Rocks, minerals and fossils: general interest Books

Book SynopsisIn the spring and summer of 2000, geologists working for the Tennessee Department of Transportation made an extraordinary find as they examined soil at a routine road construction project: the digging at Gray, Tennessee, had uncovered a fossil site containing bones that would turn out to be at least five million years old. Harry Moore and his colleagues, along with researchers from the state and the University of Tennessee, were stunned as they unearthed the fossilized remains of tapirs, elephants, rhinoceroses, alligators, and other long-dead animals. What was at first thought to be an Ice Age site ten to twenty thousand years old proved to be much, much older.The Bone Hunters recounts the fascinating details of a remarkable chance discovery. In his engaging firsthand account, Moore writes of the people behind the excavation of the site and how their efforts helped save valuable artifacts for ongoing study. Numerous photographs capture the excellent condition of fossils at Gray. Moore also describes the contours of what the ancient landscape may have looked like and details the governmental action that ultimately preserved this Tennessee treasure.Harry Moore manages the Tennessee Department of Transportation’s Geotechnial Engineering office in Knoxville. His previous books are A Roadside Guide to the Geology of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, A Geologic Trip Across Tennessee by Interstate 40, and Discovering October Roads: Fall Colors and Geology in Rural East Tennessee (co-written with Fred Brown).

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Book Synopsis''Figured Stones'' is a masterpiece of natural philosophy and a vital contribution to the emerging field of vibrant materialism. It is both a manual of visionary geology and a treatise on lithic scrying; a manifesto on rock veneration and an exploration of deep-time consciousness. In vivid and lucent prose, Paul Prudence crosses the ''blood-brain barrier of dimensionality'', condensing and expanding both space and time by drawing the extremities of scale into paradoxical alignment. Vast landscapes become visible in miniature surfaces, and, liberated from our reductive impressions of time, rock itself becomes pliant, mercurial and alive. In this expanded state, the lithosphere is self-aware, memorising its own telluric activity, from weather patterns to the fluid dynamics of rivers.With Prudence as a guide we encounter rocks as messengers, talismans and oracles. Stones become portals to other worlds and act as intermediaries to the domains of gods, demons and spirits. Geology acts as a divinatory system for decoding dreams, or as a tool for connecting us to our greater ancestral consciousness. At a time when we are barely cognisant of the lives of other-than-human beings, Prudence resuscitates the pre-Socratic doctrine of hylozoism - that all matter has life. Throughout the pages of ''Figured Stones'', rocks become agents for studying planetary introspection and geological sentience - they reveal an ''inter-animating spirit of mind and matter where biological and mineral kingdoms collude''.''Figured Stones'' is destined to become an important book in a new movement that acknowledges and embraces more-than-human life at a critical time in our global ecology.

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Book SynopsisPrecious stones, gems and crystals have been valued throughout history not only for their rarity and expense, but for their mystical properties too. Garnet is rumoured to stimulate the heart, while the pearl offers the protection of the goddess Diana – coral, so-called 'witch-stone', is said to guard against the evil eye, and amethyst is said to prevent drunkenness. Gem Magic guides the reader through the uses of and stories surrounding a cornucopia of stones. Introducing the inherent properties of dazzling selection of gems, gemologist Raymond Walters describes how each stone is formed and its key properties, what beliefs have been associated with them through history and around the world, and both their scientific and occult uses. Famous stones, both real and mythical, are lyrically described – from the infamous Koh-i-Noor diamond to unicorn horn and bezoar. Table of ContentsIntroduction - Discovering Gems. Minerals. Gems of the Natural World. Mythical Stones. Gemstone Superstitions. Glossary and further reading.

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Book SynopsisWeird Dinosaurs examines the latest breakthroughs and new technologies radically transforming our understanding of the distant past. Pickrell opens a vivid portal to a brand new age of fossil discovery, in which fossil hunters are routinely redefining what we know and how we think about prehistory's most iconic and fascinating creatures.Trade ReviewThis history of the discovery of some of the most outlandish creatures that ever lived, and the excitement of paleontological research, will be sure to both entertain and instruct. No other such historical narrative exists that is focused on weird extinct beasts. -- Spencer Lucas, author of Dinosaurs: The Textbook, sixth edition Fascinating... Readers learn of beautiful opalised dinosaur bones from Australia and a crested dinosaur found approximately 13,000 feet up Antarctica's Mt. Kirkpatrick, demonstrating that dinosaurs were widely distributed across the globe. Publishers Weekly In the 26 years since Jurassic Park was released we have unearthed about 75 per cent of all known dinosaur species... Weird Dinosaurs is a tour de force through the latest digs across the planet. It features the amazing people unearthing new fossils and highlights the odd reptiles that roamed all corners of the earth millions of years ago. -- Marcus Strom Sydney Morning Herald Australian Geographic editor John Pickrell brings us up to date with Weird Dinosaurs, using the species' often bizarre features as a giddy hook. Some had bat-like wings, some had elaborate neck frills, others shock with how large (or small) they were. Pickrell spends a lot of time on quests of individual fossil hunters and he shifts the focus from traditional fossil destinations such as North America to current hotspots China, Mongolia and Antarctica. -- Doug Wallen The Big Issue, Australia Weird Dinosaurs is an informative and entertaining text with a nice blend of narrative and scientific fact... the facts and information included are simply fascinating. Sharon the LibrarianTable of ContentsWorld Map Foreword, by Philip Currie Introduction: A New Golden Age for Dinosaur Science 1. Monster from the Cretaceous Lagoon: The Sahara, Egypt 2. All Hail the Dino-Bat: Hebei Province, China 3. Dwarf Dinosaurs and Trailblazing Aristocrats: Transylvania, Romania 4. Horny Ornaments and Sexy Ceratopsians: Alberta, Canada 5. The 'Unusual Terrible Hands': Gobi Desert, Mongolia 6. Scandalous Behaviour and Enfluffled Vegetarians: Siberia, Russia 7. Cretaceous Creatures of the Frozen North: Alaska, United States 8. The Hidden Treasures Down Under: Lightning Ridge, Australia 9. Record-breaking titans: Patagonia, Argentina 10. Southern Killers Set Adrift: Mahajanga Basin, Madagascar 11. Polar Pioneers and the Frozen Crested Lizard: Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica Future Potential Glossary Further Reading Acknowledgments Notes Credits Index

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