Jamal M. Khatib, Cambridge, Woodhead Publishing Limited, 2009, 312 pp., £130 (hardback), ISBN 978-1-84569-349-7
This useful materials science book covers cementitious materials, aggregates, metals, glass, wood, vegetable fibres, waste tyres and nanotechnologies in a series of 11 authored chapters. It sets out to present a ‘comprehensive and detailed analysis’ of the sustainability issues associated with these materials, mainly in relation to constituent materials, processing, recycling and life cycle environmental impacts. However, the aim of the book is not entirely achieved for a number of reasons.
A fundamental problem is the difference between a discussion of the ways in which the consideration of sustainability criteria can affect material choices and specification and an exploration of the wider sustainability issues pertinent to these materials in relation to their end use or application within construction. It is not clear which of these this book seeks to address – one can presume the former, although there are frequent references to the latter. Indeed, the potential impact of this book seems compromised by its lack of orientation towards the latter, broader sustainability discussion. This limitation could so easily have been resolved with the provision of a more fulsome introductory or context-setting chapter which would have been a very important and valuable addition, setting out definitions and key considerations. There is no coverage of assessment frameworks such as LEED™ for construction of buildings or CEEQUAL™ for civil engineering – the inclusion of these would help to set the book in context because their use in construction projects will at least partly determine material choices. Furthermore, the key concept of life-cycle analysis is not explained until page 198 – again, this could have been part of a core introductory chapter.
Rather, the chapters tell a curious story – the sequence is not clearly explained in the introduction chapter and seems illogical. There is no explanation of why polymers and plastics have not been covered – and this is an important omission – and the analysis of cement and concrete materials seems to span several chapters. Why there is a chapter on durability is also uncertain and its presence is distracting, but a deeper problem lies in the inconsistency in the quality of the chapters – some are parochial, lacking references or overly self-congratulatory. Other inconsistencies are the significant variation in the individual chapter's structures, inconsistent inclusion of standards, differences in referencing style and substance (some chapters have dozens of references, whereas others cite very few).
This book could have acted as an excellent reference guide, had the chapters been organised and indexed more consistently. The masonry materials chapter is excellent. Although it is somewhat lengthy it gives a detailed account of the history and specification of masonry materials, some case studies and finishes with a robust exposition of the relevant sustainability issues. Subject to some editing of the earlier sections to be more concise, this chapter could have acted as a standard model for others, thus giving a more robust and coherent presentation throughout. The nanotechnology chapter is a genuinely interesting endpoint to the book, the lack of a conclusions chapter also means that the reader is left without a feel for the future of this subject and without a sense of how all this information fits together.
In conclusion, this book oscillates between a well-referenced and thought-provoking source and a super generic undergraduate textbook which lacks critical depth.