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Wonders of the National Parks: A Geology of North America
Wonders of the National A Geology of North America (Course Guidebook only)
- GenresScience
355 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2015
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February 6, 2024
I read the DVD and paperback edition of Great Courses #1707, “Wonders of the National Parks;
A Geology of North America”, by M. Ford Cochran. This edition consists of 6 DVDs containing 36 one-hour video lectures, and a 356-page guidebook, and my reading progress was recorded by page number.
After my prior Great Courses experience (Biology: The Science of Life) I found this to be less academic, and to take more of a geographic orientation in its presentation of Earth Science. My personal education and career emphasized math, physics, engineering – but having a father who was an Earth Science teacher left me with more prior background than I realized. My kids tell me Ford Cochran reminds them of Grandpa, and indeed he does. Unlike the lecturers in many of these courses, Ford Cochran was not a university professor, but a geologist and program director at National Geographic Expeditions. (He passed away in 2019 at the age of 57.) He brings a personal touch to these lectures, including some of his own exploratory experiences at many of these sites. As a retiree, I was able to study at times of my own choosing, and I went through it in about 3 months.
Each lecture features a single park, or collection of related parks and talks about its geology. Wildlife is off-topic, and may or may not even be mentioned. The progression through the list of US parks (and some Canadian and Mexican parks) is geographic rather than geologically chronological. For example, all volcanoes or all seashores. There is some repetition, as if expecting viewers to jump in at particular parks, rather than watching in full as I did. Probably at future dates, I will also do that before or after particular visits. My largest disappointment was that there was no overall chronological lecture, to put things into sequence. This can only be gleaned by remembering mentions from one lecture to the next. But as a guide for geology-oriented visitors to particular parks, or surveying to consider future adventures, this is excellent.
A Geology of North America”, by M. Ford Cochran. This edition consists of 6 DVDs containing 36 one-hour video lectures, and a 356-page guidebook, and my reading progress was recorded by page number.
After my prior Great Courses experience (Biology: The Science of Life) I found this to be less academic, and to take more of a geographic orientation in its presentation of Earth Science. My personal education and career emphasized math, physics, engineering – but having a father who was an Earth Science teacher left me with more prior background than I realized. My kids tell me Ford Cochran reminds them of Grandpa, and indeed he does. Unlike the lecturers in many of these courses, Ford Cochran was not a university professor, but a geologist and program director at National Geographic Expeditions. (He passed away in 2019 at the age of 57.) He brings a personal touch to these lectures, including some of his own exploratory experiences at many of these sites. As a retiree, I was able to study at times of my own choosing, and I went through it in about 3 months.
Each lecture features a single park, or collection of related parks and talks about its geology. Wildlife is off-topic, and may or may not even be mentioned. The progression through the list of US parks (and some Canadian and Mexican parks) is geographic rather than geologically chronological. For example, all volcanoes or all seashores. There is some repetition, as if expecting viewers to jump in at particular parks, rather than watching in full as I did. Probably at future dates, I will also do that before or after particular visits. My largest disappointment was that there was no overall chronological lecture, to put things into sequence. This can only be gleaned by remembering mentions from one lecture to the next. But as a guide for geology-oriented visitors to particular parks, or surveying to consider future adventures, this is excellent.
Displaying 1 of 1 review