Dr. Whitley is one of the top three specialists in rock art research in the world today. His scholarly record of top-notch scholarship spans three continents and includes ground-breaking perceptual advances. He pulled together and edited the 2000 capstone book "The Handbook of Rock Art Research" - the standard by which all other future compilations must be judged.The problem was that introductory rock art students would find "The Handbook" a bit too intimidating. Little existed for those who want to go beyond being a photographer of rock art and start down the road towards contributing to our scholarly knowledge of these priceless insights into past minds. Instructors from the community college on up teaching the basics of rock art research were left to cobble together a series of articles and picture books, ending up with an unsatisfying set of readings.This book solves the problem of an individual wanting to explore the scholarly study of rock art. Dr. Whitley explains in clear language the state of the art of research into rock art. This book is perfect for anybody who has wondered, "What can be done with these amazing images of the past". Dr. Whitley provides the reader a concise and readable way to understand that a tremendous amount of research is possible. So this book is for the regular person who has taken the time to stop on a road trip and wonder about past visitors to a site.The reader will receive a wonderful introduction to rock art, come to grasp the importance of field work in rock art reserach, be introduced to classification methods, dating methods, scientific analysis methods, how to interpret symbolic and enthnographic elements, and even link rock art to how our minds are constructed at a neurophysiological level. Most importantly, the book turns to management and conservation of this cultural resource that we are losing in bits and pieces every day.Even though this book is written well enough for someone "new" to rock art to understand the field, this book is also a must for professional archaeologists. This is because rock art is a field long overlooked by archaeologists. Archaeologists older than about 30 years were taught in classes that "nothing could be done" with rock art. Dr. Whitley's book indicates that such statements reveal the lack of scholarship of the speaker. For any archaeologist who simultaneously claims to be a scholar and also questions the relevance of rock art for the student of past peoples, Dr. Whitley's book is a must read. Or the general public will quickly come to the opinion that the "professionals" are so stuck in their old ways that they have become the relicts that they study.So if you love the pictures and want to learn more, or if you are an out-of-date professional and don't want to be caught being the fool, read this book!Whitley does a good job writing an introduction book on rock art. He gives examples from all over the world including California, South Africa, and France. He writes about ethnographic interpretation as well as the neuropsychological approach to rock art and shamanism. Whitley includes a short glossary at the end of the book and a very helpful list of references. The "list" is almost 30 pages long.About the only thing wrong with the book is that there are not as many photographs as I had expect for a book on this kind of topic. Whitley could have included more photographs of the rock art he wrote so well about.I recommend this book to any aspiring rock art researcher (like myself)