Within both the subtitle and the preface the authors make it clear that they are attempting to explain geomagnetism to a geological audience. Do they succeed? Overall I believe that they just about do but your average geologist, even at graduate level, may well be put off by the maths, especially as it starts so early (pages 3 and 4) in the opening chapter. In my opinion at least some of the mathematical treatment of the opening chapter could have been best avoided or perhaps, better still, confined to an appendix at the end. Throughout the rest of the book the mathematical side is downplayed and I think as a result makes the material more accessible rather than less so.

The book follows a slightly quirky path with chapters on Geomagnetism, Rock Magnetism, Magnetic Prospecting, Palaeomagnetism, Magnetic Fabrics, The Magnetic Signature of the Earth's Crust, Magnetic Chronology, Environmental Magnetism and finally a brief history of the study of magnetism. The organization of the book might have been better served by bringing the magnetic prospecting and crustal magnetism sections together so that one led on from the other but the rights and wrongs of any such organization is always subjective.

I think one of the highlights of the book is the extremely good use of Italian examples to explain the various topics under discussion. If nothing else these, perhaps less familiar, examples will serve as a valuable resource to those teaching in the broad discipline of geomagnetism. The text is very well written and I think most readers will find the book quite readable. However there is a certain quirkiness to it all – some slightly odd phrasing or the occasional missing word strikes one quite often, which after a moment's pause one realises is due to the fact that the authors’ first language is not English but in fact does not obscure the authors’ meaning in any way.

At the end of each chapter the authors provide a brief set of recommendations for suggested reading and combine this with a short set of references for figure sources. While this is not an extensive reference list it does give the interested reader enough information to begin to follow up the various topics under discussion. Throughout the quality of the diagrams is very good with many very clean, simple line drawings and a limited number of colour plates.

In the end I think this will become a reference book in libraries rather than a true textbook for the undergraduate or graduate geologist. Having said that I would hope it would become a standard on taught graduate courses in geophysics where its broad introduction to the diversity of geomagnetism would serve such readers well.