Book Reviews

Euclidean Quantum Gravity. Edired by G. W. Gibbons and S. W. Hawking. Pp. 586. World Scientijc Publishing, Singapore. 1993. Hardback ISBN 981 02 0515 5; paperback ISBN 981 02 0516 3.

The euclidean quantum gravity programme has been the subject of much interest during the last 15 years. The central idea of using spacetime mckics with a Riemannian, rather than Lore&an, signature is based partly on the analogy of instantons in Yang-Mills theory, and partly on the idea of imaginary time that followed quickly from Hawking’s famous discovery of the quantum- induced radiation from a black hole. The collec- tion of articles in this new volume reflects both these origins and covers all the significant applications to which the euclidean programme has been applied. These include the thermal Green function approach to the Hawking effect, the Hartle-Hawking wave-function of the Universe, the idea of wormholes as topologically non-trivial euclidean solutions, and the general theory of gravitational instantons. Probably no one is ever totally satisfied with the choice of articles for a review volume but I thought this selection was both balanced and comprehensive. It contains many of the major papers on this important approach to the problem of quantum gravity and is a very valuable addition to the reference literature.

Chris Isham

Conceptual Foundations of Modem Particle Physics. By Robert E. Marshak. Pp. 673. World Scientijc Publishing, Singapore. 1993. Hardback $86.00 ISBN 9810210981; paperback $46.00 ISBN 9810211066.

This book fulfils its promise. It is about the deepest theoretical foundations of particle physics. Two principal strands run through it: a concern to chronicle the historical development of the subject and an emphasis on symmetry as the key to understanding. These rather unusual approaches give insight and new ways of looking at familiar concepts. The first chapter gives the historical context explicitly in an overview, and echoes with long-forgotten theoretical controversies in which the author was a leading protagonist. He treats space-time global and gauge symmetries in the next three chapters in a profound way. He then applies symmetries to the understanding of the main pillars of the standard model. Finally there is a discussion of the relevance of symmetry and topology to theories beyond the standard model.

This book is a source of insight to the expert physicist, but cannot be recommended to any but the most advanced graduate students. Professor Marshak was one of the founding fathers of

Endsavow. New SWISS, Volume 19, NO. 1,1994. Eluvler 9cienm Ltd. Printed In Gnal Gtltaln. 0199-9327/94 99.00 + 0.00.

@ Pergamon

particle physics. It is doubly sad that he died before this book’s publication, and that its cover illustration represents simulated events from the Superconducting Super Collider. He would have been devastated had he lived to see its cancellation.

B. Foster

The Man who sold the Milky Way: A Biography of Bart Bok. By David H. Levy. Pp. 246. University of Arizona Press. 1993. f35 ISBN 0 8165 1149 7.

Bart J. Bok was an ebullient character. An astronomer who did pioneering work on the Milky Way, he made important discoveries, not least the existence of ‘Bok globules’, dark clumps of gas which are the centres of star formation. Bok also took a prominent place in astronomical politics - he was a dynamic promoter of astronomy among as wide an audience as possible, and a vehement and vociferous opponent of astrology. Born in Holland and a graduate of L&den, his main work was done in the United States at Harvard and in Tucson, where he directed the Steward Observatory, as well as in Australia as director of Mount Stromlo Observatory.

Donald Levy, who knew Bok, has here written a superb biography, which captures the character and flavour of the man, and of his beloved astronomer wife Priscilla. It says much for Levy’s text that by the time you reach the end, you have not only met but also grown to enjoy being with them both. With its detailed references and a bibliography of the Boks‘ writings as well as explanations of astronomical matters for general readers, this book should have a very wide appeal - and deservedly so.

Colin Ronan

Pauper and Prince. Bitchey, Hale and Big American Telescopes. By Donald E. Osrerbrock. Pp. 359. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. 1993. US $45.00 ISBN 0 8165 1199 3.

From 1888 the United States became the home of those vast telescopes which were to provide evidence which helped change our ideas about the Universe. That it reached this eminence was due above all to George Willis Ritchey and George Ellery Hale, the “Pauper and Prince” of the book’s title. It was a relationship which led to the foundation of two world-famous observatories -

the Yerkes near Chicago, and the Mount Wilson in California. Another of its fruits was the realization that only the reflecting telescope could provide sufficient light and detail to explore the very depths of the visible universe.

Ritchey, a carpenter by profession, was a perfectionist and brilliant constructor of tele- scopes, but prickly in his personal relationships. Hale, son of a rich father, was brought up to com- mand both money and people, yet he was also a first class scientist with a flair for persuading the

rich to fund astronomical research. This well written book, complete with iidl references, traces their careers, recording in immensely readable form the ups and downs between them and the jealousies that research institutions are heir to. Not only a book for all astronomers, but also a far wider audience as well.

