Darrel Hess is professor of geography at City College of San Francisco, where he served as chair of the Earth Sciences department from 1995-2009. He regularly teaches physical geography, economic geography, and human geography. Hess received his B.A. in geography from UC Berkeley and his M.A. in geography from UCLA. Before graduate school he served in the Peace Corps in Korea, and before teaching full-time he worked as a writer, photographer, and audiovisual producer.

Hess served as T.A. to Tom McKnight at UCLA. He began working with McKnight and Pearson as author of the text’s Study Guide starting in the Fourth Edition and as author for the Lab Manual starting in the Fifth Edition. He became a full time co-author of the Ninth Edition, and became sole author of the Tenth Edition. Hess has contributed to the development of the Geoscience Animation Library and has partnered with many geoscience teachers and writers in the development of the CA edition.

Dennis Tasa has been a renowned illustrator of many bestselling geoscience textbooks since 1978,  including the physical geology, Earth science, and meteorology franchises by Tarbuck and Lutgens. He has created illustrations and media for NSF-funded projects, and has worked on various Earth science media, including Pearson’s GEODe.