Strata

"This is the second edition of the book that was first published in 2001 by Tempus Publishing. This New Edition has been slightly revised and has the addition of four pages of colour plates.

"When this book first came out it was somewhat overshadowed by Simon Winchester's book about William Smith, The map that changed the world. Without seeming to decry Simon's book, this was, in my opinion, the better book about Smith's contribution to geological thinking.

"It is therefore really gratifying to see it back in print, now privately published by the author after a period of over a year without it. It joins John Morton's other excellent biography of Murchison, King of Siluria.

"This really is an extremely well-researched and well-written book that allows you to 'get behind the public persona' of William Smith, to see where his thinking was coming from and indeed where it took him."

Chris Darmon, Down to Earth, the magazine of Geo Supplies Ltd.