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4 books match the query 'Granite'

cover of Conservation of Granite in Cultural Heritage

Conservation of Granite in Cultural Heritage

José Delgado Rodrigues

J. Paul Getty Trust, The, 2025

Bridging scholarly research and conservation practice, this volume presents fundamental guidance on the preservation of granite used in built heritage.

The field of stone conservation has long needed a holistic perspective that embraces the needs of conservation professionals and provides scientific support to enable them to better analyze preservation issues and implement efficient, long-lasting treatments. Conservation of Granite in Cultural Heritage offers such a perspective by bridging scholarly research on the available literature related to granite decay and best practices from conservators working in the field and laboratory.

First offering an overview of granitic rocks and their natural weathering, this volume then outlines the issues that arise when removing granite from quarries and incorporating it into what eventually becomes built heritage. Case studies are presented alongside guidelines for assessing conservation problems. This book will serve as a fundamental manual for students, conservation scientists, conservators, and restorers alike.
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cover of Granite

Granite

Susan Butcher and David Monson

University of Alaska Press, 2007

Susan Butcher was a four-time champion of the Iditarod Trail sled dog race. Granite was her greatest lead dog, but he didn’t start that way. He was a shy, scraggly pup that the others pushed around, but Susan saw his potential. Together they worked until he became leader of the team.
While they were training for the Iditarod, Granite became deathly ill. The veterinarians said he would never be strong enough to run the race. Granite refused to accept this, and slowly he started to recover. By the time of the race he was strong enough to start, but Susan wondered if he could finish the entire thousand-mile race. Confidently Granite guided the team into the lead of the race, when suddenly they were caught in a raging Arctic blizzard. Now Susan and the whole team depended on Granite to get them through the storm. He had to call on all his inner strength and courage to save them—if he could.
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cover of Granite and Grace: Seeking the Heart of Yosemite

Granite and Grace

Seeking the Heart of Yosemite

Michael P. Cohen

University of Nevada Press, 2019

In Granite and Grace Michael Cohen reflects on a lifetime of climbing, walking, and pondering the granite in Yosemite National Park at Tuolumne Meadows. This high-country region of Yosemite is dominated by a young, beautifully glaciated geological formation known as the Tuolumne Intrusive Suite. It does not include familiar Yosemite icons like Half Dome, yet geologists describe this granitic realm at over 8,000 feet as “an iconic American landscape.”

Drawing together the humanistic and scientific significance of the wild landscapes he traverses, Michael uncovers relationships between people and places and meaning and substance, rendering this text part memoir—but also considerably more. On-the-rock encounters by hand and foot open up a dialogue between the heart of a philosopher and the mind of a geologist. Michael adds a literary softness to this hard landscape, blending excursions with exposition and literature with science. It is through his graceful representations that the geological becomes metaphorical, while the science turns mythological.

This high country, where in 1889 John Muir and Robert Underwood Johnson planned what would become Yosemite National Park, is significant for cultural as well as natural reasons. Discoursing on everything from Camus’s “Myths of Sisyphus” to the poems of Gary Snyder, Michael adds depth to an already splendorous landscape. Premier early geologists, such as François Matthes, shaped the language of Yosemite’s landscape. Even though Yosemite has changed over half a century, the rock has not. As Michael explores the beauty and grace of his familiar towering vistas, he demonstrates why, of the many aspects of the world to which one might get attached, the most secure is granite.
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cover of Granite, Fire, and Fog: The Natural and Cultural History of Acadia

Granite, Fire, and Fog

The Natural and Cultural History of Acadia

Tom Wessels

University Press of New England, 2017

Acadia National Park, on Maine’s Mount Desert Island, is among the most popular national parks in the United States. From the road, visitors can experience magnificent vistas of summit and sea, but on a more intimate scale, equally compelling views abound along Acadia’s hiking trails. Tom Wessels, an ecologist, naturalist, and avid hiker, attributes the park’s popularity—and its unusual beauty—to the unique way in which earth, air, fire, and water—in the form of glacially scoured granite, winter winds, fire, and ocean fog—have converged to create a landscape that can be found nowhere else. In this beautifully illustrated book, Wessels invites readers to investigate the remarkable natural history of Mount Desert Island, along with the unique cultural story it gave rise to. This account of nature, terrain, and human interaction with the landscape will delight those who like to hike these bald summits, ride along the carriage roads, or explore the island’s rugged shoreline. Wessels concludes with a guided tour of one of his favorite hikes, a ten-mile loop that will acquaint the reader with the diverse ecosystems described throughout his book.
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