Customer Reviews

Roadside Geology of Northern and Central California

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4 star:		(3)
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2 star:		(1)
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Once again, David Alt provides a very useful guide to California's roadside geology in this updated and expanded version of his "Roadside Geology of Northern California". It will be especially useful to teachers as a resource for planning lessons and field trips, amateurs who wish to learn more about geology or simply impress their friends, parents with the desire to get their children interested in the subject, and even professional geologists who want to enhance their knowledge.

The book provides a plethora of information for those who wish to see the many interesting and complex geological features of the northern and central areas of California. However, in order to make the best use of this book and fully appreciate the physical and historical geology presented, the reader should have a basic background in geology. This book will even refresh the memories of those folks with a somewhat oxidized recollection of rocks, minerals, geologic structures, and the like.

This book is not aimed at rock hounds, as its emphasis is not on collecting. The educated collector will find it interesting, though.

There are only two "problems" with this book. First, it will lengthen the trips you take as you look for the geologic features it discusses. Second, you may endanger your life as you stop to look at the road cuts discussed in the book or divert your gaze from the road to rocks while driving.

In 1975, the original "Roadside Geology of Northern California," with the same authors, presented a new way for the amateur rock enthusiast to learn about the complicated geology of northern California. Unfortunately, it was painfully vague, missing important information found in other books of the series, such as significant insight into how formations developed and their ages (e.g., Cretaceous, Devonian, etc.). By in large, this Y2K update solves the problem, and expands the original's spatial coverage southward to San Luis Obispo and the San Joaquin Valley. The improvement in information is phenomenal -- partly because of the increased knowledge gained in 25 years as alluded in the preface, but mostly because of better writing and attention to detail. For example, the Chapter 4 (Coast Range) discussion on how different rock types develop from different areas of ocean sediments may be the best I have ever seen in any forum -- concise (4 pages) and non-technical, yet stuffed with information. Like several other areas of the book, it includes interesting insight into how geologists have handled the difficulties in classifying and sorting California's wild assemblage of rocks; for example: "During the late 1960s, geologists finally accepted that large parts of the Franciscan complex are almost hopelessly scrambled. They agreed to call these chaotic jumbles melanges....Recognition of melanges was, in a way, an admission of defeat." Other chapters contain similar nuggets of "inside" information into the processes of rocks and the way they are studied.

Of course, the foundation of this book, as in the whole series, is in its sequential descriptions and explanations of the rocks one encouters while driving various roadways. The improvement in detail here is vast as well. There are still a few ambiguities in rock age (e.g., Paleozoic/Mesozoic schists of the northern Klamath region...aren't the actual ages more precisely known?). A few typos or fragmented sentences appear to have escaped the proofreaders. But overall, this is a well-composed and thorough look at northern and central California geology for the layman. Residents and vacationers who want to know about the rocks they see must have this book. It has greatly helped me to understand the processes behind rocks I have gathered there.

As an owner of the original 1975 edition, I was both impressed and dissapointed by the scope of this edition. In the expanded text, modern geologic theory is covered in plain-English in a manner that makes this a must-have for any geology student or enthusiast. An incredible amount of information lies within the covers in easy to digest segments.
The new road maps themselves however suffer from trying to cover too many miles in too few pages. Compared to the 1st edition, the geologic "points of interest" are fewer and farther between and many notable geologic features are missed or ignored. (It's almost as if Alt and Hyndman rushed a couple of weekend trips along various highways while dictating notes as they whizzed by obvious rock formations.)
Still, it's an excellent reference that does a credible job of covering a 100,000+ square mile area full of some of the most varied and complex geology on the planet.
Good reading both at home and on the road and perfect by itself for the casually curious. Students, teachers and rockhounds will find it to be a valuable "companion book" to more detailed texts as this volume presents only "the big picture" as viewed from the roadside.

Begins with an accessible description of the major processes that worked to form the diverse and dramatic geology of Northern California. It is a good introductory discussion and introduces most of the concepts referred to in the rest of the book. The roadside guides identify appropriate points of interest and do a good job describing their significance. My only major complaint typifies each of the offerings in this series. The geologic maps (which I believe are the most helpful tool in Geologic synthesis) are in red, black and white are not very clear at all but there are a number of other helpful diagrams that make the text more readable. The text might be a bit of a slog for someone without a Geology background but would not be impossible and should be fairly accessible with just a little initiation. And, after all, Northern California's geology is too sublime for it to just be a bunch of rocks we drive by.

I was extremely disappointed with this book. It does provide a macro description of the geology of Northern California, but the title does not match the contents. I was looking for a book that would give specific locations and features to observe at those locations. Locations given are very vague, on the order of "about 5 miles". Just hitting the highlights, it takes a full day just to see some of the major geologic features on the west side of Lake Tahoe, but this region is covered in only three pages of text.

Again, it does provide a macro description of Central and Northern California's geology by describing the major rock units, but is short on detail and specific locations.

I've used this book many times over the years on trips up and down the state of California. Driving up interstate 5, it can turn an otherwise boring trip up the central valley into something actually fun. For example, the author explains that the low moutains that parallel much of I-5 to the west in the central and north valley are known as the Central Valley Sequence, and mark the subduction zone for the Pacific and north American plates. Very cool. I'd been driving by those mountains for twenty years before I brought Alt's book on one trip and discovered that.

Clearly and concisely written, it's an interesting guide to the observable geological features of much of California. Although not for real rock hounds or petrologists, it still dispenses a great deal of interesting and useful information, and will be especially helpful to fans of natural history who lack formal training in geology but who want to learn something about it for their state.

Road trips become much more interesting when you understand what you're seeing. This book provides many geologic insights into how the earth was formed and in particular the amazing geology of California and the Sierras. We used this book during our recent trip to Mono Lake, a video of which I posted on Youtube [...]. If you're at all curious about the world around you, buy this book!

This is definitely a good book. I have already taken it on a few road trips, and have had a good time learning about the geology of the area I was at. It has also been updated with more info about the bay area (compared to the older prints).

Have enjoyed reading this book, I've found it very informative. I found it easy to understand with geologic terms explained in everyday terms. I definitely would recommend this book.

This is an updated version of the book and is an improvement over the previous one. It's intended for use by casual readers and does a very fine job of it.