtly by wind and water over the most potent power of all, time. This book is inexpensive and quite adequate in offering an overall picture as well as a brief trip through time regarding geological forces and their continuing consequences. It is not a college textbook nor does it try to be. You will need additional books to identify the huge variety of rocks you will find in the field--literally and figuratively. It also uses drawings instead of color photographs so many people might prefer other books. tNonetheless, this book describes and illustrates geological and chemical forces in action in their endless variations. But without good color photographs it cannot show rocks at all scales as they could appear in nature, whether from the small pebbles of the regolith to its most massive formation of any single rock, Iluru, once known as Ayer's Rock in central Australia, to the enormous expanses of consolidated rock we know as bedrock. This book's illustrations are very good but admittedly, it could be illustrated better by professional, color photography. Some readers will demand color to be satisfied. Fair enough. However, color reproductions or more complex details associated with textbooks will cause any book's price to rise exponentially, so be prepared to pay a lot more.

Other afforable accessory books are highly recommended for your state or possibly natural wonders during your next vacation. You might also want to consider another entry level experience of field geology that you can easily experience traveling by car largely through "digs" illustrating firsthand, geological formations which are often conveniently provided by thousands of road cuts all over the US. These books can be inexpensive interpreters to assist you in becoming more aware of nature's most fundamental, visible crystal structures. One optional series to look at is the Roadside Geology series like, Roadside Geology of Northern and Central California or Roadside Geology of Connecticut and Rhode Island (Roadside Geology Series) Another good series, includes Geology Underfoot in Northern Arizona, Underfoot: A Geologic Guide to the Appalachian Trail for hikers and Geology Underfoot in Southern Utah.

This is just the beginning of your adventures. You might also enjoy a visit to your local Museum of Natural History to complement your new studies in the field.

Written by award-winning science author David Lambert and The Diagram Group, The Field Guide to Geology is an overview of the geologic history of the Earth. Accessible to middle and high school students as well as lay readers alike, The Field Guide to Geology is now updated with two new chapters: one on new technologies used to measure behavior of the Earth's complex systems in real time, and one on notable scientists whose research advanced the field of geology. The Field Guide to Geology includes more than 750 two-color maps, charts, and illustrations, and covers everything from plate tectonics to the distinctions between types of rock and stone to how rivers and seas shape the land to means used to date rocks and much more. An excellent science or study text for young adults, especially recommended for high school library collections.

I came back from a trip to Utah hungry to know more about geology, and this is the first book I bought. It satisfied my curiosity admirably. Once I had read it, I felt that I had a better grasp of the subject. Now that I'm pursuing geology at the college level, I'm doing very well, thanks to the framework this book provided for me. I will continue to refer to it during these first two years of study -- and probably beyond, because it's full of excellent illustrations for each concept. I'm glad I've got it on my shelf.

Interesting approach to Geology that should appeal to the hobbyist. Equal parts instruction and directions as to how to participate in Geology.

I won't waste space and your time by sharing all my praise for this book. Suffice to say that I concur with the reviewers before me. Except that it is not just for young people. I am a retiree who finally has time to pursue personal interests. I am expressing my creativity in landscape art, which demands that I understand the underpinnings of the mountains in my scenes. Like a sculptor studies anatomy, my best source to understand realistic landscapes is through geology -- a field for which I have no formal training. This book is a dream come true.

I only wish that the layout designer had avoided two-page spreads for some of the diagrams. The artwork is great but having a key diagram broken in half by the "the perfect binding" page folds is frustrating and disappointing. In that vein, I suggest that this be made into a KINDLE book. It would be tedious on a handheld device but it would prefect for a screen the size of an iPad or larger.