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John O’Brien would like to thank his wife Anita, his sons Tyler and Owen and granddaughter Scarlett for their love and support. John worked for 41 years in the Department of Geoscience‐Geography (now Earth and Environmental Sciences) at New Jersey City State University. He is now retired and living in the San Francisco Bay area. Sabbaticals from the University in 2005 and again in 2011, gave John the time required to complete this project. John wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to Ansel Gooding, Charles Martin, Wayne Martin, John Pope, Robert Webb, John Crowell, Don Runnels, Joe Clark and Barry Perlmutter for encouraging, supporting and challenging him at critical times in his career.

The authors believe that an understanding of Earth materials is more important than ever in this twenty‐first century in order to appropriately utilize essential resources, for mitigating geohazards and dealing with environmental change. Universities and government agencies would be wise to revitalize the Earth science and geology curricula in the United States and other countries around the world. We must all renew efforts to use our resources wisely and to engage the green economy.