Practical foundations of physical geography. B. J. Knapp, George Allen & Unwin, London, 1981
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6 04 BOOK REVIEWS PRACTICAL FOUNDATIONS OF PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. B. J. Knapp, George Allen & Unwin, London, 1981. This book must be the answer to the prayers of many an overworked schoolteacher. It has a host of ideas for projects, surveys, data gathering exercises and above all for analysis and interpretation of measurements and observations. It may be rather overpowering for class- room use pushing as it does towards first year university level in parts. In some ways its main failing is not of the writers’ making but lies in the examination system to which the book is clearly geared. I feel that some ‘A’ level boards.do not provide in their questions scope for the average student to use the material in the books, so some teachers might feel that time spent on this book may be of limited examination value. A further failing that can be attributed to the book and the publisher but again not to the writers is the failure to produce large numbers of ‘companion’ books/booklets/stapled pages? in which the teacher might have been given some idea of how the analysis given in the material should go if completed correctly as well as provide some background principles to the work. I tried, but failed, to get a copy of this supplemen- tary material which is apparently in short supply. (The reader of this review might ponder whether the need to obtain this stems from the rigour of the review or failure to understand the text). The existence of this further material might be made more prominant for the book does lack principles, background and bib- liography. The text is well organized, excellently illustrated and given that it has produced by a group of writers, albeit producing separate chapters, it is very well balanced. There must be room in the market for equivalent books on human and applied physical geography. There is no doubt that most schools’ libraries should have a copy of this book, indeed there may be a market for part sets in the class now. ADRIAN MCDONALD University of Leeds BASIC GEOLOGICAL MAPPING. John Barnes, Oxford University Press. No. of pages: 112. Price: f4.95 (paperback). This pocket-sized book by John Barnes is a significant contribution to the teaching of geological mapping and essential to aspiring field geologists. The book contains an amazing amount of information which both under- graduates and amateur geologists alike will find an indispensable guide to acquiring the skills of geological mapping. The aim of the book is to provide a basic knowledge of how to produce geological maps and the large range of methods described and critically evalu- ated in the text more than adequately achieves this goal. The importance of careful selection of equipment needed for mapping is covered in Chapter 2. The author has included a host of extremely useful hints on how to distinguish between available instruments and equip- ment and, more importantly, how to prevent accidental loss in the field. Chapter 3 summarizes the types of geological base maps and reviews the important ways of locating oneself on a map. Where no map is available the text describes how one might be constructed. Chap- ter 4 reviews the methods of geological mapping and provides examples of each method evaluated; in addi- tion, the chapter provides an informative introduction to the additional techniques and instruments needed in areas of poor exposure. Chapter 5 carefully outlines the methods of recording information of planar and linear geological structures and reviews what information must be recorded from different structures. Chapters 6 and 7 present a useful guide on how to describe rocks in the field and how to link field notebooks and maps. The last two chapters outline how to produce the final geo- logical synthesis of the area mapped by way of fair-copy maps, cross-sections and 3-dimensional illustrations. The only minor limitations of the book is that field- sketches could have received more attention and more cross-references between sections made. These are, however, minor considerations and in no way deter from an excellent, valuable and important text. R. J. KNIPE Department of Earth Sciences University of Leeds Leeds LS2 9JT GEOMORPHOLOGICAL TECHNIQUES. Edited by Andrew new guide to Geomorphological Techniques, covering Goudie, assisted by John Lewin, Keith Richards, coasts to chemistry and pollen to processes. The main Malcolm Anderson, Tim Burt, Brian Whalley and Peter subdivisions recognized are form, material properties, Worsley. George Allen & Unwin, Hemel Hempstead, process and evolution; although process is dealt with at Herts. No. of pages: 395. about four times the length of the others. After a brief introduction in which some general topics of methodology and scale are raised, the chapters on form cover general geomorphometry, drainage basin mor- Thirty-four contributors have assisted the British Geomorphological Research Group in producing the
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Transcript of Practical foundations of physical geography. B. J. Knapp, George Allen & Unwin, London, 1981
6 04 BOOK REVIEWS
PRACTICAL FOUNDATIONS OF PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. B. J. Knapp, George Allen & Unwin, London, 1981.
