Book excerpt: This book originated from a proposal by one author (J. R. H.) who was subsequently joined by a second (E. D.) and then by a third (K. J. G.). It has taken longer to produce than we expected because of the complications imposed by the distances which the authors have succeeded in putting between themselves during the past three years. The basic objective was to produce a short book which would introduce geomorphological processes to students in the first or second year of their higher education courses. We believed that there was a need for such a book reviewing a range of geomorphological processes which would offer a prelude to the symphonies which are available in books devoted to specific processes and their effects, many of which are sign posted in the lists of further reading at the end of each chapter. We are aware that the range of suitable preludes is wide, but we have endeavoured to compose one which expresses at least some of the recent achieve-ments in the study of geomorphological processes. Emphasis is placed on the nature of processes and upon their controls but the effects of processes in creating landforms are not reviewed in any detail. In addition to the selected references at the end of each chapter, we have collected a bibliography of works cited at the end of the book but this is not intended to be as exhaustive as the references collated in more advanced works.