Book Description
Writing with verve and clarity, Mary Hill tells the story of the magnificent Sierra Nevada--the longest, highest, and most spectacular mountain range in the contiguous United States. Hill takes us from the time before the land which would be California even existed, through the days of roaring volcanoes, violent earthquakes, and chilling ice sheets, to the more recent history of the Sierra's early explorers and the generations of adventuresome souls who followed.
The author introduces the rocks of the Sierra Nevada, which tell the mountains' tale, and explains how nature's forces, such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, faulting, erosion, and glaciation formed the range's world-renowned scenery and mineral wealth, including gold.
For thirty years, the first edition of Geology of the Sierra Nevada has been the definitive guide to the Sierra Nevada's geological history for nature lovers, travelers, hikers, campers, and armchair explorers. This new edition offers new chapters and sidebars and incorporates the concept of plate tectonics throughout the text.
Written in easy-to-understand language for a wide audience.
Gives detailed information on where to view outstanding Sierra Nevada geology in some of the world's most beloved natural treasures and national parks, including Yosemite.
Provides specific information on places to see glaciers and glacial deposits, caves, and exhibits of gold mines and mining equipment, many from Gold Rush times.
Superbly illustrated with 117 new color illustrations, 16 halftones, 39 line illustrations, and 12 maps, and also features an easy-to-use, interactive key for identifying rocks and a glossary of geological terms.
Customer Reviews:
Entertaining but lacking in 'geology'.......2007-06-27
However titillating this book never quite addressed what I'd hoped to find. I was disappointed that there wasn't much 'geology' in the book other than nice descriptions of how gold wound up where it did and how Half Dome, El Cap, etc. were shaped. On the other hand, it's great for the history of geological exploration and mining in the area (including political intrique between John Muir and 'official' geologists.) Other virtues include lists of noteworthy geological feature and great maps and photos.
They're not just rocks, they're history.......2006-06-22
Three decades ago geologist Mary Hill wrote a handbook to the Sierra Nevada's geologic history and it became the standard guide. The aptly named author has now extensively revised her book. It's an armchair traveler's delight and remains an authoritative guide that will well serve a new generation of hikers, campers, and explorers.
"Geology of the Sierra Nevada: Revised Edition" ($19.95 in full-color paperback from University of California Press) contains almost 200 illustrations, including photographs of rock forms and maps showing where to find them. Hill thanks Bill Guyton, professor emeritus of geosciences at Chico State University, "for his careful reading" of the new manuscript and draws on the research he published in "Glaciers of California" (1998). Guyton distinguished between glaciers and smaller "glacierets" and counted 99 glaciers in the Sierra Nevada and 398 glacierets. Hill notes that "the Sierra Nevada has a lot of glaciers, all of them small. If you are looking for the giants of the Great Ice Age, you will have to be content with their spoor."
The book is divided into two sections. The first offers a "do-it-yourself rock identification key." A series of maps divides the Sierra Nevada into regions and shows where to find prominent rock formations in each area. The first map, mostly of eastern Butte County, locates "conglomerate" ("rock ... made up of grains 2 mm or more in diameter, together with coarser fragments") along Big Chico Creek. You can see shale in the Dry Creek area and lava flow and basalt on Table Mountain.
The second part is the narrative, which takes new research into account. In the last few years, she writes, "the Sierra has been put through the plate tectonics intellectual filter, which has told us how the mountains might have been created, and why they are where they are."
The book also expands its coverage of "human exploration of the Sierra Nevada, not just by geologists" but by others as well.
Here you'll find the story of "the first overland party of settlers to attempt to cross the Sierra. ... The group came to be known as the Bartleson-Bidwell party, as it included two men of leadership mold, John Bartleson and John Bidwell, destined to become eminent in what was to be the 31st U.S. state." Here also is the story of "Snowshoe" Thompson, a Norwegian who for two decades, "beginning in 1856, ... carried the mail across the Sierra Nevada from Placerville, California, to Genoa, Nevada (then called Mormon Station), using long skis (then called 'snowshoes') of his own making."
But Hill's great love is the land itself, the "nervous" Sierra, and her account of the devastating Owens Valley earthquake in 1872 tells not only of human destruction but notes that "the Sierra Nevada itself was severely wracked." She quotes John Muir's eyewitness account: "Shortly after sunrise a low, blunt, muffled rumbling, like a distant thunder, was followed by another series of shocks, which ... made the cliffs and domes tremble like jelly, and the big pines and oaks thrill and swish and wave their branches with startling effect."
