- Email: [email protected]
Soil Resources and the Environment
Applied Geochemistry 16 (2001) 1001
Book review
Soil Resources and the Environment U Aswathanarayana; En®eld: Science Publishers Inc., 1999, ISBN 1-57808-067-3 Soils are important to human societies. An obvious point, maybe, and this textbook reminds the reader of this long term recognition by mentioning the Roman God Sterculius who presided over the protection of soil fertility. But the last years of the 20th century saw a greater appreciation of this important and often neglected and degraded resource. Coincident with this realisation was the publication of textbooks with the words `soil' and `environment' in the title. Here is another. With a total of 248 pages, this book consists of 10 chapters that concentrate on selected themes. There is an emphasis on geochemistry (e.g. chapters focussing on soil nutrients and on soil geochemistry in relation to human health and disease), and it is good to see that both developed and developing countries are considered throughout the book. In terms of resource, the availability of soils for food production is brie¯y considered, and there are speci®c chapters on soils as engineering materials and on the economic minerals that can be exploited from some soils. Irrigation and irrigationinduced salinization are other major themes covered in the book. My main criticism is that these themes could have been examined more directly and in some greater detail. As an example, there is more information provided PII: S0883-2927(00)00073-1
0883-2927/01/$ - see front matter PII: S0883-2927(00)00073-1
www.elsevier.com/locate/apgeochem
about the formation of acid rain, its deposition and mitigation, than its eects on soils. On a number of occasions I wanted more elaboration, and at times too much is expected of the reader. For example, in one sentence dealing with climate change and deserti®cation, the reader is introduced and left to interpret ®ve tables. This is not an introductory textbook, but is suitable for the student with a background knowledge of soil science. To my mind then, information regarding topics such as soil formation factors or soil mineralogy is super¯uous. It is a pity that this information was not left out, giving the opportunity for more relevant knowledge to be incorporated into the text. This would have allowed greater elaboration, and widened the scope of the themes considered. For example, in addition to looking at climate change impacts on soils, the importance of soils in contributing greenhouse gases to the atmosphere could have been more emphasised. Despite this and some other misgivings, my undergraduates will ®nd this a useful book. The price at the time of review was not known, but a copy will be ordered for my university library. Peter Abrahams Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences University of Wales Aberystwyth, SY23 3DB, Wales, UK
Book review
Soil Resources and the Environment U Aswathanarayana; En®eld: Science Publishers Inc., 1999, ISBN 1-57808-067-3 Soils are important to human societies. An obvious point, maybe, and this textbook reminds the reader of this long term recognition by mentioning the Roman God Sterculius who presided over the protection of soil fertility. But the last years of the 20th century saw a greater appreciation of this important and often neglected and degraded resource. Coincident with this realisation was the publication of textbooks with the words `soil' and `environment' in the title. Here is another. With a total of 248 pages, this book consists of 10 chapters that concentrate on selected themes. There is an emphasis on geochemistry (e.g. chapters focussing on soil nutrients and on soil geochemistry in relation to human health and disease), and it is good to see that both developed and developing countries are considered throughout the book. In terms of resource, the availability of soils for food production is brie¯y considered, and there are speci®c chapters on soils as engineering materials and on the economic minerals that can be exploited from some soils. Irrigation and irrigationinduced salinization are other major themes covered in the book. My main criticism is that these themes could have been examined more directly and in some greater detail. As an example, there is more information provided PII: S0883-2927(00)00073-1
0883-2927/01/$ - see front matter PII: S0883-2927(00)00073-1
www.elsevier.com/locate/apgeochem
about the formation of acid rain, its deposition and mitigation, than its eects on soils. On a number of occasions I wanted more elaboration, and at times too much is expected of the reader. For example, in one sentence dealing with climate change and deserti®cation, the reader is introduced and left to interpret ®ve tables. This is not an introductory textbook, but is suitable for the student with a background knowledge of soil science. To my mind then, information regarding topics such as soil formation factors or soil mineralogy is super¯uous. It is a pity that this information was not left out, giving the opportunity for more relevant knowledge to be incorporated into the text. This would have allowed greater elaboration, and widened the scope of the themes considered. For example, in addition to looking at climate change impacts on soils, the importance of soils in contributing greenhouse gases to the atmosphere could have been more emphasised. Despite this and some other misgivings, my undergraduates will ®nd this a useful book. The price at the time of review was not known, but a copy will be ordered for my university library. Peter Abrahams Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences University of Wales Aberystwyth, SY23 3DB, Wales, UK