Meghalayan Days

From my years working at the Geology Library at the University of Texas (for Dennis Trombatore, a wonderful person, R.I.P.) I have a smattering of knowledge in the area. Aside from hiding in the stacks reading fascinating and fusty old books (as we all did) I took some classes and then got a bit obsessed with the Roadside Geology series of books when I lived in the Southwest. (Halka Chronic fans unite!) Someone put a copy of “Rancho La Brea: A Record of Pleistocene Life in California” from 1949 in my little free library so I am plugging through it. It is not telling a compelling story with great writing, but I love it anyway because it is a key to all the knowledge they had at the time, systematically arranged. The book goes through the history of its discovery, the geology and stratigraphy of the area, a catalogue of all the kinds of creatures and plants found, and a beautiful bibliography and index. I have a million questions and became suddenly an absolute hound searching for tar…