Finished Book Log: How to Read a North Carolina Beach by Orrin H. Pilkey, Tracy Monegan Rice, William J. Neal

I'm still working on Gravity's Rainbow as my main book right now, but I got How to Read a North Carolina Beach for Christmas and wanted to get started on it, so I've been keeping it on the nightstand and reading it before bed. An enjoyable, informative read about the geologic and biological processes that shape the beach and the coastline, and how human attempts to 'nourish' the beach actually harm it in many ways (and can actually be disastrous).

I learned that a barrier island is a dynamic thing, and that when left alone, the beachfront recedes naturally while the the same processes build up on the lagoon side. So when people build houses on the beach, soon it becomes necessary to build up the beach with retaining walls or sandbags. All of a sudden the natural processes are a 'problem' and eventually the beach will recede up to those artificial walls and disappear. Once the shore has been developed in this way, the only way to prevent the eventual beach loss is to pump in outside sand, which harms the native shore plants and animals, destroys the geological information the beach holds, and generally muddies it all up.

I recommend this book if you're curious about beach and barrier island formation, or if you just love the beach like I do and want to know more about it.