BOOK REVIEW P. Hooda Miomir M. Komatina: Medical geology—Effects of geological environments on human health Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2004, 500 pages, hardbound (ISBN: 0-444-51615-8) Price: EUR 150, GBP 100 Published online: 3 March 2005 Ó Springer-Verlag 2005 This book is published as part of the series ‘‘Develop- ments in Earth and Environmental Sciences, 2’’. It is a translation of the original book ‘‘Medicinska Geologi- ja’’, first published in 2002 by ‘‘Tellur’’ in Belgrade, Serbia. Elsevier identifies the audience as: geologists, biologists, ecologists, planners and public health staff. The stated objective of the book is to ‘‘show how the geological environment affects human health and to explore preventative methods for improvement’’. The author’s main aim in writing this book is to show how the geological environment affects human health. There are 10 chapters covering a wide range of issues that are not all geological in nature. The central thesis of this book is to develop a new field of study by putting together materials that exist in text books on geography, geology, hydrology, environmental science, geochemis- try and socio-economic issues. The General Part – Introductory Remarks (Chapter 1) provides a detailed account of the history of medical geography, which is rather far too wordy (37 pages) and somewhat boring. Clearly, the author is aware of the fact that what he is labouring to put forward as a new subject is already covered in medical geography and environmental sci- ence, and he justifies his thesis on the basis of medical geography being largely founded upon geological fac- tors. The next 200 pages (Chapter 2: Geological Factors) describe these factors, including mineralogy, geochem- istry, groundwater, mineral waters and their composi- tion, soil formation and macro- and micro-nutrients, and other elements in soil and their importance in hu- man nutrition. The results of the author’s attempt to establish a link between geology and human health can be described as ambiguous, with little or no supporting evidence provided for a firm connection. For example, the author writes (page 170) that hydrogen sulphide gas in mineral water lowers blood sugars and blood pressure in humans, etc. Other natural factors such as climatic, hydrological and biological and how they can influence animal and plant kingdoms are introduced in Chapter 3, with little reference to geology. The discussion on Anthropogenic Factors (Chapter 4) is largely material that forms the mainstay of Environmental Science text books. It includes issues such as various electromag- netic, seismic and radioactive fields (both natural and artificial), soil pollution (metals, nutrients and pesti- cides), water pollution caused my mining activities and noise pollution, and how these can influence human health. Chapter 5 briefly brings in the socio-economic fac- tors, in terms of their effects on human health and protection, as dictated by life style, sanitation, and quality and quantity of food and water. Certainly, these issues can have significant bearing on human health but it is difficult to see any direct link with geological envi- ronments. Chapter 6 (The Geography of Disease) outlines the geographical distribution of some diseases. While some of them are localised for a variety of reasons apart from any relevance of geology, others are manifestations of either excess or deficiency in mineral nutrients (e.g., Ca, Fe, I and F), so there are some biogeochemical impli- cations. Chapter 7: The title of this chapter ‘‘Subject and Tasks of Geological and Medical Disciplines in Defining Quality of the Environment and Its Influence on Human Health’’ does not really make much sense, and the content is rather disappointing. It contains mainly defi- nitions of the various branches of geological and medical sciences, and a fruitless attempt to develop a link be- tween them. Chapter 8 runs through Methods of Medical Geol- ogy. These methods can be broadly grouped into three categories: mapping and remote sensing, typical geo- P. Hooda (&) School of Earth Sciences Geography, Centre for Earth and Environmental Science Research, Kingston University, Penrhyn Road, Kingston-upon-Thames, KT1 2EE, UK E-mail: p.hooda@kingston.ac.uk Vis Geosci (2005) j: 1–2 DOI 10.1007/s10069-005-0021-1