Branner Blog

This is a tough question, but a list I’ve been meaning to compile for a while.

This particular patron walked away with Assembling California by John McPhee and Roadside geology of northern California by David Alt. Other recommendations follow (the books themselves will be on display in Branner for browsing and borrowing). This list is intended as a starting point, by no means exhaustive.

General interest earth science-themed reading:
• The Age of the Earth by Dalrymple; QE508 .D28 1991
• Annals of the Former World by McPhee; QE77 .M38 1998 which includes:
• Basin and Range; QE79 .M28 1981
• In Suspect Terrain; QE78.3 .M36 1983
• Rising from the Plains; QE79 .M29 1986
• Assembling California; QE89 .M37 1993
• Beyond Oil: the View from Hubbert’s Peak by Deffeyes; TP318 .D44 2005
• Cataclysms on the Columbia by Allen; QE581 .A43 1991
• Collapse by Diamond; HN13 .D5 2005
• Field notes from a Catastrophe by Kolbert; QC981.8 .G56 K655 2006
• Krakatoa by Winchester; QE523 .K73 W56 2003B
• Life: a natural history of the first four billion years of life on earth by Fortey; QH366.2 .F69 1997
• The Map that Changed the World by Winchester; QE22 .S6 W55 2001
• Plate Tectonics by Oreskes; QE511.4 .P53 2001
• The Rejection of Continental Drift by Oreskes; QE511.4 .O74 1999
• Something New Under the Sun by McNeill; GF13 .M39 2000
• T-Rex and the Crater of Doom by Alvarez; QE506 .A48 1997
• Volcano Cowboys by Thompson; QE521 .T48 2000

Other lists from the blogogeosphere (or is it the geoblogosphere?):
Apparent Dip’s Great Science Book Challenge
Geology Home Companion’s Geology Reading List
California Council of Geoscience Organization’s Armchair Geologist Reading List

Stay tuned for future lists, and updates to the aforementioned. Anticipated themes include: environmental classics, geobiographies, geology of California, fuel for thought. Please send suggested titles or potential themes our way.

Branner Library has just received the new Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science. You can find the 4 volume tome, as well as other reference materials, in the Reference area directly behind the circulation desk.

The work provides up-to-date articles on the growing field of quaternary science. The description reads, “The quaternary sciences constitute a dynamic, multidisciplinary field of research that has been growing in scientific and societal importance in recent years. This branch of the Earth sciences links ancient prehistory to modern environments. Quaternary terrestrial sediments contain the fossil remains of existing species of flora and fauna, and their immediate predecessors. Quaternary science plays an integral part in such important issues for modern society as groundwater resources and contamination, sea level change, geologic hazards (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis), and soil erosion.”

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