In 1951 UNESCO launched an Arid Zone Programme with the object of promoting research into arid regions from every relevant scientific point of view. This book, originally published in 1966, represents the range of research undertaken and gives a general conspectus of arid zone geography. 17 authors from 8 countries contributed and the book deals comprehensively with all the main areas, with specific examples used to illustrate arguments. There are chapters on meteorology, geology, geomorphology, botany and zoology and almost 50% of the book is devoted to man’s activities: irrigation and agriculture; industry; animal breeding and human survival in the desert
1. Arid Lands and Human Problems E. S. Hills 2. The World’s Arid Areas Gilbert F. White 3. Arid Zone Meteorology C. C. Wallén 4. Geomorphology E. S. Hills, C. D. Ollier, C. R. Twidale 5. Water Supply, Use and Management F. Dixey 6. Soils of Arid Lands T. N. Jewitt 7. Deserts in the Past K. W. Butzer, C. R. Twidale 8. Plant Life in Deserts M. Kassas 9. Animals of the Desert E. B. Edney 10. Man in Arid Lands: 1 Endemic Ciultures D. H. K. Amiran 11. Man in Arid Lands: 2 Patterns of Occupance D. H. K. Amiran 12. Irrigation in Arid Lands Herbert Greene 13. Small-Scale Industry and Crafts in Arid Regions X. De Planhol 14. Industrialisation E. S. Hills 15. The Use of Arid and Semi-Arid Land R O. Whyte 16. The Improvement of Animals Through Introductions and Breeding G. R. Moule 17. The Individual in the Desert Douglas H. K. Lee 18. Social Life in the Arid Zones Lawrence Krader 19. Deserts as Producing Regions Today Gilbert F. White 20. Research and the Future of Arid Lands E. S. Hills.
Biography
E. S. Hills was Lecturer in Geology 1932-1944, Professor of Geology and Mineralogy 1944-1962, Research Professor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor 1962-1971, at the University of Melbourne, Australia. His interests were wide ranging and included fossil fishes, physiography, mineralogy and petrology, structure, tectonics and morphotectonics, and economic geology. He died in 1986
It will not fail to stimulate the interest (and sometimes evoke the astonishment) of the diligent reader.’ J. P. Hudson, Experimental Agriculture, 3 (2), 1967
