Ancient Sedimentary Environments and the Habitats of Living Organisms

I am pleased to be able to introduce this book by Monsieur lean-Claude Gall, firstly because it is a book, secondly because its author has been a colleague for 15 years, and finally because it is a book which demonstrates the growing importance of Palaeobiology. "e;Because it is a book"e;. I have already commented else- where on the value which the Earth Science community places on a book. And here I am speaking, not of a thesis or a specialised memoir, which are always precious, but of a manual or text, which draws on the experts in the service of all. In the years preceding and following the Second World War, the number of "e;books"e; written by French geologists could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Today I am happy to see that the number of geological "e;books"e; is increas- ing in France, taking the word "e;geology"e; in its broadest sense. This I see as a sign of the growth of the Earth Sciences.