At the end of the book, a "coda" reflects on geologic time and human time. "Time is all we have," she writes, "and it behooves us to spend it wisely. Some say that the time spent in the mountains is not subtracted from our allotted three-score-and-ten. So cherish the Sierra, and it will generously reward you."
Copyright 2006 Chico Enterprise-Record. Used by permission.
Book Description
Glaciers in sunny California? Many people will be surprised to learn that there are several hundred in this state, ranging in size from the impressive Whitney Glacier on Mt. Shasta and the Palisade Glacier in the Sierra Nevada to tiny glacierets. While California's glaciers are small compared to those in the northern Rockies or the European Alps, each one is interesting and some are suitable for exploring. Also of note is the fact that Ice Age glaciers carved California's most spectacular mountain scenery--the High Sierra was glaciated several times and glacial landforms are prominent features of the Sierran landscape today.
Bill Guyton summarizes the history of the discovery of Ice Age glaciation and modern-day glaciers in California, as well as the development of modern ideas about the state's glacial history. He describes the controversy about the origin of Yosemite Valley and quotes from the colorful accounts of early mountain explorers such as John Muir, Josiah Whitney, and François Matthes. His book provides a primer on glaciers and glacial landforms, a glossary of technical terms, helpful illustrations, and a 100-mile Sierra field trip guide for readers who want to see glaciers and glacial features for themselves. Glaciers of California will make any visit to the mountains more interesting, whether one is carrying a camera, crampons, or a fishing pole.
Customer Reviews:
Great reference and read for California high country travelers.......2006-02-15
This is the most interesting and useful book on California glaciers, particularly in the High Sierra, that I have come across.
Author Bill Guyton is a Cal State Chico emeritus geology professor who has apparently done glacier field work, especially in the Palisades region, but the book is well written in a manner accessible to anyone with an interest in the topic.
Besides the general (apparently conventional but still evolving) history of California's Ice Age glaciations, a topic covered in a number of books on the Sierra, Guyton focuses on the details of prior epochs' alpine glaciations - the lower Northern California mountains and the southernmost documented glaciers that occurred in the San Gabriel Mountains just east of Los Angeles.
The most interesting section for hikers is Guyton's inventory of current high country glaciers on Mt. Shasta, in the High Sierra and some tiny ones in the Trinity Alps. Reviewing the calculations of other geologist and applying his own knowledge and definitions Guyton determines there are currently (as of 1998?) 509 California glaciers. Actually he counts 108 actual glaciers and 401 "glacierets". To me the "glacierets" category really represents what are presently (for the time being) permanent ice patches which are the remnants of previously active, i.e., flowing, glaciers. Given the rapid retreat of most Sierra ice it seems possible that each year one or more of the 108 "true" glaciers is becoming a "glacieret" each year. The winter of 2004-2005 was an extremely heavy snow year in the High Sierra, but by September, after an unusually warm spring and typical summer, the Yosemite high country did not seem to have significantly more end-of-season snow cover than usual although the September meadows were a bit greener and more mosquito infested than I would normally expect. Therefore I don't think anyone anticipates any of the "glacierets" will expand to become glaciers again in the near future.
One of the best features of the book for either hikers or car tourists interested in seeing actual glacier phenomenon is the section "Seeing for Yourself" that describes in detail a drive across Yosemite National Park from Glacier Point, over Tioga Pass and down to Lee Vining with suggested stops and day hikes to see both formerly glaciated landscapes and some living glacial remnants.
Guyton emphasizes the long run view of geologic history and refers more than once to the fact that periodic advances of California's alpine glaciers, followed by their total disappearance for long periods, has been the normal situation for eons. In doing so he subtly provides a reality check on some of the hysterical end-of-the-world global warming hoopla that pervades the media.
The book has lots of useful black and white photos plus a section of color photographs as well as typical geology text diagrams of glaciers and related phenomenon. There is one map showing the maximum extent of California glaciations and a map-like diagram of Mt. Shasta's current glaciers, but some more detailed maps of current glaciers in the two most described areas - the Palisades and Yosemite's Tioga Pass region - would have been useful. I'd also like to see some "then and now" comparison photos of some of the glaciers.
Highly recommended for hikers, climbers and amateur naturalists who want to know more about the glaciated landscape and Ice Age glacier remnants in California, particularly in the High Sierra.
