Lóczy, D. (ed.): Landscapes and Landforms of Hungary


155Literature – Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 64 (2015) (2) 155–158.Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 64 2015 (2)                                                                                                 155–158.

Within the „World Geomorphological Landscapes” 
series a brand new title appeared on the early spring 
of 2015. This series aims to introduce landforms of 
particular countries, their assemblages and the stages 
of their development all over the world. Right aft er 
the grandiose and impressive countries of India, 
Brazil, Spain, Namibia, France and South Africa the 
seventh volume is about Hungary.

The volume is dedicated to the 60th birthday of the 
editor Dénes Lóczy by the authors. Several books at 
Springer edited by him proved that he is admitt ed as 
an expert of geomorphology on an international level. 

He has  organised and controlled the joint work of 
forty four individual authors to create this spectacu-
lar and coherent opus.

The volume is divided to three main parts. The 
fi rst part presents the background information of 
the whole country including geology, tectonics, cli-
mate and hydrology. Also this part guides the reader 
through the landscape evolution stages during hun-
dreds of millions of years. This part is authored by 
the well known experts of Hungarian geosciences as 
János Haas, Krisztina Sebe, Gábor Csillag and the 
editor himself.

The second, main part contains the 
descriptions of the separate landforms. 
As the editor draws these sites are just a 
selection from the possibilities without 
completeness since Hungary has a very 
diverse and colourful landscape struc-
ture. Altogether 26 individual landforms 
are presented by the experts of the given 
area. Among others the phenomena and 
results of karst development, volcanism, 
fl uvial geomorphology, alkalinity and 
anthropogenic eff ects are introduced and 
discussed through the most famous indi-
vidual example of them in Hungary.

Even though each chapter exceeds 
the highest scientifi c level they are clear 
and interesting also for readers without 
scientifi c background. The volume takes 
special emphasis on visualisation each 
chapter contains photos for a bett er il-
lustration of the topic. Most of them also 
have well organised and informative 
(geomorphological) maps, and fi gures. 
The extent of the chapters varies in a wide 
range but all of them are adequate for a 
brief but proper description of the form. 
Each chapter follows the same structure 
of the most widespread scientifi c papers 
with introduction at the beginning and 
conclusion at the end.

The third part is about the geoherit-
age issue and its appearance in Hungary. 
This chapter briefly describes among 
others the national nature conserva-
tion policy, the National Parks and the 

L I T E R A T U R E

Lóczy, D. (ed.): Landscapes and Landforms of Hungary. Springer International Publishing. 2015. Chaem, 294 p.



Literature – Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 64 (2015) (2) 155–158.156

geoparks. Finally, as a practical information the de-
scription of the itineraries (countrywide blue tour 
and Rockenbauer blue tour) are also included in this 
chapter. That is why it could be a practical tool for 
supporting geosite propagation for families, classes 
or even for professional hikers. 

In this way this volume is more than a simple fi eld 
guide, it also tries to present the root cause in the back-
stage. That is why it would be a useful handbook also 
for students studying geomorphology. On the other 
hand, the straightforward but readable style supple-
mented with the high quality colourful fi gures, maps 
and photos make the volume enjoyable for the man in 
the street too. Anyway, the most useful application of 
the volume would be reading the related paragraph 
during a fi eld trip and fi nding the discussed details 
in their natural forms. However, the A4 shape and 

the very att ractive hardcover makes the volume less 
useful in the fi eld suggesting that this book can not be 
touched by dusty or even dirty hands. 

The price also makes the book untouchable because 
it can be ordered from the Springer shop for 139.00 
EUR. The price of the e-book format is unknown at 
the moment, but we are not quite sure whether the 
above mentioned fi gures and maps will be as per-
fect in the digital version as they are in the hardcopy. 
Almost 140 EUR is quite a prett y sum especially for 
a Hungarian student even though the volume is fan-
tastic. We really do not know if this book shall be 
profi table for the publisher but we should be grateful 
for the possibility to have such an amazing collection 
of the miraculous Hungarian landscapes.

Gergely Jakab and Zoltán Szalai