This book provides an interesting outlook on Quaternary environmental change and is accompanied by excellent photographs and illustrations. The book comprises nine chapters. The first, Chapter 1, outlines a framework for understanding environmental change. It provides an eloquent review of the history of ideas in Quaternary Science and also provides an excellent introduction to some of the key philosophical concepts in reconstructing and interpreting past environments. Chapter 2 reviews the sources of evidence for reconstructing past environments. Attention to detail in this chapter is lacking and it only provides a basic overview of the different methods of environmental reconstruction. Nevertheless, this is not the focus of the book and readers wishing to learn about the range of techniques available for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction are better served elsewhere. The same is true for dating techniques as this is covered only fleetingly in this chapter.
Global Environments through the Quaternary is not a techniques book: chapters 3 to 8 are its strengths in that they provide an excellent account of environmental change recorded around the world. Chapter 3 provides an account of Pleistocene climatic change and environments of the mid to high latitudes. Whilst a very well-written account, there are questionable statements, such as ‘In Europe, MIS 6 (the Riss/Saale glaciation) is regarded as representing the maximum spread of ice’. This may be true in some parts of Europe but in places MIS 12 is often regarded as the maximum extent of Pleistocene glaciers and in some areas MIS 16. Chapter 4 provides an excellent account of Pleistocene environments at lower latitudes. Lower latitudes are often overlooked in Quaternary textbooks, which often focus on the temperate and polar regions. Chapter 5 describes environmental change in post-glacial times. Whole books have been dedicated to the Holocene and thus it is not surprising that this book struggles to accommodate sufficient detail in one chapter. Nevertheless, as with all the chapters, the text is clear and concise. Chapter 6 outlines environmental change during the period of meteorological records. Such a chapter is rare in Quaternary textbooks, although it is entirely warranted given that we are still in the Quaternary. This chapter and the clear linkage throughout this book of the contemporary environmental change with longer term Quaternary climate change is one of the book's main appeals.
Chapter 7 goes off on a tangent to discuss sea-level changes of the Quaternary. Why it is placed in this order is puzzling, and it would perhaps have been better placed after Chapter 4. Chapter 8 discusses links between environmental change and human evolution. This is a particularly interesting chapter and makes clear the relevance of environmental change to humans. Chapter 9 describes the possible causes of climatic change. Again, this chapter is out of place. The causes of climatic change would have been better placed towards the beginning of this book, perhaps as Chapter 2. This chapter reads as an afterthought, which distracts from the fact that climatic change was the main driver of environmental change over the Pleistocene, though perhaps less so for the Holocene.
Overall, this is an excellent all-round textbook on environmental change. However, because it attempts to be all-encompassing this makes it a rather weaker Quaternary textbook. Still, it is well worth a purchase – essential for libraries – and is a welcome addition to the Quaternary literature.
