Dr. Donald Fisher, New York State Paleontologist emeritus, traces the geologic history of eastern New York through the rise and fall of the Taconic Mountains'once New York's "Rockies"?the draining and sculpting of the Catskill Mountains from a delta-derived plateau, and the rise of the Adirondacks, the paradox of New York's youngest mountains created from New York's oldest rocks. It is a story of rocks and fossils, life and evolution, unimaginable stretches of time'a chronicle of continual, ongoing change and transformation. Included within the book, published for the first time, is a detailed colored geological (tectonic) map for Columbia County'the heart of the Taconics'the result of over fifty years of fieldwork and study.Other sections of the book include an explanation of where and how to collect fossil specimens, a discussion of economic resources from the ground, and a history of New York State's pioneering geologist and the NYS Geological Survey.