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stratigraphy and processes in Israel are drawn. An account of the palaeontology of Quaternary sediments is followed by an adequate discussion of the origins of the fauna and flora of the country and finally a full resumd of the place of man in the Quaternary in Israel is presented. The book ends with a summary stressing the salient features of the development of Israel during the Quaternary. The book is published in the English language and the subject matter is amply illustrated with photographs, figures and maps. References are adequate. Terminology is in accordance with English usage and Hebrew and Arabic expressions or names are transliterated phonetically in accordance with the usage of the Survey of Israel. A feature that detracts from the book is the English style of the author. Sentences that could be simple are often complicated, making reading difficult; and the author has a tendency to qualify clear statements using words such as "rather", "somewhat", "quite", etc. These statements would stand better without such qualification. He also tends to use the verb "prove" when the evidence presented only suggests w and "never" is often used when " n o t " is clearly meant. Possibly these lapses result from English not being the author's first language, but they should have been removed during editing. Scientifically the subject matter in the book is sound. The only statement found that could be queried is on page 84 where it is stated that during the Messinian (late Miocene) the Mediterranean and Red Seas completely dried up. No evidence or reference for such a catastrophic dessication is produced, yet maps on page 73 show streams in late Miocene Israel flowing into both seas; presumably streams in other regions bordering these seas flowed into them. However, considering the scope and depth of the book, these criticisms are minor. Any potential author aspiring to describe the Quaternary sequences in other countries would do well to study this book as a model for his own publication. KEITH GRANT (Canberra, A.C.T.)

Sedimentary Environments and Facies. H. G. Reading (Editor). Blackwell, Oxford, 1978, reprinted 1979, paperback, 557 pp., £13.00. Harold Reading has successfully compiled a most authorative collection of articles which describe sedimentary environments, both ancient and modern, in terms of facies. This approach represents a quantum jump in geological understanding from the descriptive accounts provided in Reineck and Singh's (1973) Depositional Sedimentary Environments which was published only five years earlier. Comparison of the approach adopted in these two excellent books will illustrate how rapidly "the state of the art" has progressed during that interval.

322 T e n authors were responsible for the subject matter which is presented in fifteen chapters devoted to separate sedimentary environments. Each chapter stands on its own as a separate treatise. The chapters include an introductory outline of facies (by H. G. Reading), followed by chapters on alluvial sediments, lakes, and deserts (J. D. Collinson), deltas and clastic shorelines (T. Elliott), arid shorelines and evaporites (R. Till), shallow siliclastic seas (H. D. Johnson), shallow-water carbonate environments (B. W. Sellwood), pelagic environments (H. C. Jenkyns), deep clastic seas (N. A. Rupke), glacial environments (M. B. Edwards), sedimentation and tectonics (A. H. G. Mitchell and H. G. Reading), and the concluding chapter on problems and perspectives (H. G. Reading). Each chapter includes a succinct introduction, discussion of basic principles, d o c u m e n t e d modern and ancient examples, and an outline of criteria which characterize the facies f6und within each environment. Readers will be delighted with the presentation, high quality of paper, typeset, and clearly defined line drawings, all of which enhance the value of this scientific contribution. The book may be considered as a complementary t e x t to Friedman and Sanders' (1978) Principles of Sedimentology. Together these two books provide both qualitative and quantitative accounts of the principles of sedimentology, sedimentary environments, and facies. The publication is timely especially in view of the "energy crisis"; it will be a valuable asset to geologists involved in the exploration and development of economic sedimentary deposits such as oil, coal, oil shale, and sedimentary uranium. The book is highly r e c o m m e n d e d for advanced university students, research workers and professional geologists. REFERENCES

Friedman, G. M. and Sanders, J. E., 1978. Principles of Sedimentology. Wiley and Sons, New York, N.Y., 792 pp. Reineck, H. E. and Singh, I. B., 1973. Depositional Sedimentary Environments -- With Reference to Terrigenous Clastics. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 439 pp. PETER G. FLOOD (Brisbane, Qld.)

Marine Geology and Oceanography of the Pacific Manganese Nodule Province. J. L. Bischoff and D. Z. Piper (Editors). Marine Science, 9. Plenum Press, London, New York, N.Y., 1979, 842 pp., U.S. $49.50. This excellent volume presents the results of phase I of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sponsored project called the Deep Ocean Mining Environmental Study (DOMES). DOMES was primarily designed to provide baseline data from which to monitor possible deep-sea manganese nodule mining operations. Three sites in the north central Pacific Ocean, in