COASTS OF NEW ZEALAND

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33693, 16 November 1974, Page 10

COASTS OF NEW ZEALAND

Bold Coasts By Sir Charles Cotton. Edited by B. W. Collins. Reed. 354 pp. “Bold Coasts” is a stimulating and evocative title for this posthumous publication by one of New Zealand’s most famed physical scientists. The . title misleads. The subtitle is both apt and fully informative: “Annotated Reprints of Selected Papers on Coastal Geomorphology, 1916-1969.” Sir Charles Cotton selected the 25 papers, originally published in 16 different international journals and one book, in which he dealt primarily with description and explanation of coastal features. Most emphasise aspects of New Zealand coasts, and the average reader will find the greatest value in the treatment accorded coastal regions he has visited or can visit book-in-hand. Unfortunately, only about a dozen segments of the New Zealand coast are treated in detail (the same ones recur in different papers), and the reader will have to use the (adequate) subject index to discover relevant particulars on any chosen region, because the papers are arranged in chronological order of publication, without regard to subject matter. Nor is there any connective discourse to weld the papers into a continuous theme. The recurrent theme is, of course, coasts, considered in the context of their development, both through time and through the interaction of a wide variety of geological events and physical processes. Herein lies

another major drawback of the book as a general publication. The papers were written for scientific journals and most assume a knowledge of specialised terminology, as well as a background of reading, that are mandatory for a ful perception of the contents. The “Appreciation” by A. L. Bloom in the prefatory section of the book provides an excellent review of the scientific merit of the collection. Editing by the author involved deleting parts of the previously published texts, where these parts were superseded by “. . . views based on more reliable information. . . .” Such (and other) amendments detract from the philosophical value of the book in showing the evolution of Sir Charles Cotton’s thoughts and methodology from 1916 to 1969. However, bracketed interpolations and footnotes, which sparsely annotate the original text to present new data and revised interpretations, offset that fault. They provide the most interesting and informative hints to the character and scientific approach of the author. B. W. Collins, who "... put finishing touches to the book and tied up a few loose ends,” obviously worked hard and successfully to perfect a well organised format without repetitious figures or reference lists. While is it good to have books on the subject of New Zealand geology — a subject poorly understood and undervalued by the layman — the point of publishing this one is obscure. Its appeal is limited to specialists.