This hefty handbook is designed by the authors as a ‘user-friendly overview’ of geoscience. They have defined the geosciences broadly, including in their coverage the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, pedosphere (soils), environmental science, geographic systems, geodesy, surveying, and cartography. The authors stress the ‘readability’ of the text, and it is indeed written in an attractive style. . . .The variety of topics in this single volume is extraordinary. It begins with the basics like measurements, units, and the scientific method, and then proceeds through the major disciplines of the geosciences, covering a little bit of almost every major topic. There are a good number of black-and-white photographs and several good.. . line drawings. Each section has an extended bibliography.