JONES, T. P. & ROWE, N. P. (eds) 1999. Fossil Plants and Spores: Modern Techniques. xii + 396 pp. London, Bath: Geological Society of London. Price £70.00, US $117.00; members' price £35.00, US $58.00; AAPG/SEPM/GSA price £42.00, US $70.00; hard covers. ISBN 1 86239 048 7.

This tome provides a timely addition to the palaeontological literature, which in the words of the editors, represents something of a ‘recipe book’ designed to provide investigators from graduate level onwards with written methodologies of both established and more recently introduced palaeobotanical preparatory and analytical techniques. Although their use of the culinary allusion is presumably not intended to cast the editors as the ‘Two Fat Ladies’ of the palaeobotanical world, they must be congratulated in achieving the miraculous by drawing together an international star cast of no less than 78 contributing souschefs (authors!) who have contributed to 60 short papers which deal with an enormous range of techniques commonly …