There once may have been 250,000 miles of stone walls in America's Northeast, stretching farther than the distance to the moon. They took three billion man-hours to build. And even though most are crumbling today, they contain a magnificent scientific and cultural story―about the geothermal forces that formed their stones, the tectonic movements that brought them to the surface, the glacial tide that broke them apart, the earth that held them for so long, and about the humans who built them.
Stone walls tell nothing less than the story of how New England was formed, and in Robert Thorson's hands they live and breathe. "The stone wall is the key that links the natural history and human history of New England," Thorson writes. Millions of years ago, New England's stones belonged to ancient mountains thrust up by prehistoric collisions between continents. During the Ice Age, pieces were cleaved off by glaciers and deposited―often hundreds of miles away―when the glaciers melted. Buried again over centuries by forest and soil buildup, the stones gradually worked their way back to the surface, only to become impediments to the farmers cultivating the land in the eighteenth century, who piled them into "linear landfills," a place to hold the stones. Usually the biggest investment on a farm, often exceeding that of the land and buildings combined, stone walls became a defining element of the Northeast's landscape, and a symbol of the shift to an agricultural economy. 
Stone walls layer time like Russian dolls, their smallest elements reflecting the longest spans, and Thorson urges us to study them, for each stone has its own story. Linking geological history to the early American experience, Stone by Stone presents a fascinating picture of the land the Pilgrims settled, allowing us to see and understand it with new eyes.

Stone By Stone: The Magnificent History in New England's Stone Walls

History

Thorson, Robert

Americas

Walker Books

The geology, ecology, and cultural history of kettle lakes from Maine to Montana. Lakes are a beloved part of the American landscape, and kettles are the most common type, spanning the northern part of the country from New England to the High Plains. Kettle lakes are depressions formed by meltdown of glacial ice and filled with freshwater. Unlike other kinds of lakes that have significant inlet or outlet streams, kettle lakes are natural wells tapping the groundwater table. 
A source of joyful relaxation and recreation for generations, kettle lakes also have historical and cultural significance. Within a few years of the 1836 publication of Ralph Waldo Emerson's Nature, a pivotal book combining nature with spirituality and religion, H enry David Thoreau had permanently linked Walden Pond―America's most famous kettle lake―to the Transcendentalist movement. 
Each kettle lake tells a story, and in Robert Thorson's hands their collective saga―and the threats to their health―give us crucial insight into the dangers facing our vulnerable freshwater ecosystem.

Beyond Walden: The Hidden History of America's Kettle Lakes and Ponds

Science & Math

Biological Sciences

Stone by Stone: The Magnificent History in New England's Stone Walls

Bloomsbury USA

What can the rocks in old stone walls tell us about how the earth's crust was shaped, melted by volcanoes, carved by glaciers, and worn by weather? And what can they tell us about earlier people on the land and the first settlers? As Adam and his grandfather work together to repair the family farm's old stone walls, Adam learns how fascinating geology can be, and how the everyday landscape provides intriguing clues to the past. Stone Wall Secrets also shows positive family dynamics between different generations and different races in an adoptive family. Gus Moore's richly detailed paintings are the perfect complement to a story full of imagery and wonder. Color throughout

Stone Wall Secrets (Tilbury House Nature Book)

Children's Books

Thorson, Kristie

Literature & Fiction

Tilbury House, Publishers

This is truly an autobiography of the injustice that is the American Justice System. This is a story of how an innocent man can go to prison and learn to survive there or even thrive there in a warrior's society, where the weak are abused, used and often killed for no other reason than, they are afraid to fight ... even to protect themselves. This is a real look at what prison life was like during the 1970s through 2003 by someone with firsthand knowledge and who wasn't content to just go with the flow, but insisted on trying to make the world he lived in a little better for himself and those around him. This is a must read for anyone who has loved ones behind bars or is headed there themselves for the first time. This book will give them an edge and may help them survive without all the trial and error. As in a Prison Society an error can result in a beating, having to `Check In' to Protective Custody or even death

Prison Stories from Gladiator School

Thorson, Robert D

Ethics & Professional Responsibility

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

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Books by Thorson, Robert