The book begins with a discussion about what faults are and how to recognize them. The geologic tours follow, exploring the seismic hazards of the Los Angeles Basin, the San Francisco Bay Area, central California, the Mojave Desert, a neighborhood that is slowly being wrenched in two by the creeping Calaveras fault, and a now-landscaped surface rupture from the 1971 San Fernando quake in a McDonald's parking lot, giving new meaning to an order for burgers and shakes. Photos, maps, and diagrams, most with precise GPS coordinates, illustrate the conversational text. Entertaining sidebars highlight the often ingenious methods of modern fault-finding researchers.