Book excerpt: This sourcebook to the prodigious literature on applications of computers and statistics to geology contains over 2000 references. The glossary provides succinct explanations of most statistical and mathematical terms. Computer topics include hardware, software, programming languages, databases, and communications graphics, CAO/CAM, CAI, GIS and expert systems. Statistical topics range from elementary properties of numbers through univariate, bivariate to multivariate methods. The brief notes on each method provide a general guide to what the technique does, and are illustrated with worked examples from a wide range of geological disciplines. Students and researchers will find the book useful in coping with the explosion of information which has taken place in geology, and to make the best possible use of computers in interpreting acquired data.