The Jurassic Coast Trust has certainly producing some good books. As is well known, in recognition of its wonderful geology, the coast between Orcombe Rocks in southeast Devon and Old Harry Rocks in south Dorset was granted World Heritage status in December 2001. In this respect, these two guides cover the western and the eastern thirds of this remarkable coastline.
The second edition of Microfossils, published in 2005, is still the definitive guide to all the major microfossil groups and the essential reference tool and laboratory guide for undergraduate and graduate students of micropalaeontology.
The graptolites constitute one of the geologically most useful taxonomic groups of fossils for dating rock successions, understanding paleobiogeography and reconstructing plate tectonic configurations in the Lower Palaeozoic.
I always wait expectantly for the publication of a new Palaeontological Association guide to fossils and, when they turn up, I am never disappointed. This is undoubtedly another triumph. This guide attempts to bring the diversity of its flora and fauna together in a single work, for the first time.
South Wales is a great place to do geology, both because of the variety of what can be seen and the general beauty of the area and its surrounds. In fact, the sedimentary rocks here (largely from the Palaeozoic and late Triassic/Lower Jurassic) were deposited in a wide range of environments, for example, deep-sea fans, clastic-carbonate shelf seas, beaches, estuaries and deltas, and rivers and floodplain swamps, to name but a few.
The Geologists’ Association have extended their excellent series of geological guides by producing what some people (including me) would think at first was a slightly self-indulgent couple of volumes on ‘Devonshire Marbles’. However, for my part, I soon realised that this view is entirely wrong.
The very small number of books published by the Medway Fossil and Mineral Society are without exception, wonderful and this is probably the best. And, there are very few guides on the London Clay. Therefore, this guide is invaluable and more than welcome.
I sat down to read this over Christmas and what a good read it turned out to be. The appropriate word is ‘eclectic’ – because Measures for Measure is written for all us with an interest in the industrial history of Great Britain, and its impact on the landscape, economy, social history and culture.
A great number of geology books have been published in recent years about Scottish geology and I have had the privilege of reviewing a number of them. This plethora of publications is not surprising. As this book points out, in the six hundred miles between the Shetland island of Unst in the north to the Mull of Galloway in the south are some of the most interesting, varied and beautiful landscapes in Europe, if not the world.
This is a lovely little book – the sort I would want to write. It is beautifully illustrated and well researched, with more than 200 glossy photographs and always interesting comments on the subject matters it touches upon. In short, it is a delight.
This book is truly sumptuous, and yet is also a comprehensive discussion of William Smith’s maps (including the revolutionary ‘A Delineation of the Strata of England and Wales, with part of Scotland’) and career. It is beautifully produced, printed on quality paper and the full colour illustrations are outstanding.
