Memoirs of the Apollo astronauts have preserved the exploratory aspects of these missions; now a geologist who was an active participant in the lunar program offers a detailed historical view of those events--including the pre-Apollo era--from a heretofore untold scientific perspective. It was the responsibility of the scientific team of which Don Wilhelms was a member to assemble an overall picture of the Moon's structure and history in order to recommend where on the lunar surface fieldwork should be conducted and samples collected. His book relates the site-selection process in detail, and draws in concomitant events concerning mission operations to show how they affected the course of the scientific program. While discussing all six landings in detail, it tells the behind-the-scenes story of telescopic and spacecraft investigations before, during, and after the manned landings. Intended for anyone interested the space program, the history of science, or the application of geology to planetology, To a Rocky Moon will leave all readers with a better idea of what the Moon is really like. In so expertly summarizing this earlier phase of exploration, it stands as an authoritative touchstone for those involved in the next.

    Each specimen is described in detail: its origin and structure, chemical composition, hardness, color, and other properties.

    Lays out the basics of understand for the science and the physical crystals and locality information.

    Includes outstanding illustrations, hand specimen photographs and transmission electron microscope structure projects.

    . . . Things Maps Don't Tell Us actually communicates a great deal about the things maps can tell us if we care to look carefully underneath the printed symbols."—James E. Young, Cartographic Perspectives

    No advanced degree is required -- the author has explained all the basic principles of geology, and especially those that apply in Maryland, so that the layman will be able to grasp the information without special knowledge. Maryland's Geology includes a multitude of diagrams, and its maps will prove useful for those interested in a particular area.

    This prodigious exploration of the Pacific coast examines the many links between landscape and life, focusing on how the region's geological evolution has influenced its plants and animals.