The Yorkshire Dales are a dissected upland terrain in the northern Pennines of England. One of the most accessible of National Parks, the Dales serve as a recreational area for visitors ranging from climbers to shoppers. Most will not realise that the park boundaries are essentially geological. The area is delimited by the Permian unconformity to the east, the Stainmore Trough to the north, and by steep faults on the other two sides: the Dent Fault to the west and the Craven Faults to the south. The ‘Askrigg Block’, so defined, has a northward tilt and therefore progressively younger Carboniferous outcrop from south to north, giving three distinct scenic areas within the Dales region itself. What better region then to explain landscape and geology in a book aimed at the general reader.

Tony Waltham's book is divided into three parts. First he describes the bedrock geology, then the geological influence on Dales landscape, and finally the human use of the geology and terrain. Geological information is presented clearly but without over-simplification. The text and well-chosen illustrations should be understandable to our ‘general reader’, but the geologist will learn much too. Here we benefit from the author being both geologist and caver. His enthusiasm for ‘landscape’ therefore extends well below the ground level that most of us see. He explains karstic features and processes in an authoritative and entertaining way, and the maps, sections and photographs of cave systems are highlights of the book. The subsurface emphasis also permeates the applied geology section, with a particularly informative section on the former mining activity in the Dales, as well as sections on quarrying, farming and tourism. The excellent content of the book is enhanced by the well-crafted text style and the excellent illustrations: purpose-drawn colour diagrams and the author's striking colour photographs.

With geology still declining as a taught subject in schools, the subject needs the advertisement provided by excellent popular books like Tony Waltham's. He has justifiably made the reader understand that both landscape and activities in an area such as the Yorkshire Dales are rooted in the geology. Our climber will understand this better than our shopper, but all visitors to the Dales should enjoy this book.