Beach Renourishment by Eric Bird and Nick Lewis

This is a neat little book by Eric Bird and Nick Lewis, both of whom are experienced coastal researchers. Although the volume is only 135 pages long as part of Springer Briefs in Earth Sciences series, the authors manage to hit most of the highlights and critical issues surrounding beach renourishment. Having said that, it means that no particular topic gets exhaustive treatment, as that is not the point of Springer Briefs. The coverage is, however, sufficient to give the reader a first glimpse of the issues and practices associated with this predominantly shore protection technique that is sometimes referred to as “soft stabilization or engineering.” This term is applied in opposition to hard stabilization, which deploys engineering structures such as seawalls, groins, revetments, breakwaters, etc. instead of sand. The sand that is applied to eroding shores is regarded as sacrificial in the sense that it needs to...