I’m not going to lie. I requested to review this book because of the title Aerial Geology. Truthfully, I'm not really sure when my interest in geology began. I do know, Dad purchased a rock and mineral book for me when I was in grade school and I carried it everywhere. In the years since then, I've become more facinated. In part, due to the fact that our state is known for the Isotelus, on display in the Smithsonian. What is a Isotelus? It's a trilobite "three-lobed creature" that existed between 430 and 480 million years ago.

I digress. This book, Aerial Geology, begins with Geology 101. Here you are introduced to the all important subject of plate tectonics. This gives us all a better understanding of how the 100 spectacular formations in this book were created. And make no mistake, the images are SPECTACULAR. This book was made in part due to the Nasa's Visible Earth project.

As this will be a short review, I'll only point out a few of the 100 formations.

I paused a long time at the page on Mt. Denali "great one". For most of our lives, we've known it as Mount McKinley but the name changed back in 2015. The fact that it's rising a half and inch a year has aroused my interest. Anyway, the section on Wickersham Wall is well detailed and I now have an explanation for some questions I had about it.

My brother hiked the 2180 mile Applachian Trail back in 1998. I forget now how many pairs of shoes he went through or rolls of duct tape for that matter. Regardless, I do not recall any articles that explain the trek to Mt. Katahdin or the history quite like this. I absolutely love it! If you don't know much about the trail - just basically imagine getting on an oldfoot path and hiking - I mean HIKING- from Georgia to Maine.

My family is spread out to the East and South. So, when I travel, I gravitate towards those areas. With this said, I realize, I've limited myself in seeing many beautiful land formations. I would enjoy seeing a Meteour Crater. And while some people have been frolicing in Yosemite National Park, my only experience with it is through this book and the works of Ansel Adams.

Since, I love fossils, it was wonderful to see the section on Walcott Quarry and the "Stone Bugs" image from Yoho National Park. That would be in my top 5 places. Others would be, Glacier Bay, Pictured Rock, Dinosaur National Monument and the Canadian Rockies.

Bottom Line: In reviewing, Aerial Geology by Mary Caperton Morton, I was elated with all the images of North America's 100 most remarkable landforms. Team that, with Mary having a master’s in science writing and you've got a book that is a wealth of history and an outright pleasure to read.

Reviewed ARC for Net Galley ( )