Introduction to Earth Science - Second Edition

Reviewed by Taryn Oakley, Faculty - ESR, Portland Community College on 12/29/25

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This book does a great job of covering the basics of Earth Science. It is very thorough, covering a large amount of information in a manageable size text.
It includes a lot of images, animations, graphs and videos, which is so amazing as these are sometimes more limited in science texts.
The text can be navigated through easily with the Table of Contents and each chapter is clickable. The reader does have to scroll to work through subsections.
Terminology is defined via hyperlinks.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content seems accurate. I did not find any mistakes.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The content is relevant. Most of the text addresses geological concepts, which will likely remain fairly constant. The chapter on global climate change, even though it was updated only a year ago, is already a bit outdated, but that is the nature of a topic that changes so quickly. This chapter will likely need to be updated more frequently than the others, or additional materials should be given to students to talk about recent changes.

Clarity rating: 4

The text is clear. There are lots of technical terms, but many of them have hyperlinks with a definition that pops up when clicked. This is such a great idea and allows the reader to easily refer back to the definition over the next several paragraphs. The different colored hyperlinks also draws your eye to words that you should pay attention to, which is great. There is some potential jargon that has been left undefined; for example "climate anomaly" and "GPS". Although most readers likely have a good idea of what these terms mean, some readers might not fully understand without greater explanation.
This book is listed an intro level text, and the first chapter is all about understanding science, which is a great beginning. That said, I think this would be a difficult text for someone without any prior scientific knowledge to dig through on their own (mostly just due to the dense amount of material).

Consistency rating: 5

Framework and terminology is consistent throughout.

Modularity rating: 5

Each section is organized in a similar way. Subsections are used to break each chapter into smaller sections. "Check your knowledge" quizzes are used to break up sections, which is really helpful, as some of the sections are pretty dense.
I think it would be nice to add subsections to the table of contents, as some chapters can feel quite long.
There are so many great images that can be found throughout the text. Sometimes the layout of the images and image captions inserted into the text can be a bit distracting.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The flow feels good. I would likely have my students read some chapters out of order. For example I would likely ask my students to read about energy and minerals before reading about climate change, but I also understand the reasoning for the order that was selected here.
This text does a good job with modularity and does repeat some images and concepts, which is nice as you could ask students to read some of the chapters out of order and it would still make sense.

Interface rating: 5

The interface is easy to use. As I already mentioned, having clickable subsections in the Table of Contents would be great. Also, as already mentioned, the layout of the text and images can feel a bit distracting at times (but maybe that is just me!)
Again, I love that terms have hyperlinked definitions and the quizzes to check knowledge throughout are great. These not only keep the reader engaged, but provide a nice break between the dense sections.
There are also QR codes for videos if you are accessing text off-line, which is great.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Grammar seems fine, no noticeable errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Accessibility features have been considered including: the use of headings, alt text available at end of each chapter, and the inclusion of an accessible html version. This makes it so much easier to adopt this text, thank you! The author has included lots of different ways to learn presented such as videos, text, images, graphs and quiz questions. It keeps the text interesting and relevant for readers. Humans are included throughout the text in relationship to geological discoveries and how humans are impacting and impacted by these geological processes. I think that expanding some of these narratives/adding more human-centered stories would be great as that is how many students are able to connect to science. I think it would also be worthwhile to add a section of climate justice to the climate change chapter as it is such an important topic currently.

This text is great. It covers a lot of material in a well-organized fashion. It has great images and graph and links to relevant videos and it has take accessibility into account. The quizzes throughout are super helpful. It is dense and I could see some of my first-time science students struggling to fully understand the material, but paired with lectures and labs, this text will be great. I will definitely be using at least some of these chapters the next time I teach my course.

Reviewed by Ryan Sincavage, Associate Professor, Radford University on 11/9/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

Very comprehensive textbook. It gives instructors flexibility in terms of which topics they want to focus on and if there are topics they will choose not to cover in their particular course.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The information presented is accurate and thorough.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

There are in text links to short videos and other resources that may need to be updated in future editions, but in general the book is very relevant in terms of the current state of the science at it applies to a general student audience.

Clarity rating: 5

Really well written- very clear with short, crisp sentences that students should be able to follow easily. Takes complex concepts and distills them down to digestible components.

Consistency rating: 4

Very consistent use of terminology and figure styles. In some cases figures/photos are repeated, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Modularity rating: 4

Certain topics receive more treatment than others, but there is definitely enough material within the text to full a standard 15 week semester course.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Excellent, logical organization. It provides the student with a sound base level of knowledge that is needed for topics later in the course.

Interface rating: 5

Easily navigated textbook, with good links to supplemental exercises and quizzes to help students test their knowledge as they progress.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

Some minor typographical and grammatical errors, but overall very well written and edited.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Excellent highlights of geologists from underrepresented groups who contributed significantly to the field. Also good diversity in field photos of students and scientists working in the field.

This is an excellent, comprehensive introductory textbook that will serve both students and faculty well. I appreciate the author's efforts to expand upon topics that are sometimes given shorter coverage in traditional textbooks (ex. the different rock types, mass wasting, etc). The introductory chapter tends to lose its focus on the broader topic of science as a whole when it starts to discuss specific elements of geology, tectonics, etc, but not to the point that it is detrimental to the overall flow of the book. I look forward to implementing this textbook in future offerings of introductory courses at my institution.