Physical Geology
The text is extremely comprehensive in terms of its breadth of general geology topics that would be covered in an introductory geologic textbook. I assume, since the book is designed to address the geology of British Columbia, it covers the main geologic topics that would be important to that particular region. It does an amazing job of covering things such as minerals, rocks, and rock forming environments as they pertain to that region. The chapter on plate tectonics is also extremely informative and gives a very detailed discussion of the history of the science, which is very helpful for students to understand the changes in our understanding of Earth science and how science is a dynamic process. The only holes in the comprehensiveness of the book would be discussion of karst topography, which was very thin, and there was no section on deserts and desert processes. My assumption is that the lack of discussion of these topics is due to the fact that maybe these particular subjects are not found often in the BC area. I would have also liked to see a bit more of a discussion on relative dating, but there is enough information in the geologic dating chapter to cover the topic. Aside from those particulars, the author does a good job tying together anthropogenic issues back to geology in many of the sections which is particularly important for student's ability to identify with the subject.
There is not an index but their is a table of contents that is quite thorough and a glossary at the end. The glossary is not listed by page, however, but is listed by chapter. The author makes it very easy to find these words though as they are well highlighted in the original text of the chapters.
Physical geology is a very accurate textbook. The author has an excellent grasp of the introductory level of geology and presents it in a way that is very accessible. I was impressed at the authors ability to share relevant examples both in his particular area, British Columbia, Canada, and also from other areas of the world as needed.
There were some issues in terms of his discussion of minerals vs. mineral groups and also his discussion of magma vs. lava.
The Physical Geology textbook is very up to date in its science. There were sections that I was surprised to see in the textbook, for instance, there is a discussion of Episodic Tremor and Slip (ETS) in the earthquake section of the book. Also there is great attention given to human's place in the geologic record and our effects of geologic environments. This book will age well because it shares a lot of information about human interaction with the Earth and therefore will remain very relevant as humans become more familiar with their effects on the Earth, a topic that is of particular relevance in sciences today. Also, because the textbook is ordered in sections and is very succinct in its discussion of topics it would be extremely easy to update the text.
I was particularly impressed with the Physical Geology textbook in terms of clarity. The author is succinct in description and uses clear and concise language when describing scientific content. As with all science, there is jargon that is used in the text; however, when jargon is used it is quickly described in lay terms for the student and many times there are diagrams or figures that help to demystify the dialogue. As a result the textbook was extremely accessible. Also, many of the figures directly explain the content discussion and are in line with the text, so you know exactly what figure goes with what dialogue. I find many times with science textbooks there are figures, diagrams, graphs, and tables found all over the page and many times its hard to tie these figures back to the written dialogue without searching for the figure number. However, Physical Geology does not have this problem. I know exactly where to look for the figures described in the text.
Physical Geology is definitely consistent in its terminology and framework. I found that each chapter had the same formatting and, as a result, was very easy to navigate. Also, because the discussion of geologic concepts is not generally linear (for instance its really hard to understand the formation of rocks without understanding minerals and to understand both you need some understanding of plate tectonics), the textbook had a way of quickly discussing topics necessary for understanding before fully delving into the topic in its own particular chapter. For instance, in chapter 1 there is a quick synopsis of plate tectonics before chapter 10 where plate tectonics is fully discussed. This is extremely helpful for the discussion of rocks and minerals which comes in chapters 2 through 7. The author also does this with climate change, he gives students the necessary, relevant information about the topic needed in certain chapters before the topic is thoroughly discussed in its own chapter. I find that when I teach I often do the same thing, leaving breadcrumbs of information about topics when needed before delving deeply into the subject.
The framework of this book lends itself easily to modularity. Each chapter is broken down into subheadings that can be used separately from the whole of the chapter. This books could easily be used in other classes and out of specific order because it is well organized.
Physical Geology has a structure that allows the book to be broken up and reproduced into major sections and subsections and so the actual organization of topics is not necessarily an issue for teachers, but I would not say that the order of the chapters is particularly logical. The beginning of the textbook's chapters has more logic to it, minerals, then rock and rock forming processes, but after chapter 7 the flow of content becomes a little mixed. For instance the book goes from plate tectonics, to earthquakes, to structures, to streams and floods. But again, they way that the book is assigned by the teacher makes the chapter order obsolete.
What is very nice about the textbook is that each chapter starts with learning objectives, follows with descriptive text to explain the learning objective, then many of the subheadings end with an activity or exercise that the student can do to better grasp the content, and at the end of every chapter there is a summary of the topics discussed and questions for review. Also, each exercise and review question has answers in appendices in the back of the book. Those extra exercises and review questions makes the use of this book even more enticing.
Lastly, there was one chapter that I really did not understand the order of and that was the chapter on earthquakes (chapter 11). The chapter starts basically by talking about rupture surface, then aftershocks, then ETS events, and then throws in a huge discussion about where we see earthquake on plate boundaries but, almost as an afterthought, discusses things like focus, epicenter, and the waves created by earthquakes which seismologists use to measure the magnitude and intensity. In my mind those particulars are much more important for student understanding than ETS events.
The interface of the book is just fine. All of the images and charts seem to be in order. The only issues I saw were in the beginning of the book and were mainly issues in the formatting of lists with indentation issues in the review questions and exercises. These formatting issues distract in so much as they are noticed but I don't think they affect the readability or usability of the text.
I did not notice any grammatical errors.
Physical Geology is a science text and therefore pays little attention to culture, per se. There is discussion of human interaction with the Earth, and a bit about First Nations, but that's about as much as is discussed in the book.
This textbook is quite useful for teachers who would like a simple textbook with easily understood content, accessible formatting, and exercises and review questions that supplement student understanding. It's best fit would be for a 100 level, non-major class where students interaction with the geologic content is mainly surficial. The regionality of the examples would also make it necessary for teachers using the textbook to have supplemental information from their locality or notable international examples at the ready so that students can identify better with the content of the book, but most teachers already have these types of examples in their own lectures.