Customer Reviews

Unsaturated Zone Hydrology for Scientists and Engineers

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It is my impression as a soil physics professor that these authors have done an excellent job in presenting the concepts and principles necessary for assisting the reader or student in mastering the subject of soil physics. I teach in a traditional department and have found that for the past several years, my class is composed of more students from environmental study areas whose goal is to learn about methods for characterizing and studying unsaturated zone hydrology. Tindall and Kunkel have an obvious grasp on these changes as is evidenced by the title of their book and the manner in which the material is presented. This new text is environmental in approach and can be used by students and professionals in many fields of study.

Rather than a simple reiteration of soil physics, Tindall and Kunkel have written their text using a new approach. The text includes new material and chapters not found in previous texts including hazardous waste site characterization and case studies, use of fractals in vadose zone science, bioremediation, discussion of LNAPLs and DNAPLs, as well as many other topics. Not only are these covered in detail, but questions are presented so that the reader is allowed to develop confidence in solving problems. Appendices are included which describe site characterization and monitoring devices as well as challenges associated with their selection and use. There is a math review for those students who come from non-traditional fields of study or those who are simply rusty in their math ability. A list of symbols and unit conversion tables are also included at the end of the text.

In essence, the authors of this book have done an outstanding job covering the typical problems encountered in this field. Example problems are given in the text with answers at the end of each chapter along with additional questions. These additional questions are solved in an instructor's manual available to course instructors. Some problems may be too advanced for introductory students; however, the text can be easily adapted for an introductory or advanced course. I used this text during the Fall 1998 semester and have reordered it for the Fall 1999 semester. Not only did I enjoy the text, but my students enjoyed it as well. The book is complete, up-to-date, and well written. I heartily recommend this text to instructors of soil physics as well as professionals in the environmental industry who require a good reference text.

This book does an outstanding job of presenting the concepts and principles used in dealing with unsaturated zone transport problems. It uses an environmental approach of the problems found in this field of study and is ideally suited as both a teaching and reference text. I find this book superior to others such as "Soil Physics" by Jury, Gardner, Gardner; "Environmental Soil Physics" by Hillel (including the other 3 soil physics books by Hillel), "Vadose Zone Hydrology" by Stephens, and several others. Indeed, when compared to the books listed by Jury, et al., and Hillel, this book contains more information and is superior to both of them if combined together, i.e., "Soil Physics" and "Environmental Soil Physics."

The text includes a wealth of information not found in other texts dealing with this subject. This includes hazardous waste site characterization, bioremediation of the vadose zone, LNAPL's and DNAPL's, an excellent treatment of modeling water, solute, and vapor movement in the unsaturated zone, use of fractals in unsaturated zone studies, and other topics. I enjoyed several major points of this text. First, in addition to a detailed coverage of the topics, questions are asked within various sections of each chapter, and answers to these questions are given at the end of the chapter to reinforce learning skills by the student. Second, in addition to the answered questions, more questions are given to which there are no answers. However, answers to these questions are given in a separate solutions manual available to the instructor. Third, rather than a theoretical text, the book has an excellent blend of both practical and theoretical information. Fourth, I really like the appendices that cover site characterization and monitoring devices, a mathematics review that has questions with answers given in the solutions manual, and one of the most complete set of conversion tables I have ever seen. Finally, this book should be considered as a pre-programed self-learning tool that will serve the student, instructor, and consultant very well.

If you are an instructor and desire a book that has a logical topic progression of unsaturated zone hydrology, and if you want a book the students will love, that will not only promote learning, but will ease your teaching time commitment, this is the book for you. Whether you teach soil physics, unsaturated zone hydrology, or fracture flow, the information you need is here. If you are a consultant, practicing scientist, or an engineer that needs a complete reference for this field, this text is it! The preface even lists the author contact. This book is easy to use, reasonably priced, and extremely well written, I only wish I had access to this text when I studied unsaturated zone hydrology. I now use this book as a reference for unsaturated zone studies, and even though I obtained my copy in late 1998, it has been very useful. I commend the authors for such a fine work.

Kenneth J. Lull, Hydrologist, United States Geological Survey

I work for a consulting firm in New York and hold an M.S. degree in envirnomental engineering. I've had several classes in this field and currently own several books that are closely related to unsaturated zone hydrology and contaminant transport. These include five books by Daniel Hillel "Introduction To Soil Physics"; "Applications of Soil Physics"; and "Fundamentals of Soil Physics"; "Environmental Soil Physics"; "Out of the Earth: Civilization and the Life of the Soil"; Also, "Dynamics of Fluids in Porous Media (J. Baer); "Soil Physics, 5th Edition" (Jury); "Soil Physics . . . by Don Scott, and a myriad of others.