Best compilation yet of a century of erroneous glacial study.......2000-08-11
Buy this book! It is destined to become a collector's item. Prof. Emeritus Bill Guyton of Cal State Chico laboriously reviewed perhaps hundreds of research papers on California's past glaciers and he has presented his synopsis in a highly readable, enjoyable book. For his effort, I give him 5 stars. Unfortunately, he was a compiler, not a field glaciologist, so he has seen very little of the total past-glacial evidence. More unfortunately, for the Sierra Nevada, which easily contained the vast bulk of past glaciers, roughly 80-90% of these glaciers - essentially those on the west side - have been grossly misinterpreted with regard to size, thickness and age. Indeed, the USGS mapped some "old glacial deposits" from aerial photos, but if you hike to these locations, you'll find no glacial evidence whatsoever. Because this book contains soooo much downright poor glacial mapping, the information in this book rates one star. (This is NOT the author's fault.) As I said, buy it, for decades from now, people will want to know what was believed at the end of the 20th century. Bill had planned to incorporate my preliminary, new-view research into his book, but the editors nixed it. As Bill wrote me, the editors said that he "should stick to generally accepted ideas and information. People reading my book would not have the background to judge the controversy, would not be interested in it, and including it would be a distraction." (We must not let the public know that science has raging controversies.) Had my book, The Geomorphic Evolution of the Yosemite and Sierra Nevada Landscapes, been in print before Prof. Guyton's book went to press, perhaps there would have been a better chance of my ideas being mentioned in it. I now take professors, geologists, geographers, and students into the range and make more converts every year. The new interpretation, based in part on well-known laws of glacial physics (which all west-side mappers have ignored), ultimately will win out. Still, there is strong opposition, perhaps most vociferously by a youthful professor, Doug Clark, who has yet to visit my 300 sites of glacial and uplift evidence. To quote Peter Birkeland, who reviewed my book (Quaternary Research, 1998, v. 50, p. 201): "In the spirit of fair play, the answer to all of "Schaffer's views lies in the field, so I challenge interested workers to put the book in their rucksacks, hike through the Sierra Nevada, and make up their own mind. How lucky we are that this is the best way for geologists and geographers to resolve controversies." And, none other than Prof. Guyton is urging me on. He is an honorable man.
Good overview of California glaciers for the general public.......2000-01-08
I essentially agree with the previous review, with the exception that the absence of references to J. P. Schaffer's work on glaciation in the Sierra Nevada should not be viewed as a problem with the book. Speaking as a glacial geologist who has worked extensively in the Sierra Nevada, the public should know that Schaffer's work has repeatedly failed to pass scientific peer review. Until it does so, it would be irresponsible for other authors, like Guyton, to present it in any publication purporting to be a synopsis of current scientific thinking. Guyton has done a very commendable job of summarizing the latest CRITICALLY REVIEWED thinking on timing and geomorphic effects of ancient glaciation in the Sierra. I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about modern and ancient glaciers of California.
The layperson's guide to understanding glaciers.......1998-10-21
Bill Guyton, professor emeritus of geosciences at Cal State Chico, has
written an excellent book designed to teach people with little
knowledge of geology about the glaciers of California.
The book
discusses glaciers and ice ages in general, discovery of glaciers in
California, glacial chronology, and techniques used to determine ages
of glaciations; then goes on to describe ice-age and modern glaciers
throughout California. As a bonus, Guyton has included a chapter
about the controversy surrounded formation of Yosemite Valley and a
field trip through Yosemite on which readers may see glaciers and
their effects on the landscape.
Though the book is fairly complete,
well researched, and certainly well written, Guyton might have
discussed general concepts of glaciation a little bit more thoroughly.
In addition, Guyton omits recent highly controversial (and perhaps
faulty) research done in Yosemite by Jeffrey Schaffer (see _The
Geomorphic Evolution of the Yosemite Valley and Sierra Nevada
Landscapes: Solving the Riddles in the Rocks_, 1997).
The book,
however, is an excellent book for anyone wanting to learn more about
California's glaciers.
Book Description
Clarence King (born 1842) of Rhode Island rode horseback across the continent in 1863. In California, he was hired to work on Whitney's geological survey of the state, beginning the adventures recorded in this book. Includes ascents of Mount Tyndall, Mount Shasta, and Mount Whitney; survey of Yosemite Valley; and field trips in the Merced Valley as well as anecdotes of the mountains' people and natural history.
