زمین شناس

• Publisher:   John Wiley & Sons
• Number Of Pages:   341
• Publication Date:   1976-09
• ISBN-10 / ASIN:   0442250614
• ISBN-13 / EAN:   9780442250614

Foreword

Some years ago, I clipped a sentence from an abstract in the program of the
annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, and pasted i t to the
bookshel f by my desk. I no longer remember who was the author of this
quotation, and I don' t know whether his tongue was in his cheek when he
wrote: "Geologist s are the mos t literate of all technical writers. Skilled in a
descriptive science, strong on grammar , they are beautifully, even romanti -
cally fluent. "

Perhaps there is an affinity between the earth and writers—and between
writers and the earth. Perhaps the thrills and pleasures of digging up clues
to the history of our planet—tangible bits of the planet itself—require to
be shared.
Thi s sharing can be seen on many levels. Specialists, popularizers, tyros,
teachers, hobbyists : all have something to say, and all to more than one
audience. Russel l MacFall , for many years an editor of the Chicago
Tribune, is a hobby collector of both fossils and minerals. His amateur
standing with respect to the latter category was shattered two decades ago
with the publication of his Gem Hunter's Guide. His amateur position in
paleontology is shattered by the volume now before us. Jay Wollin, briefly
a landscape designer, holds degrees in horticulture and paleobotany and
currently teaches earth science at Oakton Community College in Morton
Grove, Illinois.
Both authors remain authentic member s of the far-flung community of
amateurs of paleontology; for both remain keen collectors and happy
devotees of the thrill of uncovering and preserving fossils. It is to their
fellow collectors that they address this book. In presenting it, the publisher
has chosen well , for one could look long and far to find authors so well
established in the affections of their fellows. Both have come up through
the ranks of local collecting societies to the presidency of the Midwes t
Federation of Mineralogical and Geological Societies.