Earth: An Introduction to Physical Geology (With CD-ROM)

Reader Reviews
Despite the proliferation of introductory physical geology textbooks in recent years, none have surpassed the quality of Tarbuck and Lutgens' "Earth". The text is accurate, up-to-date, well-organized, and exceptionally lucid. The writing flows nicely and presents complex topics and ideas in a way that is easy for non-scientists to understand, while at the same time resisting the trend toward "dumbing-down" that has recently affected many introductory textbooks in Earth sciences. The book is also illustrated wonderfully with diagrams that are effectively designed, beautifully executed, and perfectly matched to the accompanying text. The photographs are likewise outstanding in subject and quality, with great efforts obviously having been made to find excellent pictures that complement the text and clearly illustrate the features and processes being described. The overall quality of the photographs is far better than in most other textbooks of this kind. Substantial improvements have been made for the sixth edition, including the addition of helpful illustrations to the glossary and the addition of many new photographs throughout the book (for example, compare the 5th and 6th edition pictures of drumlins, moraines, igneous rock textures, tsunamis, sinkholes, etc.). After examining many textbooks, I have decided to use this one in the undergraduate course I will teach next year.