Customer Reviews:
Bold Tales, Well Told.......2007-03-30
Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada is essential reading for anyone who both loves those mountains and wants to get a glimpse of life there before it reached the level of settlement it has today. Whether or not all the stories here are strictly factual, they are often both gripping and entertaining. Additionally, they bring the reader some sense of what rural central California life was like at that time.
Clarence King was a gifted wordsmith. His hilarious, politically incorrect descriptions of western characters are reminiscent of some of the best incisive commentary of Mark Twain. Then his descriptions of climbing in the mountains are so intense that you may even wince as you are carried along as he describes some of the most hair-raising brushes with death. Those who have been where King describes will certainly feel what King has written as they read along.
One reviewer, though entertained, seems to doubt what King says. I don't. Though there may be a little hyperbole in King's description of events, the reader should remember that at that time the average guy was far more physically fit than the average guy today. You had to be or you didn't make it, because every day in the wilderness was fraught with challenge and physical danger.
All in all, you could say that this book is a collection of bold tales well told. I particularly like the stories of his crossing the desert coming to California, of the hog farmers, of his escape from determined bandits, of his ultimate conquest of Mt Whitney, and of all the colorful characters he meets in his path both in the Sierras and at Shasta.
And though some might take him for a bigot because of some of his comments about the natives, remember that he saves the sharpest point of his pen for the most worthless characters of his own stock who abound in the California of his day. Whatever you think about what King has written, once you pick this up you'll find it hard to put down until you've finished the last paragraph.
Tall tales and true fables?.......2006-04-06
Clarence King sure knows how to tell a good story. Whether they are true stories, well that's for you to decide. But really, it doesn't matter. You'll read of him dangling from the edge of great cliffs and running from wild west bandits, all the while keeping the reader wondering how he'll ever live to tell the tale. Overall the book is a collection of stories by a man who loved the Sierra Nevada, for it vast wilderness was his playground.
Quite a storyteller--but not all told!!!.......2001-08-02
This classic work by one of the great yarn-spinners of all time includes some wonderful descriptive information about California places and people in the early 1860s and some gripping, heartstopping tales about King's own mountaineering exploits. Even in his early 20s, Clarence King was recognized for leaderhip and intellectual ability. He served with the Army Topographic Engineers on the survey of the Western United States along the 40th parallel and was an intimate of Henry Adams and his wife in their small social/intellectual circle in Washington D.C. (See Patricia O'Toole's "The Five of Hearts"). He established his national reputation for being a shrewd, practical man of science when he discovered and exposed a stock swindle based on salted ore and fraudulent assay samples when asked to evaluate a mining promotion in Colorado. "Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada" is a non-chronological, semi-autobiographical reconstruction of some of King's time (circa 1862-63) with Josiah Whitney's Survey, commissioned by the State legislature to catalogue and evaluate California geologic and mineral resources. It is an entertaining and engrossing narration of one foolhardy, death-defying exploit after another. Like those of John Muir (another classic, albeit overrated talesman of the Range of Light), Clarence King's numerous renditions of his own hairsbreadth escapes from impossibly precarious positions by the power of luck, pluck and sheer physical prowess, while entertaining and enthralling, were made possible only by his own chronic rash foolhardiness, if not by tremendous powers of exaggeration. A better man was his fellow draft-dodger (the Civil War was going on back East all the while they were dancing around in the mountains of California, after all), William Brewer. Brewer served longer, harder and more responsibly than King in the Whitney Survey. Brewer also wrote a factually more thorough and reliable description of conditions in the young state of California in a series of letters home to his family in New England (collected as "Up and Down California"), with none of King's histrionics but just as entertaining in its own way. King's book does include some unique insights. One is his near-comic description of the "Piker" rubes (from Pike County, Missouri), rural folk residing in the foothills of the Southern San Joaquin Valley, which can be read as a precourser of all hilarious mountain folk descriptions, from Li'l Abner through the Beverley Hillbillies to Deliverance. But truth be told (rarely enough, one suspects), this book is mostly about the indefatigable King and his own personal exploits in the Southern Sierra. While King's literary talent was substantial, his writing (and indeed his entire public life and historic reputation) were seemingly unilluminated in any way by his own domestic arrangements. These included a life-long love relationship and common law marriage to a black woman, Ada, with whom he maintained a household including their several children. Not only did he keep the marriage secret from all of his prominent social contacts, but he kept his own notorious identity and true name a secret from his wife and children until just before he died. Still, under the constant strain of maintaining a double identity, he continued to support his family and maintained an exhausting schedule of international travel, geological consulting and writing until he died prematurely from consumption at the age of 59. (See Thurman Wilkins' "Clarence King"). You won't find any mention of King's real family anything King wrote for public consumption, or even for the consumption of his well-placed friends. Altogether, this book makes for a slightly less than satisfying cud to chew over, but it tastes pretty good the first time on the way down.
