?Although this massive, multi-author handbook is ... concerned mainly with the contrasting environments of the four components of the Great American Desert--the Mojave, Sonoran, Chihuahuan, and Great Basin--as well as with the American Artic desert, its implications are far wider. In addition to the chapters that are devoted to the five desert regions listed, there are others on animal and plant adaptations, sand dunes, desert varnish, research facilities, and desertification, which are of more general interest. ...it will undoubtedly be invaluable to everyone working in the desert research institutes of the United States and elsewhere.?-Journal of Arid Environments