Book Reviews

GeoLogy of Construction Materials. J. E. Prentice,1990, Chapman & Hall, London, 202 pp, £16.50.ISBN 0-412-29740-X.

This compact little book aims to introduce students ofgeology and mineralogy to the practical application oftheir subject in various parts of the constructionmaterials industry. It also sets out, according to theauthor, 'to find its way into the hands of managers inthe industry' and 'to improve communication at alllevels'; those managers will be pleased to know thatProfessor Prentice has tried to avoid using 'abstrusejargon-to which geologists, like many other sci­entists, are much addicted'. I found the text lucid, yetauthoritative and packed with information presentedin a crisp and concise style. The book is notpretentious in any way, setting out only to be a briefintroduction and generally achieving its goaladmirably.

Professor Prentice is well qualified to compile a textbook on this subject, having spent approaching 40years combining university teaching with practicalfield consultancy. It must have been a temptation tooverwhelm the reader with data and case studies froma lifetime of experience, but the Professor has notsuccumbed. Instead there is a reasonably balancedcontent of topics, judiciously illustrated by useful factsand appropriate examples, though these illustrationsare perhaps rather more parochial than the synopsison the book's back cover might suggest.

A true introduction, this book whets the appetite,but does not profess to be any sort of 'handbook' andit is not a good source-book of references to otherpublished work. The overall presentation is clear andefficient, with a useful bold highlighting of terminol­ogy. The diagrammatic figures are well drawn andinclude some familiar drawings, often seen elsewhere,and also new drawings including a number which areunusually instructional. By contrast, there are too fewphotographic figures and not one photomicrograph tohelp to illustrate the increasing role of the petrologicalmicroscope in assessing geological constructionmaterials.

It is inevitable that the topic balance within anybook will reflect the personal expertise and experienceof the author and it is arguably advantageous to thereader for the author to concentrate on those mattersfor which he or she is best qualified. In this case, justover half of the book is devoted to the two subjects ofconstruction stone (i.e. dimension stone, armourstoneand rock fill) and aggregates, the latter in twochapters, one for coarse aggregate and the other for

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fine aggregate.The Introduction includes valuable sections on

'Finding, Exploring and Assessing' and 'QuarryDesign and Management', each of which couldusefully have been rather more extensive and shouldprobably have warranted separate chapters of theirown. The major chapters on Construction Stone andAggregates cover the subjects most competently, if alittle conventionally, but readers in search of detailedand critical reviews will be frustrated. In the case ofaggregates, Professor Prentice in his Preface refersreaders to the Geological Society (EngineeringGroup) Working Party Report on Aggregates,currently out of print, though a second edition is duein late 1992.

I found the chapter on Structural Clay Products tobe a concise and helpful treatment of a subject whichis not frequently dealt with by geologists and rarely insuch an easily comprehensible style. On the otherhand, the chapter on Cement and Concrete wasdisappointingly short and generally missed anopportunity to describe the fascinatingly complexmineralogy of cement, also the important role ofpetrographical techniques in assessing and investi­gating the synthetic rock and important constructionmaterial known as concrete. The controversial andsometimes catastrophic consequences of using high­alumina cement, for example, were almost whollygenerated by mineralogical processes, but the materialis not mentioned.

The final chapter on Minor Construction Materialscovers a short selection of materials 'where geologicalfactors have a direct bearing on their manufacture anduse', including glass and gypsum. There are manyother materials which might have been included in thischapter, but which are not, including the topical andsometimes emotive question of asbestos products andthe various by-products extensively used in construc­tion, such as blastfurnace slag and pulverised-fuel ashwhose mineralogical compositions are usually criticalto their performance.

Overall, I am happy to commend this book as areadable introduction to some of the applications ofgeology and geologists within the constructionmaterials industry. It perhaps will be particularlyvaluable to undergraduate geologists who are seekinginformation about career opportunities, but it will beequally enjoyable and informative to many others.

IAN SIMSSandberg Consultancy Group