Average customer rating:
- good study
- Yosemite Hiker's 'must read' book
- Don't be scared, another geology paradigm wants the field
- Unreviewed version of a rejected Ph.D study
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The Geomorphic Evolution of the Yosemite Valley and Sierra Nevada Landscapes: Solving the Riddles in the Rocks
Jeffrey P. Schaffer
Manufacturer: Wilderness Press
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0899972195 |
Book Description
This revolutionary book provides a new interpretation of the formation of Yosemite Valley and the entire Sierra Nevada.
Customer Reviews:
good study.......2005-10-18
Schaffer's book is a fresh look at one of the paradigms of glacial geomorphology - that mountain glaciers are capable of large-scale erosion and create the valleys that they lie in. He concludes that they generally do not. He based this on more than a decade of field work in the Sierra Nevadas (more field work in this range that any other geologist - dead or alive). Dr. Clark is wrong. Shaffer's work is not a failed dissertation. Instead, it has been rumored that a geologist from a well known governement organization wrote a letter to Schaffer's dissertation committee asking that they stop Schaffer's work (his work was stepping on to many toes). Apparently, Shaffer could have received his PhD if he had re-written his conclusions to conform to the party line (the ideas put forth by previous workers). Schaffer has done the one thing that many workers have not done. He has gone in the field and let the data control the theory rather than let the theory control the data (this problem is not confined to geologists). I am a working California geologist and have been in the field with Schaffer. It is quite interesting to stand at a rest stop on I-80 and have Schaffer point out ridge tops and mountain peaks and give specific information as to the presence or absence of glacial information at those sites. You really get a feel for the level of work he has done after his arm has pointed out every ridge and peak over a 120 degree arc. If Schaffer is wrong, it would be a simple task to demonstrate it. He has documented so much specific data that all any geologist would have to do is go to the locations descriped by Schaffer and shown that his data is wrong or distorted (disprove the data and you disprove Schaffer's theory). Curiously, there is no indication that this has happened at all (Schaffer has contacted several geologists and offered to go in the field with them and look at the data - not one has accepted). All that has occurred is that professional geologists sit in their offices and snipe. Dr. Clark should read the more recent(2005) review by Dr. R. Dorn (available on the web). Yes, Mr. Shaffer's book has its problems, but it is a must read book for anyone interested in the developement of the Sierras.
Yosemite Hiker's 'must read' book.......2004-09-15
True Yosemite Hikers know Mr. Schaffer's contribution
to the park. Try on-line search with keywords "Yosemite Schaffer". This book is based on his research at Berkeley.
Until I read this book, I thought "the Yosemite problem" was
solved. But seems like not as you see in the review below.
As John Muir was attacked by Whitney, Mr. Schaffer is also
under attack.
I will read his book every time I come back from Yosemite hiking. Also this book will give me an idea of where to go next.
Don't be scared, another geology paradigm wants the field.......2004-08-03
The other reviewer of this release (Clark, a glacial geologist) does not like the upstart attitude displayed by Schaffer and poops on his conclusions. Other than for Birkeland, I'd like to know from Clarke which members of the academic community (that need to be protected?)have problems with this book.
I found it refreshing to have an actual on-the-ground 'field' geomorphologist, rather than, for example, an aerial photo mapper, draw conclusions about Sierran alpine landforms and glaciers. So what if Schaffer may be pushing the envelope, and simultaneously, pushing some academic egos around? Who are these 'past and active researchers' that
Clark defends in his review? The challenge remains in the field, where I'd wager Schaffer's work WAS careful and directed, rather than the calm, stultifying and dogmatic halls of current geoscience academia. I bought this book (used, $10) because Clark sounded really scared and his review was more of a classic attack on the messenger rather than his message; after reading most of it, I can see why. This book and the Sierras would make a good combo.
