I am particularly grateful to the following people for their significant contributions to the book:

David Call (Ball State University)

Janice Hayden (Dixie State College of Utah)

Ingrid Luffman (East Tennessee State University)

I also express most sincere appreciation to the reviewers who contributed their knowledge, expertise, and time to Living Physical Geography:

Victoria Alapo, Metropolitan Community College—Fort Omaha

Faran Ali, Simon Fraser University

Jake Armour, University of North Carolina—Charlotte

Tamara Biegas, University of Texas at San Antonio

Wayne Brew, Montgomery County Community College

Robin Buckallew, Central Community College

Michaela Buenemann, New Mexico State University

Ke Chen, East Tennessee State University

Sam Copeland, State University of New York—Buffalo North Campus

Richard Crooker, Kutztown University

Daryl Dagesse, Brock University

Carolyn Damato, Salem State University

Jeremy Dillon, University of Nebraska at Kearney

Taly Drezner, York University

Josh Durkee, Western Kentucky University

Robert Edsall, Carthage College

Tracy Edwards, Frostburg State University

William Garcia, University of North Carolina—Charlotte

Colleen Garrity, State University of New York at Geneseo

Greg Gaston, University of North Alabama

Christopher Gentry, Austin Peay State University

Dusty Girard, Brookhaven College

J. Scott Greene, University of Oklahoma

Michael Grossman, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Hillary Hamann, University of Denver

William Hansen, Worcester University

Paul Hanson, University of Nebraska—Lincoln

Megan Harlow, Orange Coast College

Mark Hecht, Mount Royal University

Delia Heck, Ferrum College

Patricia Heiser, Carroll College

Chasidy Hobbs, University of West Florida

Margaret Holzer, Rutgers University

Chris Houser, Texas A&M University

Solomon Isiorho, Indiana University— Purdue University Fort Wayne

Renee Jacobsen, California State University, San Bernardino

Brian Jones, University of Alberta

Don Jonsson, Austin Community College

Ranbir S. Kang, Western Illinois University

Wilberg Karigomba, Northwest Area Community College

Ryan Kelly, Bluegrass Community & Technical College

William Kelvey, Carroll Community College

John Keyantash, California State University, Dominguez Hills

Thomas Krabacher, California State University, Sacramento

Barry Kronenfeld, Eastern Illinois University

Michael Lewis, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Karl Lillquist, Central Washington University

Bruce Lindquist, Leeward Community College

Jennifer Lipton, Central Washington University

Taylor Mack, Louisiana Tech University

Steven Marsh, University of the Fraser Valley

Yvonne Martin, University of Calgary

Larry McGlinn, State University of New York at New Paltz

Armando Mendoza, Cypress College

Andrew Mercer, Mississippi State University

Peter Meserve, Fresno City College

Robert Milligan, Northern Virginia Community College— Woodbridge

Peter Muller, University of Miami

Steve Namikas, Louisiana State University

Elsa Nickl, University of Delaware

Abby Norton-Krane, Cuyahoga Community College

Thomas Orf, Las Positas College

Barry Perlmutter, College of Southern Nevada

Arliss S. Perry, Wright State University

Abdullah F. Rahman, Indiana University

Max W. Reams, Olivet Nazarene University

Ronald Reynolds, Bridgewater State University

Shouraseni Sen Roy, University of Miami

Ruth Ruud, Cleveland State University

David Sallee, University of North Texas/Tarrant County College

Ginger Schmid, Minnesota State University

David Shankman, University of Alabama

Andrew Shears, Kent State University

Erica A. H. Smithwick, Pennsylvania State University

Jane Southworth, University of Florida

Susanna Tong, University of Cincinnati

Cornelis J. van der Veen, University of Kansas

Scott Walker, Northwest Vista College

Megan Walsh, Central Washington University

James Wanket, California State University, Sacramento

Brad Watkins, University of Central Oklahoma

Theresa Watson, Central New Mexico Community College

Forrest Wilkerson, Minnesota State University

Sonja Yow, Eastern Kentucky University

Danlin Yu, Montclair State University

xxviii

I am deeply grateful for the bedrock support provided by my family while I was writing this book. Thank you, Nancy, for being an inspiration while I was working through and forming many ideas. Thank you, Katherine and Natalie, for your patience while dad was out in the “shed” writing, and thanks for helping me with photo selections. I am immensely grateful for my family’s love of nature and enjoyment of visiting wild places.

It was an honor to work with the staff at W. H. Freeman. I was so impressed by their friendly and professional demeanor and their generous support. My sincerest thanks to Steven Rigolosi for believing in my idea when I first presented it to him and for his guidance every step of the way. Steve provided many of the innovative ideas that have helped strengthen the book, and he has been a colleague and friend throughout. For that I am deeply appreciative. Thank you to Charles Linsmeier for his direction in the latter stages of the book.

Thanks to project editor Enrico Bruno and managing editor Lisa Kinne for their meticulous attention to all details great and small. I am thankful to Diana Blume, design manager, who did page makeup and helped assemble the pages in their final form, as well as to Matt McAdams, art manager, who oversaw the creation of the figures and illustrations. The assistance of Lukia Kliossis with assembling the animations and videos, as well as all the rich content in LaunchPad, is greatly appreciated. Thanks to Sheena Goldstein for guiding the manuscript through photo research and permissions. Thank you to Stephanie Ellis in market development, Taryn Burns in marketing, and to their colleagues in the field who have advocated for the value of this student-centered approach to living physical geography.

It was a great pleasure to work with development editor Donald Gecewicz. Don brought new ideas to the book and provided invaluable help in seeing both the big picture and the smallest of details. My thanks also to copyeditor Norma Sims Roche for her outstanding work on polishing the manuscript’s text and fine-tuning the logical flow of ideas. Tom Carling with Carling Design created the beautiful and effective layout of the book. Thanks, Tom, for your hard work in arranging the art to fit into the space available. I am deeply grateful to Tom Killion for allowing me to use his beautiful work, Tennessee Cove, Marin Headlands, for the book’s cover. Thank you to artist Rachel Rogge and Precision Graphics for their exquisite renderings and for their patience with me through the meticulous process of art revisions. Thanks to Beth Robertson and Mapping Specialists for their cartographic expertise and skill. Freelance photo researcher Jerry Marshall worked tirelessly to acquire the photographs used throughout the book, and I am grateful for his efforts.

I thank my colleagues in the Geography Department at California State University, Sacramento, James Wanket and Thomas Krabacher, for their assistance and feedback in developing the manuscript. I appreciate the support provided by the Department of Geography and the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at California State University, Sacramento. I am in debt to Ted Erski from McHenry County College for the hard work and long hours he put into writing Living Physical Geography in the Laboratory, the outstanding laboratory manual that accompanies this book. I am deeply appreciative of the input of the professional reviewers, my colleagues in the discipline, for combing through the early draft manuscripts and helping me hone the material. I have also benefited greatly from my experiences in the classroom and the field. Without my students, this book would not have been written. Thank you.