What do you think?
Rate this book
World of Geology: Travels to Rocky Places
A core component of the natural world is the geology, in the rocks and the landforms that have been created by their erosion. The plants that cover so much of the world's land areas, ant the myriad animals that inhabit each environment, form the wonderful world of nature, but the backdrops to all of them are the landscapes that are the world of geology. So many of the world's great natural attractions – the sites, the sights, the national parks, the wow places that folk travel to see – are features of their geology, with landforms that range from awe-inspiring to simply beautiful. And then there are so many more terrains and landscapes that have great stories to tell. Travelling the world, always armed with a camera, led to the author compiling a substantial collection of photographs, many of which reflected his own interests in their geological theme. This has grown into a worldwide overview of just a fraction of the magnificent sights, both natural and influenced by mankind, that make the geological world so totally fascinating and frequently so beautiful. Within these pages, the photographs and their short, accompanying texts offer just a taste of the visual delights within the world of geology. They constitute a grand tour across the surface of our planet, taking in as many as possible of our most spectacular and most fascinating sites. The whole book is perhaps best viewed as a glorious journey of discovery.
224 pages, Paperback
Published December 7, 2019
2 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 10, 2020
This book consists of 110 photographs of geological interest, each with a short explanation. The author and photographer, Tony Waltham, was a lecturer at the University of Nottingham for many years, teaching geology to mining and civil engineers. In his spare time, he travelled the world, seeking out the geologically spectacular and curious.
The photographs presented here are from all over the world (except Antarctica), with an emphasis on North America, Europe and Asia. The subjects range from huge landscape features to meteorites, quarry faces, buildings and (a few) people. Some are familiar tourist destinations, such as Torres del Paine, tower karst in China and Vietnam, and the Niagra Falls; others are excellent examples of familiar geology, such as dinosaur tracks, lava flows and alluvial fans, while there is a fair sprinkling of the extremely inaccessible: glaciers in Tibet, volcanos in Alaska and Kamchatka and caves in Borneo, the relatively mundane: cutting peat, the boardwalks in Venice and mining alluvial gold, and the truly rare: an exposure of permafrost, the sole of a glacier (viewed from a natural cave), gypsum chandeliers, lava stalagmites, and a cold water geyser. Some of the subjects are unconventional views of familiar places: Half Dome in Yosemite is seen from the back, to show exfoliation, while Yellowstone is represented by the ‘Morning Glory’ geothermal pool, and Cheddar Gorge by rock-blasting of unstable ground.
In every case, the commentary is well-researched, informative and interesting, often extending to the less obvious details of the subject. There is some bias towards caving and karst, glaciation, volcanicity, mining and engineering geology, reflecting the particular interests of the author, but in general the scope is very broad. Although he uses generally accessible language, the author does not shy away from technical detail, so the book will suit readers for whom geology is a hobby or a profession.
It seems that many of the photographs were taken on 35 mm film, and some suffer from enlargement to the (roughly) 20 cm2 format, but such is the quality of the subjects (and, mostly, the composition of the images) that this doesn’t really matter.
If you are interested in geology, you will find this book a rewarding study.
The photographs presented here are from all over the world (except Antarctica), with an emphasis on North America, Europe and Asia. The subjects range from huge landscape features to meteorites, quarry faces, buildings and (a few) people. Some are familiar tourist destinations, such as Torres del Paine, tower karst in China and Vietnam, and the Niagra Falls; others are excellent examples of familiar geology, such as dinosaur tracks, lava flows and alluvial fans, while there is a fair sprinkling of the extremely inaccessible: glaciers in Tibet, volcanos in Alaska and Kamchatka and caves in Borneo, the relatively mundane: cutting peat, the boardwalks in Venice and mining alluvial gold, and the truly rare: an exposure of permafrost, the sole of a glacier (viewed from a natural cave), gypsum chandeliers, lava stalagmites, and a cold water geyser. Some of the subjects are unconventional views of familiar places: Half Dome in Yosemite is seen from the back, to show exfoliation, while Yellowstone is represented by the ‘Morning Glory’ geothermal pool, and Cheddar Gorge by rock-blasting of unstable ground.
In every case, the commentary is well-researched, informative and interesting, often extending to the less obvious details of the subject. There is some bias towards caving and karst, glaciation, volcanicity, mining and engineering geology, reflecting the particular interests of the author, but in general the scope is very broad. Although he uses generally accessible language, the author does not shy away from technical detail, so the book will suit readers for whom geology is a hobby or a profession.
It seems that many of the photographs were taken on 35 mm film, and some suffer from enlargement to the (roughly) 20 cm2 format, but such is the quality of the subjects (and, mostly, the composition of the images) that this doesn’t really matter.
If you are interested in geology, you will find this book a rewarding study.
Displaying 1 of 1 review