Extra Credit Reading and Reporting
Read one of the following books and discuss it with the instructor, and you earn up to 5 points of extra credit. The maximum number of extra points you can earn is 20 (at least 4 books). The books will be on reserve in the Geology Library (in the basement of Bessey Hall); books can be checked out for 7 days. The last day to discuss books is April 21; one book per discussion; time between successive discussions is at least 7 days.
The Two-Mile Time Machine (2000) by Richard Alley –ice cores, abrupt climate change, and our future [QC884.A55]
The Reluctant Mr.
Darwin (2006) by David Quammen – historical background on one of
scienceÕs biggest achievements [QH31.D2 Q35]
Dirt: The Erosion of
Civilizations (2007) by David Montgomery – why we need soil
and how we have used and abused it [S590.77 .M66]
The Discovery of
Global Warming (2004) by Spencer Weart – history of the
realization of climate change [QC981.8.G56 W43]
The Map that Changed the World (2001) by Simon Winchester--the life of William Smith, the father of Stratigraphy and maker of the first geologic map [QE22.S6 W55]
Walking on Eggs (2001) by Luis Chiappe and Lowell Dingus --discovery of a dinosaur nesting ground in Argentina [QE861.6.E35 C48]
Coal: A Human History (2003) by Barbara Freese – history of coalÕs use and of its environmental impacts [TN805.A5 F852]
The Secret Life of Dust (2001) by Hannah Holmes –from the cosmos to the kitchen counter [Q173.H733]
No Apparent Danger: The True Story of Volcanic Disaster at Galeras and Nevado del Ruiz by Victoria Bruce – death and destruction in South America [QE523.N48 B78]
Rising from the Plains (1986) by John McPhee—high-country geology and the life of a Rocky Mountain geologist [QE 79. M29]
Control of Nature (1990) by John McPhee—engineers wrestling with rivers, lava flows, and debris avalanches.
NoahÕs Flood (1998) by William Ryan and Walter Pitman --new scientific discoveries about the event that changed history [BS658 R93]
T. rex and the Crater of Doom (1997) by Walter Alvarez –the story that waited 65 million years to be told [QE 506 A48]
Water follies: groundwater pumping and the
fate of America's fresh waters (2002) by
Robert Glennon [TD 223 G58]
Ogallala Blue: Water and Life on the High
Plains (2007) by William Ashcroft
– the aquifer and its future [S616.U6 A78]
The Demon-Haunted World (1994) by Carl Sagan and Ann Duryan -- combating the siren call of unreason [Q175
.S215]
Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Rare in the
Universe (2000) by Peter Ward and
Donald Brownlee—other places are very dangerous in the long term [QB 54
W336]
Ice Ages: Solving the Mystery (1979) by John Imbrie and Katherine Palmer Imbrie—the what,
when, and where of EarthÕs last big glacial epoch [QE697 .I45]
Uncertain Science, Uncertain World (2003) by Henry Pollack—how scientists reach conclusions in
the face of uncertainty; uses global warming as its main example [Q175 .P835]
Basin and Range (1980) by John McPhee—geology and geologists in the
wide-open spaces of Nevada [QE79 .M28] 1
Cadillac Desert (1993) by Marc Reisner—the American West and its
disappearing water [HD1739.A17 R45]
Devil in the Mountain (2004) by Simon Lamb—deciphering the origin of the Andes [QE230 .L36]
The Dating Game (2000) by Cherry Lewis—one manÕs search for the age of the
Earth [QE508.L48]
Twilight of the Mammoths (2005) by Paul Martin—mass extinction in Near Time [QE741.2. M368]
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of
Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl (2006) by Timothy Egan – life on the Great Plains during
its worst historic drought
[F595.E38]