Engineering properties of Soils and Rocks

Fred G. Bell . Blackwell Science, 2000. £59.50 hardback; ix+482pp. ISBN 0-632-05205-8. 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 …