This guide is aimed at everyone who is interested in learning enough aboutgeology, topography, soil science, and rocks and minerals to put thatknowledge to use. We’ll explore the many ways to turn common materialsinto resources in order to make improvements, survive the elements, orotherwise gain an edge. We’ll study the ancients and learn how theyadapted and overcame the world around them to not just survive but thrive.In this book, we’ll assume that you’re an interested newcomer to thelanguage of geology and try to explain things as we go along. It may seem abit bewildering at first, because geology borrows from chemistry, physics,math, chemistry, biology, and more to create its own language. Fortunately,many of the best metaphors come from cooking. In a sense, the Earth is likea big kitchen, constantly mixing and remixing ingredients, skimming someoff, concentrating others, and recycling everything in a constant churn.We’ll end up using a lot of cooking metaphors and examples, trying tomake the science as practical as possible.There are many procedures and recipes sprinkled throughout this book,but there is no substitute for your own trial and error. Your mileage mayvary on just about anything related to geology—your limestone may not bepure enough to convert to slaked lime, or your soil may have too much sandto turn into cob for housing. Your sand may be too round, or your water toofull of calcium. The science is sound, but the ingredients you have at handmay require adjustments to the standard procedures, ratios, and recipes.