Donald Prothero has taught college geology and paleontology for 45 years, at Caltech, Columbia, Cal Poly Pomona, and Occidental, Knox, Vassar, Glendale, Mt. San Antonio, and Pierce Colleges. He earned his B.A. in geology and biology (highest honors, Phi Beta Kappa, College Award) from University of California Riverside in 1976, and his M.A. (1978), [...]. (1979), and Ph.D. (1982) in geological sciences from Columbia University. He is the author of over 50 books (including 8 leading geology textbooks, and several trade books), and over 400 scientific papers, mostly on the evolution of fossil mammals (especially rhinos, camels, and pronghorns) and on using the earth's magnetic field changes to date fossil-bearing strata. He has been on the editorial boards of journals such as Geology, Paleobiology, Journal of Paleontology, and Skeptic magazine. He is a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, the Paleontological Society, and the Geological Society of America, and also received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and National Science Foundation. He served as President of Pacific Section SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) in 2012, and served for five years as Program Chair of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. In 1991, he received the Charles Schuchert Award for outstanding paleontologist under the age of 40. In 2013, he received the James Shea Award of the National Association of Geology Teachers for outstanding writing and editing the geosciences. In 2015, he received the Joseph T. Gregory award for service to vertebrate paleontology. In 2016 he was named a "Friend of Darwin" by the National Center for Science Education. In 2023, he was named a "Distinguished Speaker" by the Palaeontological Association. He has been featured on numerous TV documentaries, including Paleoworld, Walking with Prehistoric Beasts, Prehistoric Monsters Revealed, Monsterquest, Prehistoric Predators: Entelodon and Hyaenodon, Conspiracy Road Trip: Creationism, as well as Jeopardy! and Win Ben Stein's Money.

Chapter 1 The Golden State

Chapter 2 Building Blocks

Chapter 3 Dating California

Chapter 4 The Big Picture

Chapter 5 Earthquakes and Seismology

Chapter 6 Young Volcanoes

Chapter 7 The Broken Land

Chapter 8 Gold, Glaciers, and Granitics

Chapter 9 Mantle Rocks and Exotic Terranes

Chapter 10 Oil and Agriculture

Chapter 11 The San Andreas Fault System

Chapter 12 Mélanges, Granitics, and Ophiolites

Chapter 13 Compression, Rotation, Uplift

Chapter 14 Granitics, Gravels, and Gems

Chapter 15 Assembling California

Chapter 16 California's Gold

Chapter 17 California's Oil and Gas

Chapter 18 California's Water

Chapter 19 California's Coasts

Chapter 20 California's Fossil Resources

Chapter 21 California's Slippery Slopes

Chapter 22 California's Air and Water Pollution

Chapter 23 California's Renewable Energy Resources

Chapter 24 Climate Change and California's Future Environment