The "Introduction to Soil Physics by Hillel is a composite of his "Fundamentals- and "Applications-of Soil Physics" books. It appears that about half of each book was combined to comprise the "Introduction of Soil Physics" book, an easy way to write a book. While I enjoy Hillel's Environmental Soil Physics book, there is nothing new about it and it appears that this book, which is his newest, is the "Introduction to Soil Physics" book with additional text added from his "Out of the Earth ..." book. The problem sets are all the same and much of the text. My guess is he rewrote this book from two others as described above.

To get to the point, of all the books that I own, the new book that I have purchased by Tindall and Kunkel, i.e., "Unsaturated Zone Hydrology ..." is my favorite. It is a complete reference, great for a student, and wonderful for teaching as well. It doesn't just assume that you are an expert in the field, but takes you step by step so that the new student can grasp the complexity of unsaturated zone hydrology and soil physics, and at the same time offers new methods and information for us that are already working in this area. This book is now about the only one I use. I have a copy on my desk and keep one in my truck for ready reference on the job site. I love it and would highly advise others to purchase it. It's the best.

I looked at this book in the hopes it was what I was searching for. However, when I saw the review by Tony Taubert, I must admit that I was already biased. I have been a student and instructor of soil physics for about 18+ years and had not heard of the book that Mr. Taubert spoke of ("Elements of Soil Physics" by Koorevaar, Menelik, and Dirksen)so. I looked it up. It is basically a primer. The questions Taubert refers to from this book were asked of me during my soil physics classes as well, which predates the publishing date of the Koorevaar, et al, book. Other questions in the book are also similar to what I was asked during my tenure as a student, they are also similar to many I have from a variety of sources for the past 20 years, including the "Environmental Soil Phhysics by Hillel that I consider very poorly written. As a matter of fact, the newer book by Hillel is merely a composite of his Intro to Soil Physics with some historical background material added. Taubert should realize this and the book that he speaks so highly of is fraught with errors, especially in the problems that are worked out in evapotranspiration as well as other areas. The answers are simply wrong and having been out for over 20 years should have been corrected years ago. Simply put the book by Hillel offers nothing to students of environmental engineering or good soil physics as it is agriculturally based. Don't get me wrong, Daniel is a fine man, but the book if very outdated.

After going through the book, the only thing I didn't like was chapter 5, which is more water quality related, but given the introduction that the audience is intended to be students with minimal background in some of these areas, while it may be a little out of place, it is necessary and good background for the uninitiated.

Overall, I find Mr. Taubert's review highly inflammatory and a slam on what I find to be the finest book in the field. I would recommend the book by Tindall and Kunkel to any student of soil physics or unsaturated zone hydrology. It is a great book for instructors and allows us the flexibility to structure our classes for beginners or for more advanced students. It is a fine reference book as well and the kind of book I wish had come along 10 years previously. My hat is off to these authors on a job well done. I highly recommend this book to both students and instructors.

The better books Mr. Taubert speaks so highly of, i.e., Koorevaar et al, and Hillel's "Enivironental Soil Physics." simply are not, they are like comparing a Volkswagon to a Mercedes Benz S500, they are at best inferior as overall texts for a good class. They would be more aptly described as primers. Thus, I heartily disagree with Mr. Taubert. His review is not helpful. I support the other reviews of this book and having it in my hand must agree with those. Good day.

As a professor of hydrology I have found this book to be the most complete and up-to-date that can be found. I own 25 texts in hydrology, unsaturated zone hydrology, and soil physics, including several dealing with contaminant transport. This book is well written and comprehensive, yet allows me the flexibility to teach courses based on student knowledge. I found this difficult in the past because many students entered our program with no soils or hydrology background. The first few chapters of this book gives the essentials required in these areas and gets the students quickly up to speed.

There are many completed problem sets in the text that show the students how to logically approach and solve very complex problems. The instructor manual that is available separately for the text has been a life saver. It is accurate and allows me to use my own problem sets that I have designed and collected over the years and it lets me supplement with problems that are worked-out in detail within the manual.

For instructors who wish to teach a more advanced modelling course, this book will allow teaching a highly advanced course if desired.

I found a few errors in nomenclature and some inacuracies in a few of the problems. These were minor and were also listed in the errata of the book, which unfortunately was not shipped from the publisher, but obtained from the authors whom I wrote. They quickly sent it to me.

Thank you James Tindall and James Kunkel for a fine text, one that was too long in coming.

I was unable to attend a college in my area that offered an unsaturated zone hydrology or soil physics course. As a result, I purchased several books on the subject including those by Hillel, Jury, and Stephens. While they were useful, it was difficult to grasp the material within certain areas then, at the suggestion of a friend I purchased this book. I found it much easier to follow than other texts and very informative both as a study tool and a professional reference for instructors and consultants.

I must admit that the previous review from the skier guy in Denver kinda turned me off, but I bought the book anyway and have never regretted it. Actually, I was able to discuss some aspects with the authors and found their insights particularly useful. Without doubt the material is difficult, but it's laid out well here. I found the answered questions very useful before trying the additional questions to which no answers are given.

