ACTA CARSOLOGICA 52/1, 167-168, POSTOJNA 2023
After 25 years of the 1st 
edition of David Gillieson’s 
book “Caves: Processes, 
Development, and Manage-
ment” (1996) published by 
Blackwell, a 2nd edition of this 
excellent book was published 
last year by Wiley-Blackwell. 
Because of the Covid pan-
demic, its publication was 
almost overlooked.
Andrej Kranjc (1997) 
wrote about the first edition 
of the book in Acta carso-
logica, "In this book there 
is a lot that is useful and in-
teresting for everyone, from 
the theoretician to practical 
person".
The 1st edition took a contextual and holistic ap-
proach to the geomorphology and biology of caves as 
part of larger karst landscapes and as ecosystems. It also 
provides an overview of cave and karst management. The 
2nd edition of the book has been updated, significantly ex-
panded, and largely rewritten as karst and cave research 
has increased dramatically worldwide, with significant 
advances in understanding fundamental processes and 
in obtaining proxy climate and environmental data from 
cave deposits, as well as in understanding the complex-
ity of the karst landscape 
and cave management. This 
new edition takes a broad 
international perspective in 
the research examples used 
and literature cited, and 
has actively sought material 
from the tropical world and 
southern continents. 
The book Caves: Pro-
cesses, Development, and 
Management, Second Edi-
tion, is divided into four sec-
tions and 15 chapters. The 
first section examines the 
contemporary processes of 
cave formation. The chapters 
in this section are 1) Intro-
duction, 2) Caves and Karst, 
and 3) Cave Hydrology. The second section of the book 
deals with past processes and their physical expression. 
The chapters in this section are 4) Processes of Rock Dis-
solution, 5) Speleogenesis, 6) Cave Interior Deposits, 7) 
Cave Sediments; 8) Dating Cave Deposits, and 9) Cave 
Deposits and Past Climates. The third section deals with 
the use of caves by various organisms, from bacteria to 
humans. The chapters in this section are 10) Cave Ecol-
ogy, 11) Cave Archaeology, and 12) Historic Uses of 
Caves. The final section of the book focuses on changing 
CAVES:  
PROCESSES, DEVELOPMENT, AND MANAGEMENT
David SHAW GILLIESON 
Caves: Processes, Development, and Management.  
2nd Printed Edition, 528 pp, Wiley-Blackwell, 2021 
 
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3986/ac.v52i1.10709
approaches to cave management and to catchment man-
agement in karst landscapes. The chapters in this section 
are 13) Cave Management, 14) Catchment Management 
in Karst, and 15) Documentation of Caves. Also included 
at the end of the book is a glossary of cave and karst ter-
minology, suggestions for further reading, and geograph-
ical and topical indexes.
The book is recommended for anyone interested 
in caves and karst. It provides an understanding of the 
processes of cave formation, how caves can enhance our 
knowledge of past environments and climates, the en-
vironmental and cultural values that caves have for hu-
manity, and the management of caves. Book is available 
in printed edition and in a variety of electronic formats 
and by print‐on‐demand
Nadja Zupan Hajna
BOOK REVIEW
ACTA CARSOLOGICA 52/1 – 2023168