Visualizing Geology

Visualizing Geology was written as a textbook for introductory college geology. I read it for enjoyment and was delighted with the book's organization and style. The authors have a remarkable understanding of what a neophyte (like me) will comprehend and find interesting. They augment comparatively brief descriptions with outstanding photos, diagrams and drawings. The result is a quick and clear presentation of concepts and phenomena. Particularly wonderful is the section on metamorphic rock. The pictorial approach is at its best explaining the conditions and forces turning shale to slate to phyllite and on to schist and gneiss. Another highlight is the second to last chapter - a discussion of the 'co-development' of the lithosphere and biosphere. My only regret is that they don't go into a little more detail explaining evidence for and principles underlying certain geological processes. It's as though they sometimes stop just short of the punchline. But then it is an introductory text.