On Saturday, April 21st, I found myself driving to San Francisco with a dead squid in the trunk. The squid part wasn't unusual, since I'm an educator with Squids4Kids. The unusual part was my destination: the San Franscisco Center for the Book. I've brought squid to classrooms and summer camps for years, but never to a nonprofit foundation for book arts.

"Fugitive" by Michelle Wilson - paper handmade from invasive plants, selectively exposed to light

The occasion was SFCB's annual Earth Day Extravaganza, where I oscillated between fielding questions about squid and exploring the center's current art exhibition, "Left to Chance: In Search of the Accidental Book Art." In honor of the 100th birthday of avant-garde composer John Cage, the pieces all shared an element of luck or randomness. This may sound weird–but it made me think of science. Could Cage's emphasis on making people notice their existing environment, along with pieces in "Left to Chance" that made use of natural accidents like sunlight fading paper, be just another manifestation of the scientist's urge to observe and describe the natural world? Fun fact: Cage himself was an amateur mycologist; his collection of fungi is currently housed at UC Santa Cruz.

Earth Is Awesome, Press and Broadside - photo by Monica LeMaster

Plenty of other people were perusing the artwork, but Saturday's hands-on activities were the real draw. As SFCB co-founder Kathleen Burch said, "People want to get their hands inky." At one classic Vandercook printing press, you could create a broadside in blue ink: EARTH IS AWESOME. Another printed a book cover in green ink with 10 tips for easing up on Earth. At the next table, you added pages and bound the book by hand. (All the matierals were either donated or recycled.)

And then, in the back room, you could print a squid.

If you're not familiar with gyotaku, the phrase "squid printing" may conjure peculiar images. Is the squid run through a press? Cut into letter type? Actually, it just sits on a table while visitors line up to roll ink over it. Once the squid has been thoroughly inked and its arms and tentacles artistically arranged, you drop a large piece of paper on top and press it down. Peel the paper off, and you've got a squid print.

Squid Printing - photo by Monica LeMaster

Printmaker Julie Whitcomb has been the activity's catalyst. Last year she drove to the Squids4Kids lab and picked up the specimen herself. This year I joined the fun solely in my capacity as a science nerd; I have very limited experience with printing. I babbled about ecology while SFCB volunteers guided visitors through the printing process–which included hand-cut stamps to label major parts of the squid's anatomy.

Like all the other visitors, I walked out at the end of the day with a broadside, a book, and a squid print. But I had one more goodie in my bag: when all the printing was done, I had extracted the squid's statoliths, tiny ear bones that can tell us how old the squid was.

It's my favorite kind of day when science, education, and art all hold hands.

^{Doris Sloane, author of Geology of the San Francisco Bay Region, gives a public lecture in the Berkeley Hills in 2007. Photo by Andrew Alden.}

Learning about geology isn't just a matter of going out and wandering around, as fun as that is. Books help a lot, starting with a simple rocks-and-minerals guide. Going beyond that first book can lead to a library, and my own shelves keep getting more crowded. Books for Bay Area geology enthusiasts make up a more manageable list. Let me show you my favorites.

I have reviewed several of these for About.com. To see those reviews, click the asterisk next to the book title.

Appetizers

California Rocks!, by Katherine Baylor (Mountain Press), is an appetite-whetting collection of 65 geo-destinations around the state, 14 of them in the Bay Area. Photo-licious and engaging, this is a book to pull out whether you're planning a California vacation or a local day trip.

Roadside Geology of Northern and Central California, by David Alt and Donald Hyndman (Mountain Press), covers wider ground and is organized around the major roads. It's an excellent companion for any California road trip, giving you insight into the landscape around your windshield and suggestions for side trips when you have an extra hour or two.

Entrees

Geology of the San Francisco Bay Region *, by Doris Sloane with photographs by John Karachewsky (UC Press), is a beautifully produced compendium that systematically introduces the region from the Bay itself to the mountains around it, including maps, tables of information, field trip ideas and the background knowledge to make the most of them. It's built to last, too.

A Streetcar to Subduction, by the late Clyde Wahrhaftig (American Geophysical Union), presents seven field trips in and near San Francisco using public transit. Wahrhaftig, who never learned to drive, was a superb field geologist and teacher.

Field Guide to the San Andreas Fault *, by David Lynch (Thule Scientific), is a mile-by-mile road log that covers the great fault from end to end. If you're as serious about the fault as I am, you'll want this to support the extensive traveling it will take to visit the whole thing. It's divided into 12 day trips, three of which encompass the Bay Area.

Finding Fault in California: An Earthquake Tourist's Guide *, by Susan Hough (Mountain Press), focuses on faults throughout California that you can visit in person, but the San Andreas naturally has pride of place. Hough is a very good teacher of earthquake science, too.