While the book is likely not perfect I can say to the guy from Denver that if you were lucky enough to take this class from the author then, kudos to you. Also, one thing I have learned is that it's extremely difficult to have as he put it "a decent and intense class" without a good text. My experience has been that the class generally follows the text. If one is poor, usually both are poor.

My recommendation is that this is a great text and one won't go wrong by purchasing it. In my opinion the best chapters are 1-3, 7-10, and 13, but that those are where my skills are concentrated and they are all well thought out and well written. The list of symbols is also very useful although quite lengthy as they include soil science, hydrology, and engineering symbols for the same areas. I didn't catch that at first. I really like the book compared to others I've studied. Best of all, it helped me master this area and gained me a $10k per year raise in my firm.

(...) Unsaturated Zone Hydrology for Scientists and Engineers was written from a multidisciplinary perspective. It was designed for upper-level undergraduate and beginning graduate students with a wide range of backgrounds and interests. The book could be used in an introductory course that teaches the major processes in the unsaturated zone and the design of field experiments. It is also suitable for a more advanced course on modeling transport of water, air, solute, and heat in the unsaturated zone.

The book has an attractive cover with an artist’s rendition of the major processes that occur in the unsaturated zone beneath urban and rural areas. The images on the cover depict well the topics covered. The table of contents is easy to follow and quickly reveals that the book’s subject matter is presented in a logical order. Following the introduction, which includes a brief history of unsaturated zone hydrology, are chapters on the physical properties and characteristics of soils, the behavior of clay-water systems, and the energy status and chemical properties of water. These first few chapters provide an excellent foundation for subsequent ones on water flow (including both unsaturated and saturated zones) and the transport of heat, gas, and contaminants. The book contains another six chapters on topics ranging from soil remediation techniques to spatial variability, scaling, and fractals. A list of symbols is given in one of the appendices, which readers will find helpful.

Three aspects of the book I particularly like. First, questions are given at the end of many sections to test the student’s understanding of the material. Detailed answers to these questions are given at the end of each chapter, as well as additional questions that could be assigned to the students. Second, the book covers a wide range of topics, yet discusses them in sufficient detail to be useful as both a teaching aid and a reference book. Third, the book contains a pleasant blend of theoretical and practical information.

This book is a well-prepared and well-presented summary of unsaturated zone hydrology. It covers a fairly broad range of topics and will be of interest to scientists and engineers engaged in a wide variety of unsaturated zone studies. Even the price is quite reasonable! (...)

Like calculus, unsaturated zone hydrology can only be made so easy. As a soils professor and instructor of this subject, I have waited for 20 years for a text of this sort to come along. It gives me the flexibility to teach both undergraduate and graduate classes. For the students there are many worked examples and for the instructors a great manual that you can order separately. I get the best of both worlds and the students have what is in my opinion, the finest text and reference in this field. Many kudos to the authors for a job well done!

Without question, this book is useful to professional vadose zone scientists as a refrence. I'll even go so far as to say it's the least-bad unsaturated zone book on the market. It scores points for being comprehensive and thorough. The book also looks nice and has good diagrams. Many of us have it on our book shelves here at work. I find myself referring to it occasionally, years after I first studied the text in grad school.
BUT
After *extensive* study of this text, I hate it. It is very hard to follow for even the sharpest of grad students / hydrologists. For instance, the index of symbols has over 500 entries (thank god there is an index). I found the explanations to be "on a different level" from 95% of the audience of the book, which severely limits its usefulness. This is no "Freeze and Cherry" textbook. And no, I'm no dummy who got frustrated w/ the content and gave up on it - I took Dr. Tindall's unsaturated zone course, persevered, and recieved an A for my efforts. <It's a decent, and intense course BTW>

Once again, the book is good for a refrence if you already know your unsaturated zone science, but forget trying to learn unsat zone hydrolgy from this text unless you have a great prof or 170 IQ. Looking at my book shelf, I have to put this text in the bottom 40%, 2 stars.

At first glance, I thought this would be a good book. It seemed to have coverage of lots of aspects of vadose zone processes. Once I started using it, however, I was VERY dissapointed. Not only is the book often incoherent and a seemingly random collection of facts (rather than a well-organized layout), it is peppered with errors, and inconsitent use of symbols.

What truly horrified me was the blatant theft of material from the text "Elements of Soil Physics" by Koorevaar, Menelik, and Dirksen. For example, comapre Tindall and Kunkel's "Additional Question" 2.28 to Koorevaar et alii's Question 1.23; T&K's AQ 2.27 to K et alii's Q 1.19, and T&K's AQ 2.21 to K et alli's Q 1.8. I could provide more examples, but that should be enough. The Koorevaar et alii book is NEVER cited by Tindall and Kunkel.

If you are a professor, don't teach your students that blatant plagiarism is acceptable by making them buy this book. If you are looking for a good book on vadose zone processes, there are several better books--I'd recommend Koorevaar et alii, and Hillel's "Enivironental Soil Physics."