Customer Reviews

Principles of Sedimentology and Stratigraphy (4th Edition)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I used this book in my sedimentation and stratigraphy course two years ago, but I still have it hanging around on my bookshelves after three moves and a new school. Why? Because it's incredibly useful!

Boggs is probably one of the better organized sedimentology books I've had the pleasure to come across. I've come away from reading it with a better understanding of depositional environments than I could have gotten otherwise. The illustrations were quite clear to me, and fit into the text well.

In conclusion, Boggs makes a relatively complicated subject much easier to grasp for an undergraduate without dumbing it down to the point where the book is useless to anyone else. This is just as good of a reference as it is a text!

Although Boggs dispenses with the multicoloured pictures and obligatory CD-Rom favoured by many modern textbooks, this is not to his detriment. It results in a more concise textbook with clear and simple sketches used effectively to illustrate the text. Perhaps the book may appear somewhat `boring' to certain students, but I prefer to think of it as a `solid' textbook that says what it needs to in a generally clear and understandable manner. For those undergraduates who are more interested in quality rather than flashy appearances, this textbook will prove invaluable in your study of geology.

This is a no-nonsense, well-organized, and detailed introduction to sedimentology and stratigraphy. In a nutshell, it covers 1) the origin and transport of sediments, 2)physical properties of sedimentary rocks, 3) classification of sedimentary rocks, 4) depositional environments, and 5) the principles of stratigraphy. Though most may aquire it as a text for a sed-strat course, it would make a useful reference for any interested person.

Regarding a previous review here, a book should not be judged by how it will not be useful for an upcoming exam. That may instead be an indicator of some deeper issues with the student, the instructors, and the course. Also, when someone says something is "unclear" and "bogged down in details", I would assume they are not too interested in the subject matter to begin with. If one has made it as far as sed-strat and finds it "boring", I would highly recommend switching majors before more time and money are wasted. It will only get harder, not to mention graduate-level study or actual professional work. Since the review was written five years ago, I guess the die has already been cast.

This concise and clear book give you a complete overview about deposicional processes, sedimentary models and stratigraphy. I thanks to Boggs the oportunity to read it because it was possible to understand deposicional processes, facies and sedimentary models from fluid's dynamical approach and not the old uniformitarian environmental model's approach. This book is easy to read for graduate and postgraduate students.

The words, organization, and photos in this edition are the exact same as the fourth edition. The organization hasn't changed one bit. The only significant "updates" (aside from the font change) are two short sections that were added in Chapters 12 and 14. We're talking a page or two of new text. This is a really pathetic attempt at making a few insignificant changes to charge everyone more. Save your money and buy the 4th edition!

I just took sedimentology this semester and this book was surprisingly helpful. I read several of the introduction chapters to get a feel for it and I was really happy with it. Everything is easily stated so that people who aren't a specialist in the field can understand it and I used it for my final extensively. It also proved helpful for looking up terms for other classes. Probably one of the best geology books I own.

Principles of Sedimentology and Stratigraphy is a clear and well written text. Excellent pictures and drawings add to the clarity and enhanced my enjoyment.

I am a sedimentologist and I teach as a TA an undergraduate sedimentologist class. Sam Boggs's book is a classic a bit of everything intro book. If you are considering to teach with this book an undergraduate class, my opinion is that is ok, I am more of a process-bases sedimentologiest to I prefer Earth Surface Processes, Landforms and Sediment Deposits or Earth Surface Processes.

However, if you are an undergraduate student that are taking this class... buy it... it will help you a lot for the exams, get a used one, this version or the older versions are just fine... you can then sell it...

If you want to go and work for the oil industry... you can talk about field camp and how much you didnt like the Boggs... lol

Cheers

Overall this is a good book. However, I must say that I have never read a bad book about stratigraphy. Boggs does a good job with this one. I fail to understand where a student could be confussed by his writting style. I suggest that those of you who were confused should read Tucker before you attempt to read the more advanced books.

Excellent text, correct item for my son's Geology course; Item arrived in new condition, in a timely manner.

Jeff Spence