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Book Review |
Fred G. Bell. Blackwell Science, 2000. £59.50 hardback; ix+482pp. ISBN 0-632-05205-8.
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Professor Bell’s excellent book was first published in 1981 but this edition (4th) has been completely brought up to date and has been increased in length by 50% since the previous edition was published in 1992. Much new material has been added and some topics are now treated in greater depth, such as the volume change behaviour of clay soils. It contains entirely new chapters on soils that cover silt, loess, brickearth and on rocks that deal with igneous, metamorphic, arenaceous, argillaceous, carbonate and evaporitic rocks. It is almost an entirely new book.
However, the title does not do justice to the breadth of the information contained between the covers. It is not just a listing of properties. The descriptions of the material properties of rocks and soils are backed by clear explanations of the theoretical basis of those properties and of the various procedures for their description in the field. Examples of material properties are listed in tables and their inter-relationships are shown in charts and plots but the text goes beyond this and gives details, and examples, of mitigation measures and design strategies for dealing with adverse properties.
The opening 7 chapters are on soils, the first covers the basics of the description and classification of soils, chapters 2 to 4 are on soil properties according to grain size, chapters 5 to 7 deal with the special soils of cold climates, hot climates and organic soils. Chapters 8 to14 are about rocks including chapters dealing specifically with discontinuities,
