私たちは景色に囲まれていますが、その景観はどのようにできたものなのでしょうか。地下では何が起きているのか、気候変動や地殻変動、人間の活動に、景観がどんな影響を受けるのかについてはあまり知られていません。本書は地形の研究調査に用いられる主な概念や手法、ならびに文化的観点から、景観と地形の重要性について考えていきます。
    

• Presents a clear introduction to landscape and the methods and techniques used to study it
• Considers our effects on the landscapes around us, in the past, present, and future
• Examines the cultural importance of landscapes, their influence on the arts and the conservation of 'earth heritage'
• Explores unseen landscapes - under the sea and on other planets

　　
What were the landscapes of the past like? What will landscapes look like in the future? 
　
Landscapes are all around us, but most of us know very little about how they have developed, what goes on in them, and how they react to changing climates, tectonics and human activities. Examining what landscape is, and how we use a range of ideas and techniques to study it, Andrew Goudie and Heather Viles demonstrate how geomorphologists have built on classic methods pioneered by some great 19th century scientists to examine our Earth. 
　
Using examples from around the world, including New Zealand, the Tibetan Plateau, and the deserts of the Middle East, they examine some of the key controls on landscape today such as tectonics and climate, as well as humans and the living world. They also discuss some key 'landscape detectives' from the past, including Charles Darwin who did some important, but often overlooked, research on landscape. 
　
Concluding with the cultural importance of landscape, and exploring how this has led to the conservation of much 'earth heritage', they delve into the future and look at how we can predict the response of landscapes to climate change in the future.