The second edition of this best-selling and highly respected textbook provides an accessible and engaging introduction to the major topics within physical geography. It focuses on understanding processes and is comprehensively illustrated to aid understanding. Changes for this edition: * Brand new chapters on Coasts, Contemporary Climate Change, and Vegetation and Environmental Change. * Increased coverage of weather systems, atmospheric circulation, basic geology and biodiversity. * New Hazards feature helps apply understanding to contemporary environmental problems. * Each chapter fully updated to contain the latest research Main features: * Each chapter is written by a leading specialist in the field to provide informative, expert and practical coverage. * A range of in-text features aid independent study including case studies, reflective questions, annotated further reading and weblinks. * Boxed features, including Techniques, Environmental Change and New Directions help apply knowledge to the real world of physical geography. * An impressively wide range of examples from around the world illustrates the physical environment with truly global scope.An Introduction to Physical Geography and the Environment is accompanied by a rich and extensive range of online support resources which can be found at www. pearsoned.co.uk/holden. This includes extra weblinks, fieldwork worksheets, interactive models and new video clips of physical processes in action. Joseph Holden is Professor of Physical Geography and Director of Research at the School of Geography, University of Leeds. Comments on the first edition: Aside from the scope of the book, which is to be commended, the strengths are numerous. The clarity of the writing is second to none and never dry. The textbook benefits from excellent colour illustrations, excellent graphs and conceptual diagrams...Hats off to Dr Holden and colleagues for an excellent introductory geography text' Dr Richard J. J. Pope, University of Derby 'This is a remarkable achievement...any student who fails to be enthused by what this book has to say, and how it says it, must be very difficult indeed to please. This book takes UK degree-level geography textbooks to a new level' Chris Park, Lancaster University I love this book!The layout of the pages and the colours really aid the learning, clear diagrams and explanations to theories and topics help during revision and reading towards essays. If I'm stuck on any part of a topic I look in the Holden book first for an explanation.' Keele University Student