Colin Ronan

Bioluminescence and Chemiluminescence. Edired by A. A. &lay, L. J. Kricka and P. Stanley. Pp. 548. 1993. Wiley, Chichester. f&W ISBN 0471 941 646

This is a hardbacked volume of some 548 pages which contains the proceedings of the VIIth Inter- national Symposium on Bioluminescence and Chemiluminescence which was held at Banff, Canada, iu March 1993. Although compiled from camera-ready manuscripts an excellent quality of reproduction is maintained throughout. The contents are divided into five sections: Instru- mentation and Light Detection; Molecular Biology and Biochemistry; Chemiluminescent and Bio- luminescent Assays; Cellular Luminescence; Chemiluminescence and Bioluminescence.

The major themes of the book deal with low- light and photon counting imaging equipment; the control and biochemistry of luminescent systems; the use of luciferases and other photoproteins as in vivo biosensors; chemiluminescence-based assays of phagocytic activity; and the use of luminescence for in vizro analyses such as immunoassay and DNA and protein detection.

This book is an extremely valuable contribution to this rapidly expanding subject area and in a single volume provides the reader with an overview of the current status of both fundamental and applied research in the fields of bio- luminescence and chemiluminescence. The price may deter individual purchasers but it should be regarded as an invaluable resource for scientific institutions.

Gordon S.A. B. Stewarf

Origin and Evolution of the Elements. Edited by N. Prantos, E. Vangioni-Flam and M. Casse. Pp. 545. Cambridge Universio Press. 1993. f45.00, US $69.95 ISBN 0 521 43428 9.

In June 1992 a symposium on the nucleosynthesis of the chemical elements in the stars was held at the Astrophysics Institute of Paris to celebrate the 60th birthday of the Canadian nuclear astro- physicist, Hubert Reeves, who has worked in France since 1965. More than 120 research workers participated in the symposium, including many of the collaborators of Reeves, and the supervisor of his graduate studies, Edwin Salpeter, who gave opening and closing addresses. This book records 66 of the ‘state-of-the-art’ contribu- tions presented to the symposium, organised under seven headings. The first concerns the factors governing the relative abundances of the elements

in the stars; the second covers primordial nucleosynthesis (the Big Bang) and cosmic ray spallation; and a group of papers on the problematic abundances of lithium follows. The nucleosyntheses of the elements up to, and then beyond, the abundance peak at iron are discussed in the fourth and fifth sets, respectively. Galactic evolution and the time-scale involved are con- sidered in the sixtb group, and the book concludes with anomalies of relative isotopic abundancies in the final section. Each contribution is self- contained with its own references, leading to some duplications. The book contains no indexes.

The book as a whole brings up a number of important points: firstly that DNA in vivo is a three-dimensional entity, and processes such as transcription, replication, and recombination can be intluenced by the level of packaging of DNA into cbromatin; secondly, that there is a wealth of interesting data emerging from the genome sequencing projects. For example, two years of sequencing yeast chromosome III has revealed about five times as many genes as the previous 40 years of classical genetic analysis.

This book is suitable not only for those working in this field, but also for the geneticist or undergraduate who would like to learn a little more about the subject.

survey of the interactions between photosyn- thetically active algae or cyanobacteria and fungi. In place of topics such as taxonomy, bio- geography, and ecology are chapters reflecting the author’s broad research interests in the nature and properties of the isolated symbionts, the achievement of resynthesis, and how the bionts may interact biochemically and physiologically in the intact lichen. Although in their lichenological infancy, some molecular biological topics are introduced. The book is full of inter- esting personal insights and interpretations. The style is sometimes a little stilted, but this reflects a valiant attempt to incorporate the currently frag- mentary literature into a framework that should be stimulating to other workers, despite some factual errors and debatable omissions. This book, with an up-to-date reference list occupying 58 of its 250 pages and a further 16 pages of practical comments on symbiont culture and resynthesis procedures, would be a valuable addition to any lichenologist’s library. Unfortunately, the price of this hardback edition makes it improbable that the author’s efforts will reach the fullest audience it deserves.

Stephen Mason

Men among the Mammoths. Victorian Science and tbe Discovery of Human Preblstory. By A. Bowdoin Van Riper. Pp. 267. University of Chicago Press. 1993. ISBN 0 226 84991 0.

J. M. Craig

One of the most interesting developments in our ideas about human antiquity is the clearer picture of the time scale involved that began to emerge duringthesecondhalfofthelastcenttuy,atatime when rapid strides were also being made in under- standing evolution itself. In this volume, Van Riper explores some of the background of discus- sion, argument, and emerging consensus that surrounded the issue of human contemporaneity with extinct animal species, and the difficulties that faced those who accepted the force of the argument at a time when absolute ages could not be assigned to prehistoric events. He gives a detailed account of the major discoveries in England and France that provided the basic evidence, and then goes on to discuss the larger social and scientific context of the revolution in thought that a lengthy prehistory produced, in- cluding the implications of human antiquity for an evolutionary origin in place of the Biblical account of Creation.

