The book is a popular sciecce account about how the human use of rocks and aggregates has influenced the planet.

The synopsis says: "This book is an excellent example of that rare kind of scientific writing which can be read for pleasure and general interest as well as for the inforamtion it gives. Dr Sherlock shows how mining, town-making, the waste products of industry, the removal of shingle and  sand from the coasts and iother works of man, have produced geological consequences which their turn act as modifying agents upon man himself."