Tag Archives: geology

Aerial Geology

Posted on June 26, 2020 by smellincoffee

Aerial Geology: A High Altitude Tour of North America’s Spectacular Volcanoes, Canyons, Glaciers, Lakes, Craters, and Peaks © 2017 Mary Caperton Morton 308 pages   It was love at first sight, me and this book. There  I was, cruising BooksAMillion … Continue reading →

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The Ice at the End of the World

Posted on October 16, 2019 by smellincoffee

© 2019  Jon Gertner 418 pages My reading journeys have taken me to Greenland recently, but instead of reading more about the Viking settlements there,  I wanted to read about another tribe:   the explorers and scientists who willingly endured months … Continue reading →

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The Ends of the World

Posted on July 25, 2018 by smellincoffee

The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth’s Past Mass Extinctions© 2017 Peter Brannen336 pages Earth has tried to kill us five times before, and now it’s at it again. (To be fair, … Continue reading →

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Encompassing Flagstaff: Geology Overload

Posted on April 25, 2018 by smellincoffee

Today’s post covers a few of my “driving days”, spanning  the AZ/Nevada border almost to the AZ/New Mexico border.  One of my favorite aspects of driving in Arizona was that sometimes I’d top a hill and see what seemed to … Continue reading →

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The Dragon Seekers

Posted on October 31, 2017 by smellincoffee

The Dragon Seekers: How An Extraordinary Cicle Of Fossilists Discovered The Dinosaurs And Paved The Way For Darwin© 2009 Christopher McGowan272 pages Ancient bones and magnets were both known to antiquity, but not until the 19th century did their importance … Continue reading →

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A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science

Posted on January 31, 2017 by smellincoffee

The Canon: A whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science© 2007 Natalie Angier293 pages Science is amazing! Why is so much of the writing about it so lame?   Natalie Angier’s The Canon first reviews the principles of scientific thinking … Continue reading →

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Week of Enchantment: Into the Hole He Goes

Posted on October 5, 2016 by smellincoffee

My first morning in the west opened to a glorious sunrise. I was up with the dawn, for after a ride into town to eat breakfast, I intended to drive the twenty miles out to the Caverns to be there … Continue reading →

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Volcanoes in Human History

Posted on June 8, 2016 by smellincoffee

As with Earthquakes in Human History, this is exactly as it describes itself. A mix of science and history, the authors begin with an explanation of volcanic activity before moving on to cover a few key eruptions. Volcanoes illustrate that … Continue reading →

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The Deep: Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss

Posted on May 16, 2016 by smellincoffee

The Deep: the Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss253 pages© 2007 Claire Nouvian I’ve been enjoying a gallery book devoted to the extraordinary creatures of the deep sea these past two weeks.  Edited by Claire Nouvian, The Deep collects  some of … Continue reading →

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This week: hot rocks, war in the east, and Holly Golightly

Posted on September 8, 2014 by smellincoffee

This week the to-be-read list shrank, as I finished Richard Fortey’s Earth — an introduction to the processes that shape the Earth, while at the same time a travelogue to the planet’s most beautiful hotspots.  Fortey is both tourist and … Continue reading →

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