Geology

Hello, I'm looking for a good and readable introduction into geology. Any suggestions?

Earth: an intimate history by Richard Fortey is good. He doesn't just give all the tedious details about what sorts of rock occur in which forms where, he talks about the people who did the hard work of surveying this stuff and puzzling out how it works.

Thanks! That seems to be the kind of book I'm looking for.

Another great starter if you don't want to be bogged down by the science is John McPhee's epic Annals of a Former World. His writing and story telling is bar none and a great introduction to the Geology of the United States (book foolows I-80 from New Jersey to California)

Another good intro. geology book is Earth's Autobiography: Reading the Rocks by Marcia Bjornerud. It's a little more science intense, but convey's the passion of geologist and their work like no other book I have read on the subject.

Check these out! :
The Secret Knowledge of Water; Discovering the Essence of the American Desert by Craig Childs.
Volcano Cowboys: the Rocky Evolution of a Dangerous Science by Dick Thompson.
Plus all the Geology works by John PcPhee;
Rising From The Plains
Assembling California
In Suspect Terrain
Basin and Range
Annals of a Former World

One of the most helpful online resources in this subject area is my favorite US government website, the US Geologic Survey. I'm looking at its earthquake section today, because a few hours ago there was a 3.5 earthquake near Coalinga, quite close to the San Andreas fault that nearly bisects California. When the San Andreas speaks, it gets my full attention here in Los Angeles county. That page link:

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc73750331/shakemap/intensity

My favorite government site. I like the interactive map page.

>1 BartGr.: A fun read is when the mississippi ran backwards which I read a few years ago. The eyewitness accounts of the earthquake phenomenons are quite startling. My favorite was the land, in Kansas I believe, rolling like waves on the ocean!

Plant fossils turn out to be turtles in 'unusual misidentification'
Two small, oval fossils thought to be prehistoric plants are actually the remains of baby marine turtles, researchers have revealed. The fossils, found in rocks dating to between 132 and 113 million years ago, were discovered in Colombia in the middle of the 20th century by Padre Gustavo Huerta, a priest with a penchant for fossil plants.

Initially it was thought the fossils represented a species of sphenophyllum – an extinct plant related to modern "horsetails" – with leaves split into wedge shapes and veins radiating from their bases. But experts now say that was a mistake. ...

Guardian, 2023-12-07.

An easy mistake that anyone could make. No, they really do look like horsetails.