Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2024 -

Simply stated, this textbook is amazing. The concepts of isostasy and crust flexure are traditionally among the most difficult for geology students to grasp. For example, they struggle to understand how the last ice age, with glaciers five miles thick, depressed the Earth's crust, but glacial retreat was so rapid, relatively speaking, that it caused the crust to rebound so much that it settled back too far and rebounded too much again, though less so than it previously did. This textbook clearly describes this phenomenon and other aspects of isostasy with an immense number of figures, many in color, and relatively elementary mathematics (only once veering into partial differential equations). The included figures helpfully assist readers in understanding the salient points without bogging them down in complex mathematics. Chapters range from the historical development of the concept of isostasy and the basic theory of plates to the application of the concept to all aspects of the Earth's crust and even those of the Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars.Summing Up: Essential. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals.

This excellent contribution to the field of igneous petrology provides a unique presentation of a magmatic-volcanic system characterized by unprecedented exposure. Marshall (Johns Hopkins Univ.) traces the behavior of a basaltic magma on its journey from depth to surface and the various processes involved, including fractionation, crystal segregation and transport, and assimilation of host rocks. The exposed sequence of feeder dikes, multiple sills, and associated phases allowed Marshall and his colleagues the rare opportunity to conduct detailed petrologic and geochemical studies on a deep-to-surface magmatic-volcanic system not available elsewhere. Also included in this valuable contribution is an excellent review of the first 100-plus years of polar exploration and research. The book is very well illustrated and has an extensive list of references and a thorough index. It would be an extremely valuable asset for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students and any researcher interested in igneous petrology in general or, more specifically, magmatic-volcanic systems and geochemistry.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals.

The title of this book is more limited than its actual scope and somewhat misleading. This book does not deal with "oceanic life" other than reptiles and mammals (though fish and cephalopods are mentioned). The chronology begins well before the time of dinosaurs, in the Paleozoic era, and continues beyond the Cretaceous extinction of the large dinosaurs. The layout of the book is impressive--with rich, evocative tableaux of paintings throughout the text that illustrate the stunning vertebrate denizens of the seas as they appeared throughout time, especially when dinosaurs were the dominant terrestrial animals. The text is thorough and impressively clear and concise. The first half is an overview of reptilian evolution with a strong focus on aquatic reptiles. (It should be noted that a page seems to be missing in the account of the Cretaceous extinction.) Then the book moves through the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic eras. Students of paleontology will revel in the rich and abundant artist renderings. This book offers an outstanding exposition of the diversity and complexity of reptilian (with a nod to mammalian) oceanic life as it evolved over many millions of years. Strongly recommended for all interested in vertebrate evolution.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.

Part ethnography, part global survey, this volume successfully weaves a tale of plate tectonics, cultural geography, and theology into a thoughtful treatise on political geology in Java. Following an initial recitation of the geological and political impacts of volcanism in Indonesia, Bobbette (political geology, Univ. of Glasgow, Scotland) turns physical geographer and presents a series of geological maps of Java that set the stage for a broader discussion of the complex interrelationship between earth sciences and culture. The island of Java, occupying a unique position as both a center of Hindu-Buddhist and Islamic empires and the core of the colonial Dutch East Indies, presents a worthy template for considering the intersection of Western science and non-Western cosmology. This discussion is necessarily inclusive of local knowledge traditions, earth science, philosophy, and radical thought, resulting in a refreshing and engaging presentation of the coevolution of Earth and its human inhabitants. Java is a worthy stage to host this intense combination of fiery volcanism, cosmology, and culture, and this work provides an accessible introduction to political geology in both concept and practice. A worthy addition to the bookshelves of political and earth scientists, students of the natural and social sciences, and lay readers.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals; general readers.

The Sixth Element refers to the atomic number of carbon, an element present in many different and remarkable forms on Earth and in space. It's vital to life, and to industries and human activities of every variety. Carbon was not created in the Big Bang but has been present since the early stages of the universe. It's crucially involved in many geophysical and astrophysical processes, including global warming and star formation. The book offers simple, meaningful accounts of basic phenomena in a remarkable array of sciences, including astrobiology, chemistry, cosmology, planetary evolution, and nuclear physics, in which carbon plays vital roles. Lucid explanations are accompanied by useful diagrams, photographs, historical anecdotes, and a few simple equations. There are clear descriptions of pioneering experiments and observations that illuminated nature, advanced science, had major commercial applications, and/or earned Nobel prizes. A fine section of chapter notes is very interesting reading in itself. It's accompanied by an extensive list of references and a thorough index. The authors, each an accomplished research astronomer and emeritus university professor, have given us a very informative book for the scientifically attentive reader. It belongs in every science library.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

This lovely, compact book is a fascinating tour of earth history as revealed by rocks. The central thesis of the book is that exposures of rocks, such as quarries and roadcuts, are very much worth preserving for the information and beauty they reveal. The book makes pervasive linkages to living organisms and past environments--a unique approach that draws the reader in with each turn of the page. Across nine chapters, McNamara (independent scholar) covers such topics as the history of geological thought through fieldwork, past and present microbialites, limestones, chalk, the great oxygenation (and banded iron formations), sandstones, conglomerates, and wildfires. Exquisitely illustrated in full color, this book features superior production quality. The index and bibliography round out the text, adding to its utility beyond a casual read.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.