This third edition seeks to incorporate the rapid increase in the awareness of soils in the broader environmental context which has developed in recent years. The first two-thirds of the book is similar to many standard soil science texts, beginning in Chapter 1 with a discussion of soil development and soil classification in the context of soil taxonomy and the distribution of soil orders. The next two chapters deal with the basic inorganic and organic building blocks of the soil, followed by a short chapter on the gas phase in soils and a substantial chapter on the liquid phase, with brief consideration of the environmental impacts of soil solutes. Chapter 6 deals with the familiar topics of texture and structure and also the thermal properties of soils. Chapter 7 deals concisely and clearly with the topic of electrical charge in soil and soil reaction. The final four chapters deal specifically with soils and the environment. Chapter 8 considers soil and crop production, touching briefly on the environmental impact of crop protection, no-till farming, organic farming and low input sustainable agriculture. Somewhat surprisingly Chapter 9 deals with soil-less agriculture! Chapter 10 summarizes some of the impacts of recent biotechnology developments in food and agricultural management. The final chapter takes an overview of the problem of soil pollution with a focus on pollution from agriculture and waste management with brief comments on soil remediation and soil resilience. The focus throughout is on agriculture, but there are some ‘quirky’ additions, such as a section on space weathering, the Law of the Sea and bio-piracy.