Monday, August 15, 2011

Grandeur and complexity: words and theory alike fail to do it justice

We were in Utah last week.  Whenever Ken is out west, he wishes he'd been a geologist.

Dinosaur National Monument; Harper's Corner overlook
Stewart Falls, above Sundance



9 comments:

Texbrit said...

It's literally amazing what God was able to accomplish in six days!

Ken Weiss said...

They were either very long days (maybe the sun hadn't been invented yet), or there were a lot of elves helping out, or it's all just a Hollywood facade, to impress tourists (which it does).

Utah is one of those places, of which there are many, that just makes you think

Texbrit said...

Maybe the fact that there was no light explains why the earth is so bloody lumpy!

The Cannons said...

Stewart Falls! We used to go up there all the time. Post more pictures!

Ken Weiss said...

Most people up there, and there were many of all ages, had taken a chair lift, but we walked from Sundance. Much more fun, and a spectacular sight.

The scenery around Vernal is also spectacular, but generally more stark.

Anne Buchanan said...

More pictures now posted in the following post. It was indeed spectacular.

Jennifer said...

guess he can always retire, go back to school and become one!! but then he'd have to move out west!

edward hessler said...

If you've not read Walter Alvarez's "The mountains of Saint Francis: Discovering the geological events that shaped our earth" (WW Norton, 2008), I strongly recommend it. However, it is not likely to do much about your geological what-might-have-been-itch except to fuel it and make you scratch it again. It gave me a great sense of how field geology is done as well as the nature of this discipline. The link that follows is from Amazon and includes reader reviews. I especially like the one by Vogtovich who writes beautifully and I think with some humility about one "fault" I also found in the book. I was bothered by it but came to expect it. Regardless, it is still a glorious read (and Alvarez is a fine writer) and provides one with a Darwinian sense of the earth, i.e., that there is grandeur in this view.... ( < http://www.amazon.com/Mountains-Saint-Francis-Discovering-Geologic/product-reviews/039306185X >)

Ken Weiss said...

Thanks. I didn't know about this book. It must have been quite an experience for Darwin to see so many things fall into explanatory place. We can see the grandeur, but it's handed to us, so we don't get to have the Eureka! moment.