[Book review]: Excellence in biostratigraphy. Microfossils and Geological Time, Brain McGoran, Cambridge University Press (2005), £50.00 hbk (424 pages), ISBN: 0-521-83750-2

Biostratigraphy. Microfossils and Geological Time gives a terrific review of the principles and development of dating rocks using the fossils that they contain (i.e. biostratigraphy). Although Brian McGoran concentrates on foraminifers, the book is worth reading for an understanding of the role of biostratigraphy in a geological science context. McGoran provides a significant amount of information, which is well illustrated with many figures showing examples of zonations (bodies of rock defined by the presence of fossils), correlations, sequence stratigraphy (prehistoric sea-level changes in sedimentary deposits) and cyclostratigraphy (which is based on the moon–earth–sun interaction and orbit system).