The device of a fictional character and story form does not even seem to convince the authors, in this hymn to the glories of geology. Jeff Carson, a young mining geologist, embarks on several field trips throughout Western United States and finally Mexico, and with each experience his enthusiasm grows. If the reader can endure the monotonous enthusiasm of Jeff in order to complete the text, he will learn many interesting facts about geology as a career, the various avenues it affords, the demands it makes. But a straightforward non-fiction text on the subject would have far better satisfied the aims of this book and spared the reader the boredom of Jeff's highly repetitive exclamations.