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In Search of Ancient Oregon: A geological and natural history by Ellen Morris Bishop, Timber Press, $39.95/拢29.99, ISBN 088192590X Reviewed by Douglas Palmer

OREGON has the deepest hole in the US. A volcanic eruption blasted Crater Lake out of the rugged landscape of America鈥檚 northwest about 6850 years ago, an event probably witnessed by its early human occupants. Today, all looks serene, but this land hides a catastrophic history of spectacular explosions, eruptions and floods. In Search of Ancient Oregon by geologist-photographer Ellen Morris Bishop illustrates the story of these violent events.

It has clearly been a labour of love for Bishop. She has clambered around this mountainous state, which is bigger than Britain, clutching her large-format cameras and taking spectacular photos of the rocky landscapes. As the subtitle indicates, this is not just a pretty picture book. Bishop鈥檚 expertise as a writer comes through with an exceedingly well informed and yet readable account of the 400-million-year history of the region.

Bishop follows in the grand tradition of writing on the awesome territory that successive Americans have grabbed from one another over the millennia. She uses the story to remind us that while Earth鈥檚 dynamism continues unabated we are still diminishing the diversity and even the size of the life around us.