Unreviewed version of a rejected Ph.D study.......1999-10-08
People interested in purchasing this book should be aware that Schaffer's ideas presented here have yet to pass muster in scientific peer review (i.e., in a credible geologic journal), and that most past and active researchers in the Sierra Nevada do not support many of his conclusions. For a more detailed review, see P. W. Birkeland's review of the book in the journal Quaternary Research (Academic Press), v. 50, no. 2, p. 200-201. In essence, the abundance of qualitative observations and inferences presented in the book do not subsitute for calm, careful, directed research, field-based or otherwise. Also, there are too many straw men in the text, in which Schaffer misrepresents the works of other scientists before dismissing them. The highly negative references to other scientists are particularly inappropriate. Bottom line: the book covers a lot of ground, but the final conclusions remain scientifically hollow.
To address a few of the concerns of the review above, I am also a field-based geomorphologist (as are the other workers I refer to), and in no way am I "scared" of Schaffer's work. I am more than happy to entertain new and different ideas. Jeff's book, however, is prone to exaggeration and misrepresentation. If the ideas are valid, they should stand on their own merits, and pass scientific review, period. That is a fundamental tenet of the scientific method, and sets it apart from mere bluster. The fact that the ideas in Schaffer's book haven't passed this test does not mean they are invalid, but they should not be viewed as being scientifically rigorous.
Finally, the characterization of academic geologists as being "stultifying and dogmatic" bespeaks ignorance on the reviewer's part. A visit to any geologic convention will dispell that myth.
Average customer rating:
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The auriferous gravels of the Sierra Nevada of California (Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy at Harvard College)
J. D Whitney
Manufacturer: The Museum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: B00086M7FM |
Average customer rating:
- A somewhat narrow defintion of exploring
- One to Keep and Refer to For the Rest of Your Life
- A successor to Francois Matthes
- If you're interested in the Sierra Nevadas, this is for you!
- Disorganized, non-visual, but good anecdotes
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Exploring the Highest Sierra
James Gregory Moore
Manufacturer: Stanford University Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0804736472 |
Customer Reviews:
A somewhat narrow defintion of exploring.......2007-01-06
The author of Exploring the Highest Sierra first backpacked across Sequoia National Park, via Mt. Whitney, in 1947. He went on to earn a PhD in geology with his research based on the geologic structure of the highest Sierra - the crest from Mt. Langley on the south through the Palisades region to the north that includes all of the Sierra's 14,000' peaks and a sea of other high mountains, lakes and meadows - and then had a long, successful career as a research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. He clearly loves and is highly expert about this mountain range, the highest in the 48 coterminous United States, and the surrounding Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park.
My personal experience in this region consists of three backpacking trips - including peak bagging and off trail travel - that totaled perhaps three weeks within the so-called Highest Sierra. I looked forward to reading this 427-page book, which has very wide margins and lots of blank space, in hopes of not just learning more about it but to get ideas and inspirations for additional "explorations" of the area on my own. Unfortunately the book turned out to be less than I hoped for.
Nearly a third of the pages are devoted to chapters about the original Euro-American exploration and mapping of the region, especially the 1860s-90s work of the California Geological Survey and the U.S. Geological Survey and its predecessors. Apart from the detailed coverage of progressively more accurate mapping efforts over the years, most of the characters - Whitney, King, Hoffman, Muir, etc. - are well know to anyone who is generally familiar with the 19th Century exploration of the Sierra (all of them explored and mapped the Yosemite region and elsewhere in the Sierra). These chapters have a lot of interesting photographs of the explorers, their equipment and so forth that I haven't seen elsewhere.
The remaining chapters are mostly hard core geology. And much of it is very technical to the lay reader. There are a lot of aerial photographs originally taken to document the region for mapping or geologic research, detailed photographs of rock strata and structures and numerous textbook-type graphs and charts of geologic phenomenon. A typical exhibit (6.21 in the 54-page chapter titled Granitic Rocks) consists of a set of eight graphs - admittedly incomprehensible to me - that plot the occurrence of silica (SiO2) against eight different chemicals found in hundreds of rock samples throughout the region's mountains. There are dozens of similar charts, graphs and scattergrams. I have to rate a lot of this information as either inaccessible or simply technical overkill for the non-geologist. It's far more detailed than most non-geologist visitors to the region will ever want to know.
