Includes bibliographical references and index.

What's so great about granite? -- What is granite? -- Sparkles and speckles : the minerals of granite -- Animal, mineral, or vegetable? -- Pigeonholing rocks : this is granite and so is that -- True granite -- The pretenders : what is not granite -- When granite is gneiss -- Where can you find granite? -- Hard-boiled tectonics -- Are you dense? -- Upwardly mobile -- Floaters in the bathtub -- How does granite form? -- Am I intruding? -- Bodies of the underworld -- Country rock : it's not music -- Magma soup -- Reading crystals -- The broth -- Why is some granite hard and some crumbly? -- Breaking up is hard to do -- Weathering is the pits -- How old is granite? -- Dating in the dark ages -- Halftime.