Alfred R. Conklin Jr., with Rolf Meinholtz. 2004. Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York. 355 pp. $135 hardcover.

Whether for remediation, evaluation, design, or regulation, the need for quality information is essential. The two most common questions asked by environmental design and regulatory professionals are, What is the degree of contamination? and What contaminants are present? The actions that must be taken are based on the resulting answers, and quality laboratories are sought to provide accurate and reproducible analyses. The fact usually missed is that the data provided are functions of the quality of samples taken, and unfortunately the weakest link in the system is many times the lack of a quality sample. The quality of a sample can be affected, for example, by where it was taken, how it was taken, how it was preserved, and/or how it was transported.