reading for rock nerds

I just got back from a lengthy drive to see Bird Nerd graduate and show off the fruits of two years of hard creative labour. If you have the time, you should definitely check out his work. If you have the money, you should definitely help an artist out!!!

Anyway, in the 11 hours that I spent driving this weekend (ugh) I made some serious headway in my most recent audio-book purchase: A Crack in the Edge of the World (Simon Winchester). While I'm only somewhere like halfway through (needed music breaks to rest my weary brain) I was amazed by all the connections between the book, the weekend, and all the other science works of non-fiction non-textbook that I've read over the recent years. I also realized that I MUST MUST MUST read a freaking novel for crying out loud.

I thought I'd drum up a list of "must-reads" for the geologically inquiring mind based on what I've read and loved:

• The Map that Changed the World (Simon Winchester)
• Cadillac Desert (Marc Reisner)
• Water Follies (Robert Glennon)
• A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bill Bryson)
• Annals of the Former World (John McPhee) - this is really 5 books in one...
• The Man who Found Time (Jack Repcheck)
• The Control of Nature (John McPhee)
• The Dragon Seekers (Christopher McGowan)

I'm sure there are more - this is just what I could think of off the top of my head coming down the freeway.

Meanwhile, the really weird thing is this: At Bird Nerd's graduation 2 honourary degrees were awarded, one of which was to artist Ed Ruscha - who was discussed in A Crack at the Edge of the World for some reason, in conjunction with UC Davis geologist Eldridge Moores, the star of Assembling California (part of Annals of the Former World), which is the book that I used to teach Geology of California this past semester. Oh, and there was a quake of magnitude large enough to care in So Cal today. Freaky.