Geologic Field Trips in Northern California (California Division of Mines and Geology Special Publication 119) is a hard-core set of annotated road logs published for the Geological Society of America's Cordilleran Section centennial meeting in 1999. Trips include unsung features in the Bay Area and outliers such as the Sutter Buttes, Santa Lucia Range and the western Sierra.

1906 San Francisco Earthquake Centennial Field Guides (Geological Society of America Field Guide 7) includes annotated walks in San Francisco, day trips in the surrounding area, and a four-day loop through Northern California exploring subduction rocks.

Dessert

Magnitude 8 *, by Philip Fradkin (UC Press), is my favorite book on the San Andreas fault for home reading because Fradkin goes beyond geology and field trips (which he covers well) to explore the mindset that our earthquake-prone region has fostered. There is no better treatment of the geologic roots of our peculiar local culture.

A Wine Journey along the Russian River *, by Steve Heimoff (UC Press), explores the land and vines and wines associated with the Russian River. It's naturally a treat for wine lovers, but he treats the river itself and the rocks it traverses in unexpected depth. If wine is your magic key to everything else, this will open a new door for you.

San Francisco Bay, by Harold Gilliam (Doubleday), is a 1957 classic that will smother you in pleasure and nostalgia as it sweeps through the geological, natural and cultural history of "California's vital inland sea." Look for it wherever old books are sold.

Day Trips: Roaming the Backroads of Northern California, by Peter Browning (Chronicle Books), is a supplementary text that will help you reach some truly remote parts of the Bay Area, although it will not tell you a lot about the rocks you're seeing.

Rocks and Minerals of California, by Vinson Brown, David Allan and James Stark (Naturegraph), is a compact guide to mineral localities of the whole state. It includes abundant maps and tables that will get you to places no other book will list.

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After some cajoling from the wife, I trekked down to the library to check out the science section. I was amazed at the bevy of great pop science books. Most are accessible, quick reads on pretty much every science topic under the sun. However, I'm a social creature, I wanted to discuss science books with peers.

A few quick searches and voila! Science book clubs exist right here in the Bay Area (one of them hosted by myself so I'd have more control on book selection). Lively discussion and science books, it's a good combination.

Down to a Science Book Club

Book: "How We Decide" by Jonah Lehrer

When: Monday, May 25th, 7-9 PM

Where: Books Inc, 601 Van Ness @ Turk, 2 blocks north of SF City Hall

Details: Ever had a experience of option paralysis? Like when you are looking at the 11 different types of Cheerios in the cereal aisle? If you're anything like me, decision making is an "interesting" process. Jonah Lehrer tackles the neurobiology of decision making and points out a few ways you may be able to overcome that paralysis. Watch Jonah discuss decision making at the Commonwealth Club or listen to him discuss Choice on RadioLab.

California Academy of Science Book Clubs

Teens Talk Books: Underwater Explorations

Book: Shark Life: True Stories about Sharks and the Sea by Peter Benchley

When: June 6th, 11:00 am in Education Classroom

Where: California Academy of Sciences

Coming face to face with the jaws of a great white shark.  Chasing leaping orcas near Vancouver.  Swimming with hoards of hammerheads in the Sea of Cortez.  Benchley, the author of Jaws, shares his many underwater adventures with sharks and other marine creatures, while helping the reader learn more about these majestic creatures, how to swim with them safely, and why it is vital for us to protect our oceasn.  Join us for a discussion of Benchley's fascinating read!

Reservations: Free with admission to the museum, but participants should call the Naturalist Center at 415-379-5494 to reserve a space.

Bookworms (Adult Book Group): Why Do Oceans Matter?

Book: Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans by Sylvia Earle

When: June 16th, 6:30 pm in the Naturalist Center

Where: California Academy of Sciences

Details: In recognition of World Ocean Day this month, the group will read and discuss noted marine biologist Sylvia Earle's book which is both a plea for ocean conservation and a very personal story of her own lifelong exploration of life in the deep.

Reservations: Free.  Reserve a space by calling 415-379-5494.

This Week In Science Online Book Club – Hosted by TWIS.org

An Ocean of Air: Why the Wind Blows and Other Mysteries of the Atmosphere

Details: Most of the time we hardly notice that we're moving through air. But when a storm system whips it into a whirling mass that grows into a tornado or a hurricane, then the air around us makes headlines. Science consultant Walker (Snowball Earth) presents a lively history of scientists' and adventurers' exploration of this important and complex contributor to life on Earth, from Galileo's early attempts to show that it has weight to the explorations by 20th-century scientists Oliver Heaviside and Edward Appleton of the ionosphere, which acts as a giant mirror bouncing radio waves from one side of the globe to another. Walker provides readers with easy-to-follow discussions of the science behind the discovery that carbon dioxide levels are rising exponentially.

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