Nobel Lectures: Pbysiology or Medicine 1981- 91 Edited by Jan Lindsten. Pp. 584. World Scientific, Singapore. 1993. Paperback ZSBN 981-02-0793-X.

With this volume World Scientific continues its programme of publishing - on a lo-year basis - the Nobel Lectures from 1970, up to which time Elsevier had undertaken the task. The first volume for Physiology or Medicine (197 1 - 1980) appeared last year: the present one completes the task up to 1990. These lectures, delivered during the annual week-long celebrations in Stockholm in December, are the only obligatory task of the Laureates, and they are prepared with appropriate care. Collectively, they represent an authoritative and fascinating review of recent progress in the prize winners’ respective fields. Although limited to a IO-year period, this volume reprints 22 lectures, for it is now common practice for the prizes to be shared. In fact, only in 1983 and 1985 were there single prize winners (Barbara McClintock and Suzanne Tonegawa). The lectures themselves follow conventional lines. In some respects equally interesting are the citations made at the prize-giving ceremony, outlining each Laureates’ claim to fame. Additionally, each lecture is preceded by a personally prepared bio- graphical sketch of the laureate. Some of these are unimaginative, compiled on who’s who lines, but others illustrate the extraordinarily varied career patterns that have led to this ultimate accolade.

The book is well written and the arguments set forth with full reference to original sources (albeit with the annoying footnotes that authors outside the sciences seem unable to do without). One thing it does lack, however, is an adequate series of illustrations. The 11 figures, which include a rather uninteresting map and some tables seem- ingly unmodified from the author’s original computer printout, really do not do justice to the subject.

Alan Turner

The Chromosome. By J.S. Heslop-Harrison and R. B. Flavell. 4. 281. Bios Scienrific Publishers, Oxford. 1993. f49.50 ISBN I 872748 32 5.

This book contains 18 selected reviews (and speculations) from a John Innes Symposium of the same name held in Norwich in September 1992. Each review, however, has been brought up to date, which is a credit to the editors and authors.

Included are excellent reviews on genetic recombination, the E. coli genome project, telomeres, DNA methylation and C,G islands, position effect variegation, parental imprinting, physical organisation of nuclei, and sequencing the yeast genome. Colour photographs are included when necessary, but are all together in a central section.

They reveal, tco, an interesting age pattern. Gn the whole, a prize comes in late middle age: the average of this particular group at the time of the award was 61. Only one, George Kiihler (38), rewarded for his research on monoclonal antibodies, was under 40. His fellow Laureates in this field were C&r Milstein (57) and Niels Jeme. (73). At the other end of the scale some prize winners have had to wait a dangerously long time for recognition. Kita Levi-Montacini (nerve growth factor) was 77; Barbara McClintock (‘jumping genes’) was 81, after years in the wilderness; and George Hitchings (dihydrofolate reductase) was a venerable 83.

Trevor I. Williams

The Lichen Symbiosis. By Vernon Ahmaajian. Pp. 2.50. Wiley, Chichester. 1993. f58 ISBN 0 471 578 851.

The title clearly represents the emphasis of this book. It is not a comprehensive coverage of all aspects of lichenology for beginners but a selective

D.H. Brown

Annual Review of Biochemistry. Volume 62. Edited by C.C. Richardson. Pp. 1039. Annual Reviews Inc., Stanford. 1993. $52 ISBN 0 8243 0862 X.

With new review series appearing ever more frequently to satisfy our need to keep abreast of advances in the Life Sciences, the arrival each year of this solidly bound blue cloth octave tome brings to the more. conservative a reassuring sense of wntinuity with the past. This very conservatism in format may lead others to dismiss it as old fashioned.

Does such an annual review still have a niche within the review literature? The present volume contains 29 reviews, each of about 30 pages and citing about 200 references. Each author (or authors, since only nine are. single-author reviews) is therefore able to cover a fairly broad topic to a depth sufficient to satisfy readers whose own research or advanced teaching relates to that subject. The accessibility of these reviews is a tribute to the clarity and style of the authors’ prose, since figures are relatively sparse and with no use of wlour. Most readers will, like me, find at least two or three ‘must reads’ and benefit from the short ‘introduction/perspective/overview’ at the beginning of the remainder. Still a niche? Yes. Value for money? At less than fourpence per page, most certainly.

J. Goddard

Crop Protection and Sustainable Agriculture. CIBA Foundation Symposium 177. Pp. 285. Wiley, Chichester. 1993. f45.00 ISBN 0 471 93944 7.

These proceedings authoritatively review the needs for more sustainable crop production and problems which were not foreseen in the context of agricultural research and development of earlier decades. Advancing technology harnessed to short-term market-force interests have led to a dramatic ‘intensification’ of modem agricultural practices now being adopted by Third-world countries. Tables and figures illustrate current

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