In 1962, armed with a degree in Physics and a Diploma in Applied Geophysics, John Milsom left the UK for Australia, where he worked for the Federal Government as a geophysicist for six years before returning to London for a doctoral study of the gravity field of eastern Papua New Guinea. Since that time he has worked in hydrology, in the oil and mining industries, for governments, in higher education and in conservation projects, but always as a geophysicist. Much of his work has involved the application of measurements of gravity field to understanding geology, at all scales from cavities to continents. In 1981 he founded London University's first undergraduate geophysics degree, which he taught until retirement in 2004. He retains a link with the academic world as an Honorary Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at Hong Kong University. He is the author of a textbook on Field Geophysics, now in its (co-authored) fourth edition. Geographically his main research interests andexpertise have been in the island festoons of Southeast Asia and Melanesia, but his fieldwork has taken him to every continent. As a result he speaks a number of languages very badly and tends to get them mixed up. Born and brought up in London, he has now returned to his family roots and lives in the Welsh borders where, amongst other things, he is a governor of a small primary school.

Includes personal accounts that are intended to provide readers with insights into what it is like to do science in the field

Introduction.- Some Notes on Units.- I. The Beginning.- II. The Making of a Map.- III. The Astronomers.- IV. The synthesis.- V. The figure of the Earth.- VI. The Attraction of Mountains.- VII. The Pitfalls of Pendulums.- VIII. Change of a change.- IX. The rise and fall of springs.- X. The challenges of motion.- XI. A Map of the World.- XII. Epilogue.