This author's idea of an "exploration" of the highest Sierra is almost exclusively geologists and geology. There is virtually nothing about plants, animals, lakes, weather, wildfire, etc., etc. And nary a description of a mountaintop sunrise, a flowery meadow or any of the other charms that still make "exploring" this region so attractive to hikers, riders, climbers and skiers today.
Recommended to anyone seeking an overview of 19th Century geologic study and mapping along with a textbook on the geologic phenomenon - especially rock structure and chemistry - of the highest portion of the south-central Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Not recommended for those who want a generalized natural history overview of the region or want ideas and inspiration for planning their own trips into the high country of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park. I note that most of the other reviewers of this book who rate it higher than I do seem to be professional geologists. And although Amazon does not seem to be stocking this, it can be found at the Yosemite Association's online bookstore.
One to Keep and Refer to For the Rest of Your Life.......2001-08-28
James Moore has compiled a fantastic account of the earliest history, exploration, mapping, mining, politics and geology of the Seqouia - Kings Canyon National Parks area. This book, more so than any other that I have read on the Sierra, provides insights into the people, the origin of geographic names and the forces and interests that drove the people into the high Sierra region. A fascinating look at the barometric and surveying tools that were lugged to the top of the highest peaks is given and a historical account of the ever increasing accuracy of the maps and just how close the original estimates were. True to his profession, Moore then goes into an in-depth discussion of the current understanding of the geologic history of the region. This discussion will be a great interest to those with a casual to serious interest in geology and will provide a greater awareness for your next trip into the area. It held me, a retired geologist, captive and will remain on my shelf as one of my most treasured references.
A successor to Francois Matthes.......2000-11-29
Moore's book is the result of a lifetime spent studying and mapping the geologic structures of the Sierra. It is an incredible achievement and an important contribution to a detailed understanding of the geology of the Sierra for the amateur naturalist. As literature and science, it's a worthy successor to Matthes's Geologic History of the Yosemite Valley (USGS Prof. Paper #160). He includes terrific chapters on the work of the first scientists to study the range and then describes current knowledge about the creation of the Sierra: from the collision of tectonic plates to the retreat of the last glaciers.
As an added bonus, Moore includes an appendix with detailed geologic comments for stopping points along several roads and trails in the Sequoia-Kings area: Highway 180 from Clovis to Cedar Grove; Highway 198 from Visalia and over the Generals Highway; the Mineral King road; the High Sierra Trail from Lodgepole to it's intersection with the John Muir Trail near Mt. Whitney; and, the John Muir Trail from Mt. Whitney to where it leaves Kings Canyon in the Evolution Valley region, 100 miles north.
Although Moore concentrates his narrative mostly to the area of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (where, as luck would have it, I work as a ranger), anyone interested in the geology of the Sierra would find this book useful for its explanation of the major granitic and metamorphic structures we see throughout the range. It's large format makes it unlikely you'd want to slip it into your backpack as a field guide. It's also probably of interest only to the serious amateur, though I think it's photos and organization make it accessible to a beginner who might just want to skim some of the detailed sections.
If you're interested in the Sierra Nevadas, this is for you!.......2000-11-09
This is an excellent book! The geology portion is easily understandable for the layman, yet still interesting enough for the professional geologist. The great historical and geological infromation make this a wonderful resource for anyone spending any time in the Sierra Nevadas. If you have any interest in geology and history, and you intend to spend any time in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, then you really Need this book!
Disorganized, non-visual, but good anecdotes.......2000-10-19
I'm a graduate student in geophysics. Some may argue that a geophysicist has no license to criticise a geologist or vice versa, but here goes nothing. :)
Moore begins with an interesting anecdotal account of the early mapping and exploration of the high Sierra. I found this interesting, but then again, I had not read much of this history previously. There are certainly other historical texts out there, so the question to ask yourself is: are there better ones? I don't know the answer.
Before I knew it, the book had morphed into what I took for a geology textbook. A bit too esoteric to be considered general-interest, but certainly not written for a Ph.D. geologist. It smelled an awful lot like an introductory undergraduate geology text, and I've read others that are much more lucid than this one.
Perhaps my biggest disappointment was the photography. Lacking, to say the least. Since Moore's historical coverage ceases before the advent of modern photography, I suppose this is understandable.
In closing: I wasn't quite sure what this text aspired to. As a historical text, I'd say that it was worth the paperback price. As a geology text, I don't think it was worth much. As a photography book, it was worth even less.
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- Historical Geology: Evolution of Earth and Life Through Time (with CD-ROM and InfoTrac)
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