Amazon.com description: Product Description: You probably loved it as a kid. Dirt was a toy, it made great mud pies, and it got you in trouble when you tracked it into the house. To adults, that childhood joy may be a formidable foe; if the shrubbery won't thrive, if the foundation of the house cracks. Or if heavy rains don't sink into the ground but flood streets, cars, and homes instead, the soil often gets the blame. The fact is, most people still know, no more about this important element of nature than the knowledge they gained in a sandbox or at the playground. "Dirt" is not a textbook but rather a treasury of fascinating and myth-exploding facts for everyone from weekend gardeners to builders to seekers of conversation tidbits. What did the Civil War have to do with soil science? How do sand dunes bury villages? What is a pingo and why does it cause "drunken trees"? Does scientific evidence support the theories behind organic gardening and the causes of acid rain? Other topics discussed include government policies, types of soils and their properties, and mankind's effects on soil and the environment. Concise and easy-to-understand explanations as well as anecdotes and discussions of unexpected aspects of soil, water, agriculture, history, and technology will educate while entertaining. Beautifully illustrated, "Dirt" will surely make readers see an old friend in a new light. John Anthony Adams is a Phi Beta Kappa orange grower in San Bernardino County, California. He has worked as a soil scientist for the California Desert District of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and his interests now focus on gardening and writing.