@icefox I love geology so much, as a casual student and as a human who lives on the earth. You're the first geologist I've met so I must tell you—I'd gladly fund an illustrated edition of James McPhee's *Annals of the Former World*. It's got such lovely prose, and I know he didn't mean it to be illustrated, but I'd love to see the places and people and rocks he's talking about in high-res/glossy color.

But this book by Mary Caperton Morton is so gorgeous, and well written (first few pages) too!