"If I were to own just one book on the stone walls of New England, it would be Robert Thorson's." —Tom K. Wessels

"An enlightening excursion that goes well beyond the romantic notions surrounding the walls." —Booklist

"If the preservation effort needs a manifesto, Thorson has one." —The Washington Post

" [Few geologists] dare to make plain their passion for rocks, as Thorson does, much less linger on the sensual details of their medium—its color, texture, sound, and odor. And most geological writing doesn't venture very far or boldly into the realm of human culture, an area to which Thorson's scientific expertise makes the most startling contribution." —Orion

"Now I know why all the stone walls I've ever stumbled across in the northeast woods are thigh-high—along with about a thousand other interesting details that shed illuminating light on the human history of this sweet region." —Bill McKibben

"Robert Thorson teases from New England's ubiquitous stone walls a natural and cultural history of the region, from the grinding glaciers that shaped the stones to the spreading asphalt deserts that are displacing them. A nature lover's 'must read.'" —Chet Raymo

"Robert Thorson offers the most complete natural history ever written about New England's fabled stone walls. This alone would have been valuable enough, but he doesn't stop there. His restless, provocative examination lays out ideas like multiple courses of well-placed fieldstone, uniting the histories of New England's geology, environment, culture, and economy in a study built on science and sustained by passion. Stone by Stone should be an instant necessity for anyone who wonders why our landscape looks the way it does." —Kevin Gardner