About the Book

Every Rock Tells a Story is a series of books for young adults conceived by geologist Richard Kehmeier. The series' "raison d'etre" is to emphasize the types of knowledge geologists must have to understand the evolution of our physical planet. Rather than explaining science with confusing terms and unfathomable concepts, these books provide simple, understandable explanations of terms and concepts in a story form.

Geology is often misunderstood because of the difficulty understanding subjects like geological time, rock names, mineral identification, and even faulting and volcanoes. Many people are exposed to geology in their own backyards every day and many more are introduced to it when they travel. It is the author's hope that this series of books will help answer many questions young people may have about geology, ignite their curiosity about our planet, and help them understand how they can have careers in this fascinating and dynamic field of science.

About the Author

Richard has worked in geology for more than fifty years and has practiced his branch of exploration geology in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Greenland. He has spent much of his career exploring remote places across the globe for sources of metals to support our economy. Richard has two college degrees, a Bachelor of Science in Geological Engineering and a Master of Science in Geology, both from Colorado School of Mines. He lives in Colorado with his wife, Andrea, and two naughty dogs. In addition to writing, he enjoys photography and cooking.

Don Long, artist/illustrator for this book, brings fifty years of ongoing commercial art experience. He has taught and created multiple university-level classes for the subject areas of illustration, character design, anatomy, storyboard layout, and movie animation concepts. He has notable industry awards and has been the lead contributing illustrator on award-winning projects such as the National Autism Society teaching manual. He won first place at the International Expo, large animatronics character division. He has contributed as lead for character design, children's books, and graphic novel illustration. His documentary film art has won three Tele Awards. He holds a Master's of Illustration from Syracuse University. Don lives in Colorado with his wife, Ellen, and two cats. His passion is flyfishing, and he has traveled the world pursuing his flyfishing and his love of the outdoors.