Walter Alvarez's The Mountains Of Saint Francis

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I am completely taken aback by how lyrical and colorful Professor Walter Alvarez was in this excerpt go his book The Mountains of Saint Francis. When I found that this reading was on geology, my expectations were something along the lines of mechanical and mundane. I was completely caught off guard when I started reading the prelude. "From high up on a peak called Monte Nerone, on clear, crisp autumn mornings, you can see far across the landscape of Italy. I often go there while consulting the secret archives of Earth history, written in the rocky outcrops of the Apennine Mountain Range." (Alvarez ix). Professor Alvarez turned his research into a vivid, engaging storyline, almost like a fictional story. My favorite scene in this excerpt would