Two years after first reading it, I'm still enthusiastic about Sand: The Never-Ending Story by Michael Welland (read my review). Sand is a ready metaphor for transient things, but in fact it is one of geology's toughest, most indestructible materials. And the more closely you look at it, the deeper it takes you into the Earth system. Welland, who was awarded the 2010 Burroughs Medal for this "distinguished book of natural history," visited the Geology Forum for an extended interview, and I have extracted the best of it in one document for your reading pleasure.
One thing Welland said that struck me was his encouragement for industry geologists to become communicators: "They have immense experience in talking to different, non-technical audiences - management, government agencies, local interest groups and so on, and so the ability to translate, to tell the story is in many ways already there, along with the technical knowledge. In my experience there are large numbers of high-powered technical people in industry who have, of necessity, developed great communication skills - they should apply these to writing about their science."
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