Book Reviews: A New Historical Geology

This new text on the geology and geological biology of North America should be a welcome book to students. The authors have approached the problem of historical geology by the unifying principle of the geosynclinal theory; as stated by them: “Just as the doctrine of organic evolution is universally accepted among thinking biologists, so also the geosynclinal origin of the major mountain ranges is an established principle in geology.” This approach is used to tie together the developments of several of the various regions of North America (the Appalachians, the Cordilleran, and the northern Great Basin and Lake areas), so that their relationships to each other are seen. The book is beautifully illustrated with representative photographs of these various areas, with black and white charts as keys to the photographs.