This book must be the answer to the prayers of many an overworked schoolteacher. It has a host of ideas for projects, surveys, data gathering exercises and above all for analysis and interpretation of measurements and observations. It may be rather overpowering for class- room use pushing as it does towards first year university level in parts. In some ways its main failing is not of the writers’ making but lies in the examination system to which the book is clearly geared. I feel that some ‘A’ level boards.do not provide in their questions scope for the average student to use the material in the books, so some teachers might feel that time spent on this book may be of limited examination value.
A further failing that can be attributed to the book and the publisher but again not to the writers is the failure to produce large numbers of ‘companion’ books/booklets/stapled pages? in which the teacher might have been given some idea of how the analysis
given in the material should go if completed correctly as well as provide some background principles to the work. I tried, but failed, to get a copy of this supplemen- tary material which is apparently in short supply. (The reader of this review might ponder whether the need to obtain this stems from the rigour of the review or failure to understand the text). The existence of this further material might be made more prominant for the book does lack principles, background and bib- liography.
The text is well organized, excellently illustrated and given that it has produced by a group of writers, albeit producing separate chapters, it is very well balanced. There must be room in the market for equivalent books on human and applied physical geography. There is no doubt that most schools’ libraries should have a copy of this book, indeed there may be a market for part sets in the class now.
ADRIAN MCDONALD University of Leeds
BASIC GEOLOGICAL MAPPING. John Barnes, Oxford University Press. No. of pages: 112. Price: f4.95 (paperback).
This pocket-sized book by John Barnes is a significant contribution to the teaching of geological mapping and essential to aspiring field geologists. The book contains an amazing amount of information which both under- graduates and amateur geologists alike will find an indispensable guide to acquiring the skills of geological mapping. The aim of the book is to provide a basic knowledge of how to produce geological maps and the large range of methods described and critically evalu- ated in the text more than adequately achieves this goal.
The importance of careful selection of equipment needed for mapping is covered in Chapter 2. The author has included a host of extremely useful hints on how to distinguish between available instruments and equip- ment and, more importantly, how to prevent accidental loss in the field. Chapter 3 summarizes the types of geological base maps and reviews the important ways of locating oneself on a map. Where no map is available the text describes how one might be constructed. Chap-
ter 4 reviews the methods of geological mapping and provides examples of each method evaluated; in addi- tion, the chapter provides an informative introduction to the additional techniques and instruments needed in areas of poor exposure. Chapter 5 carefully outlines the methods of recording information of planar and linear geological structures and reviews what information must be recorded from different structures. Chapters 6 and 7 present a useful guide on how to describe rocks in the field and how to link field notebooks and maps. The last two chapters outline how to produce the final geo- logical synthesis of the area mapped by way of fair-copy maps, cross-sections and 3-dimensional illustrations.
The only minor limitations of the book is that field- sketches could have received more attention and more cross-references between sections made. These are, however, minor considerations and in no way deter from an excellent, valuable and important text.
R. J. KNIPE Department of Earth Sciences
University of Leeds Leeds LS2 9JT
GEOMORPHOLOGICAL TECHNIQUES. Edited by Andrew new guide to Geomorphological Techniques, covering Goudie, assisted by John Lewin, Keith Richards, coasts to chemistry and pollen to processes. The main Malcolm Anderson, Tim Burt, Brian Whalley and Peter subdivisions recognized are form, material properties, Worsley. George Allen & Unwin, Hemel Hempstead, process and evolution; although process is dealt with at Herts. No. of pages: 395. about four times the length of the others. After a brief
introduction in which some general topics of methodology and scale are raised, the chapters on form cover general geomorphometry, drainage basin mor-
Thirty-four contributors have assisted the British Geomorphological Research Group in producing the
