One of the things that particularly appeals to many geologists, both professional and amateur, is the way that our understanding of the ancient is built upon experiencing the present. Chile is an amazing country that is over 4000 km long and ranges in climate from the Atacama Desert in the north to the temperate rainforests and glaciers of the south. The geology of Chile is dominated by the Andean mountain belt caused by the ongoing subduction of the Pacific plate under the South American continent as part of the Pacific ‘ring of fire’. Geology is very much a living science in Chile, with its many active andesitic stratovolcanoes being a draw for tourists and geologists alike (as a petroleum geologist/palaeontologist working just over the border in neighbouring Argentina, my interest in Chile lies somewhere between the two).

The book itself is well put together and nicely compliments the other revamped The Geology of . . . books in the series. It is comprehensive in its scope, covering basement processes, the ubiquitous magmatism and volcanism, economic resources, tectonostratigraphy and neotectonics, as well as aspects of the marine geology, Quaternary geology and early human colonization. One of the ideas that I liked the most in the book is the inclusion of a suggested field excursion chapter – not an easy thing to do in a country as vast as Chile, but the itinerary I think would appeal to a lot of geologists wanting to get a flavour of the large-scale geology of the region.

In short it is a wonderful resource for both the serious researcher looking to get a ‘heads up’ on current research in Chile, and the geotourist, looking for a text to dip into in order to get some background on the region they are visiting. I have been going to and fro from southern Patagonia for many years and often bemoaned the fact that there was not an easy source of regional geological information. Finally it is here; with the publication of this volume I am much more knowledgeable about the tectonostratigraphic evolution of the area I travel through, the eruption history of the volcanoes, et cetera. The authors and editors are to be commended for packing a tremendous amount of information into the chapters in a manner which is highly accessible. I am sure that this book will inspire many geologists to get involved in Chilean geology. I can't wait to go back and look at a lot of things again with my eyes opened.