101 American Geo-Sites You've Gotta See (Geology Underfoot)

First of all I must admit that I have insider knowledge to the quality of Dickas's work. I know Dr. "Bert" Dickas. 45 years ago he was a young professor at the University of Wisconsin at Superior and I was one of his students. He quickly became my favorite professor because I learned more from him than any other professor or lecturer. And I had some good ones. I spent thousands of hours at the Jim Dan Hill library, researching and writing papers for his classes. I learned tons of stuff under his tutelage. So when I spotted his book in a list of offerings by Amazon, I let out an astonished "whoop!", hit the one-step order button, then raced into the kitchen to inform my wide-eyed wife that I had just found a book by Bert Dickas! Obviously, I had to fill in a little background for her.If you are a geo-traveler who likes to expand his or her horizons with well-researched and well-written guide books, you will find this book to be a treasure trove. I have had mine for a couple of weeks and already it is full of highlights, underlinings, marginal notes, and stuffings. I was surprised at how many of his "gotta-see" Geo-Sites I have been to and am yet planning to visit or re-visit. Let me give you a taste of what you will find:1) The most photogenic "slot canyon" in the world. P.24 (I will be at this site next March)2) The landing pad for ET's. P.2143) The richest hole on Earth. P.1884) The richest hill on Earth. P.1085) The largest cave system in the world. P.746) A bizarre volcanic rift zone including a crevasse open to a depth of 800 feet - a rift chasm deeper than any other known on Earth. P.62 (I will be visiting there again next month)7) Huge rock slab "flatirons" that mark the beginning of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. P.42 (Make sure you have your camera and your hiking boots)8) Scabland topography sculpted by the greatest-ever humongous ice-age flood(s). P.202 (The Dry Falls are mind-boggling; I've been there)9) Mt. St. Helens and the Johnston Ridge Observatory. P.200 (I watched the mountain blow on May 18, 1980)10) The largest earthquake-triggered landslide in recorded North American history. P.10611) The "plumbing system" that built one of the thickest piles of lava known on Earth - an estimated 480,000 cubic miles of lava. P.96 (I have some rock samples from this site)12) A geo-mystery site where rocks slide across a valley floor, seemingly of their own volition. P.3413) A three-mile-wide meteoric bullseye - the best example of a complex meteor crater known on earth. P.18014) The world's largest concentration of mammoth remains. P.16815) Possibly the very best site in the United States to collect a handful of fossilized shark teeth in a few hours. P.8216) One of the richest paleontological finds ever discovered - fossilized remains of llama-like camels, three-toed and single-hoofed horses, horned deer, four-tusk elephants, and saber-toothed cats, etc. P.11217) A mile-long "glazed" subterranean lava cave. P.154 (This is a really fun place to visit)18) The singing sands of Nevada. P.11819) The deepest lake in the United States (hint: it's inside a volcano caldera). P.152 (Fabulous scenery, BTW. Do NOT forget your camera!)20) Fossilized remains of the first forest to shade the American landscape. P.138That should give you a taste of the 101 geo-goodies waiting for you when you get your copy of Dr. Bert's book. (What are you waiting for? Hit the "order" button right now!)Besides the individual geo-site descriptions, Dickas provides a very handy 18-page introduction including age-dating (relative and absolute), a simplified geologic time scale, plate tectonics theory, and a short history of the Earth. Spend a little time here, you will be much better informed.Read the foreword, read the introduction. Root around a little. Do some digging and studying and you will be well-rewarded. For example, Dickas mentions scrambling up a rock face in Italy, much to his friends' amazement, and pointing triumphantly at a "...1-centimeter-thick layer of red clay embedded in a limestone hillside," discovered by a father and son team, Luis and Walter Alvarez. As soon as I read that paragraph, I reached over to one of my book shelves and extracted my dog-eared copy of "T-Rex and the Crater of Doom," by Walter Alvarez. No, it's not some kid's sci-fi magazine. It's a fascinating geo-detective story that presents a very plausible explanation for the extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous Period. Go order a copy of "T-Rex" while you're thinking about it. Go ahead - you're in Amazon right now, just hit the button. You will NOT be disappointed.One final point - Dickas mentions in his "acknowledgments" page that his editor, James Lainsbury of Mountain Press, had the "...difficult task to inform me my first draft was much too long." What resulted was, in my opinion, truly amazing. Every one of the 101 geo-sites consists of only two pages: a one-page description of the site and a facing page of drawings and pictures. That's it! Two pages for each site! And yet you have enough information to give you the basics. Want more information? In the back you have a complete list of references for each of the 101 geo-sites, plus the introduction. Go do your homework!! I had to, now it's your turn! Have fun!Jack Jakoubek

I have enjoyed reading this book. It opens my eyes to many additional places in the United States that I need to visit for their geological significance. As the author notes "Geology gives birth to lifelong investigation, if you have the curiosity, the know-how, and the time."You'll find in this book a brief primer on geology as well as a short history of the Earth, as well as 101 interesting geo-sites to consider and explore. The sites each get their own sections, which are easy to jump to in the Kindle version as they're listed in the contents as hyperlinks.As I read, I mark on my Google Maps app which sites I'd like to visit so that if the opportunity arises, I won't miss it. I like that my Google Maps app is now peppered with these additional interesting places I'd like to see alongside the national parks I still need to visit.Reading this book also helped me understand fossils and the accessibility of fossil sites in the U.S. I bought a couple additional Kindle books under that topic as well. If you're interested in fossils, you might check out the 101 Geo-Sites book to help improve your knowledge.

This is a great updated fossil sites book with at least one fossil site in each state. Each site is borken into 2 pages. The first page has detailed information, such as directions, GPS coordinates, formation information, tips, and many other details. The second page is dedicated to images of the site and the fossils found there.What I also like about this book is it doesn’t just give fossil collecting sites, it gives information on interesting fossil “viewing” sites where collecting is prohibited, such as well preserved dinosaur trackways, interesting museums, and active excavations, such as the Mammoth Site in South Dakota.I think this book is great for both beginning and expert fossil collectors. Beginning fossil collectors will use this to see what can be found in any state and it makes going out to find fossils very easy. Expert collectors will find this book to be a great reference. I plan on using it when traveling to other states, just to see what cool museum or fossil site is there.This book is a long needed update to the older and outdated fossil collecting sites books.

While some of the sites are really cool. In other states, like Kansas, the author missed the best sites by a mile. Cool pictures but will go with fossil Hunter websites for free online.

This book was a lot of fun to read and full of American geological history. I have included this book in my stash of books for traveling the US. Good illustrations and drawings explaining what occurred over billions of years, as well as passable photographs to help the traveler orient his or herself to the site.I would have given five stars if the author had included more detailed maps of each location, specifically where to park and hiking trails. He does provide a brief sentence or two to each site, but it would have been easy for him to include - for example - a Google map of each site. (He does provide GPS coordinates if you are so equipped.

Helpful and fascinating book. Would be five stars if maps indicating location of each site were included.

I've been interested in fossils most of my life. It's just so amazing to see the remains of animals that lived millions of years ago. Some of the sites I had visited before. Most, I had never heard of. I'm planning several short vacation trips.And maybe a couple of long ones. Good book.

Author has chosen relatively unknown sites and excluded many well known sites I found missingAuthor is a great writer—-much better than you would think from a “science writer”