The original version of this book was a hand bound volume, which the author prepared for an 8th grade master works project for Black Pine Circle in Berkeley in 2012. As such, the book reflected the author's longtime interest in writing, marine biology, paleontology, art, and photography. (Indeed, Lorena's interest in marine biology had already been long-term by eight grade: she had learned the Hawaiian names of fish by the age of 2, had assisted with data collection on hammerhead shark feeding at 5, and had photographed her first moray eel while snorkeling at age 8). To produce the book, Lorena made numerous trips to Capitola and to the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, took a bookbinding class, learned the stippled ink drawing technique, and corresponded via email with Frank Perry whose book Fossil Invertebrates and Geology of the Marine Cliffs at Capitola, California was a major inspiration for this one. From the foreword by: Chela Zabin, PhD University of California, Davis Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

From the outside, Capitola looks like a normal beach town. Small shops, restaurants along the water. A typical beach, surfers, swimmers, sunbathers. But if you head down the beach, there’s something else. Along with the seagulls and algae, in the cliffs and the rocks, there’s something much older. The fossils of the Purisima Formation.