Pipkin and Trent's Third Edition of GEOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT explores the relationship between humans and the geologic hazards, processes, and resources that surround us. A true market leader, the book has an accessible and entertaining writing style, superior pedagogy, appropriate amount of detail and coverage, and tables that provide meaningful and relevant real data for readers. With an emphasis on geology that can improve the human endeavor, this new edition addresses the changing market as it consistently emphasizes student decision-making, careers, resources, and relevance. Medical geology, environmental law, land-use planning, and engineering geology are discussed within the context of each geologic situation rather than as separate chapters. The book has been significantly updated to address current events, such as recent earthquakes in Turkey and Taiwan and the Hector Mine earthquake in Southern California. There are now more global references, reflecting the increased scope of this field of study.

Dr. Bernard W. Pipkin is Professor Emeritus at the University of Southern California. He received his doctorate from the University of Arizona and is a licensed geologist and certified engineering geologist in the state of California. After graduation he worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on a variety of military and civil projects, from large dams to pioneer roads in rough terrain for microwave sites. He has been a consulting engineering geologist as well as a university teacher since 1965. Dr. Pipkin is past president of the National Association of Geology Teachers and is a Fellow in the Geological Society of America. He hosted the PBS 30-part program Oceanus that won a local Emmy for Best Educational Television Series. He recently shared the Clare Holdredge Award (1995) with Richard Proctor from the Association of Engineering Geologists for their book Engineering Geology Practice in Southern California. Dr. Pipkin is a private pilot with a flight instructor's rating; he took many of the aerial photos in the book. He and his wife Faye have three grown children and live south of Los Angeles in Palos Verdes. Dr. D. D. "Dee" Trent has been working at, or teaching, geology since 1955. After graduating from college, he was employed by an oil company where his geological skills were sharpened with projects in Utah, Arizona, California, and Alaska. When the company decided to send him to Libya, he decided it was time to become a college geology teacher. He has taught 28 years at Citrus Community College in Glendora, California, and along the way has worked with the National Park Service, picked up a Ph.D. at the University of Arizona, done field research on glaciers in Alaska and California, visited numerous mines in the United States and Germany, mapped deserts in California and Arizona, and served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Southern California, where he taught Field Geology. When not involved with geology, he's either skiing or playing the banjo in a dixieland band. Dr. Trent and his wife Pat have two grown children and they live in Claremont, California.