Adventures in Earth Science (Adventures in Earth Science)

ADVENTURES in EARTH SCIENCE is not just an in-depth textbook but a series of adventures across seven continents and beyond in the sciences of astronomy, geology, meteorology and oceanography. It has been written with over forty years of experience in studying, researching and teaching earth science. Whilst it has been designed for senior high school and junior university or college, it is written in an easy style and well-illustrated so that anyone with an interest in this topic would find it an interesting and valuable resource. The latest scientific information has been given in the text including chapters on climate change and the future use of fuels and energy. The book contains over 700 pages, 1200 photographs and illustrations mostly taken by the author. It also includes 32 video links taken by the author to explain various skills as well as excursions to many exotic places in support of the text. These videos include: use of the Brunton Pocket Transit, testing the properties of minerals and collecting fossils sailing a Tall Ship down the Tasman Sea climbing glaciers in Switzerland and New Zealand visiting the mainland and islands of the Antarctic Peninsular trekking down the 4000m deep Colca Canyon in Peru travelling down an upper part of the Amazon River visiting a reconstructed gold-mining town in Australia and panning for gold. Each chapter is concluded with a summary of the main points, multichoice and extended review questions and a section of helpful hints which offers practical suggestions in such matters as collecting specimens, field work and survival, astronomical observation and general observation and techniques. Answers to the multichoice questions are given at the end of the book as is a 38 page key index and glossary section which gives the main page references as well as definitions of important terms fold as bold type in the text. Peter Scott was born in Sydney to country people who were forced to move to the city during the Great Depression. His mother’s family came from Yass where their ancestors had settled in the town in the early days of its foundation and were mainly blacksmiths or on the land. Many of the situations and characters are loosely based on the author’s many visits to Yass as a boy. He was raised and mainly educated in Sydney and was sent out to Canberra, the Nation’s capital as his first appointment asa teacher at age nineteen. Later he returned to Sydney, married, then moved to again to the country in the north and northwest of the state of New South Wales to teach before moving his family further north to the tropical state of Queensland. During this time, he raised his family, served as an Officer in the Army Reserve, an Officer-Instructor in the Naval Cadets, sailed on tall ships on several cruises in the Tasman and Coral Seas and studied at University by part-time or distance education. Through these studies, he received firstly a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology followed by research Masters’ Degrees in Geology and Educational Administration and finally a Doctorate in Education. He retired in 2008, having been honoured as a ‘Teacher of the Year’ by the Queensland Government for his work in both teaching and in the many State and Industry committees including Head of Syllabus of Earth Science. Having travelled to all seven continents including much of his native Australia and having had many adventures in wild places such as the Antarctic Peninsula, the high Andes and Rockies of the Americans, the Amazon jungle, the European Alps and the deserts of North Africa, Dr. Scott took to writing and photography. His first eleven books were on Earth Science – Geology, Oceanography, Meteorology and Astronomy – written as textbooks for Secondary teachers and also more readable books for general use. He followed these up by a further six books on the environment. He illustrated all of these books using photographs and linked videos which he had taken during his own adventures. Later non-fiction books included easy-to-read books on teaching and self-survival in the field. He then turned to writing novels, the first being ‘Letters from San Rafael’, an historical adventure set in South America near the end of the nineteenth century. This book includes many of the local stories, culture, language and myths from his extensive travels around that continent where he also has relatives by marriage. This book was followed by a sequel of more exciting adventures and a prequel expanding one of the mysterious characters encountered in the previous work. He then used his experiences in Antarctica, his training ‘before the mast’ and his science training to write two science fiction novels: one set in Antarctica in the 1840’s and the other on board a fighting frigate during the Napoleonic Wars. As a change in genre, he then turned to humour to write a novel about the ‘coming of age’ about a young teacher, Tom Shipley, in his first appointment in a crazy school full of interesting characters. This was followed by its sequel when the young Tom Shipley, volunteers for the Army Reserve during the Vietnam War and finds himself at war with the Army’s senior officers. The next novel is a series of ‘bush’ or country tales told from the point of view of a young city boy taken to the country for Christmas with his mother’s family. These stories illustrate Australian country life in the 1950’s and are both humorous and descriptive of life in a country town.