An asterisk after the specific name both of reading for anyone interested in the Solar awoken with the
awoken with the prospect of commercial
‘garden escapes’ and rarities is unhelpful -and
several ‘escapes’ go unstarred (e.g. Douoni-
cum). Distinction between introductions (e.g.
Cardaria, Aesculus) and rarities is essential.
Habitats and distributions are sometimes
shaky. The index is hopeless for sedges, risible
for ‘Henry, Good King’. Misprints are few
(‘glaucus’, ‘blub-like’).
Undoubtedly this attractive and workable
key deserves extensive use - and minor revi-
sion.
D. E. Coombe
Mercury. The Elusive Planet. By Robert G.
Strom. Pp. 197. Cambridge University
Press. 1987. f13.95.
The title of the book is apt. The innermost of
all the planets, Mercury is very difficult to
observe by conventional astronomical techni-
ques because of its closeness to the Sun. Thus,
in spite of its great interest as a nearby
Earthlike planet - one of the family of four
which includes Venus, Earth, and Mars -
Mercury was almost as unknown to us in 1974
as it was to the ancients who first observed it.
Then came the American spacecraft Mariner
10, which made multiple encounters with
Mercury during the period from March 1974 to
June 1975 and so provided the first detailed
scientific measurements of the body, including
television coverage which revealed the appear-
ance of the surface for the first time. This,
airless and superficially Moonlike, carries
geological features which are in many ways
unique and which are exposed daily to temper-
ature excursions which cycle from the freezing
point of methane to the melting point of zinc, a
range of over 6000°C.
Mercury has not been revisited by any other
spacecraft, nor are there any near-term plans
(Mercury remains elusive), so naturally Robert
Strom’s book is mostly about the historic flight
of Mariner IO, and its findings. This, however,
is a rich seam of fascinating information,
mostly about the surface features and their
likely origin but also about the interior, which
is thought to be an iron core like Earth’s but
much larger in relation to the overall size of the
planet (Strom describes Mercury as ‘a thin-
shelled iron sphere’). Calculations suggest that
Mercury’s core should be cold and solid now,
because the planet is so small (one-twelfth the
volume of Earth), yet Mariner found a magne-
tic field much larger than those of Venus or
Mars, buffeting our already shaky understand-
ing of how planetary fields originate.
The presentation of the book is particularly
good. Aimed at the scientific non-specialist or
the interested layman, technical language is
avoided, or when unavoidable defined, in the
‘Scientific American’ style. Much care has
obviously been taken to make the text clear and
progressive, with the right number of
carefully-chosen photographs and well
thought out, helpful diagrams. The book can
be read in one sitting with tremendous enjoy-
ment, leaving the reader with all the basic facts
about a nearby world, smaller than, but of the
same family as our Earth. It must be required
System and as such is strongly recommended.
F. W. Taylor
Stellar Populations. Editedby C. A.
Norman, A. Renzini and M. Tosi. Pp. 245.
Cambridge University Press. 1987. f20.00
($32.50).
This is a useful book for graduate students
and research workers dealing with the stellar
content of the various types of galaxies. It
should also be more generally of interest to
astrophysicists and cosmologists. It is a collec-
tion of review papers from the Baltimore
Symposium on Stellar Populations in 1986.
Most of the major topics in this area are well
covered, the reviews are up-to-date (as of
mid-1986), and there are adequate reference
lists to enable readers to pursue their interests
further. The major areas covered by the
reviews include the kinematics of local sub-
dwarfs, initial mass function, chemical evolu-
tion, populations of the Milky Way Galaxy,
M31, local dwarf galaxies, etc., population
synthesis, and the evolution of galaxies.
Given the comparatively reasonable price,
this is a book I would strongly recommend.
C. R. Kitchin
The Galaxy and the Solar system. Edited
by R. Smoluchowski, J. N. Bahcall, and M.
S. Matthews. Pp. 483. University of
Arizona Press. 1987. $29.95.
Despite its rather general title, the bulk of this
book is concerned with the connection be-
tween certain biological events, such as the
extinction of the dinosaurs, and times of
enhanced cratering on Earth. The suggestion
is that both the biological and cratering
records show a 30 million year cycle, both
caused by periodic heavy comet showers
resulting in catastrophic climatic changes.
The current explanations involve perturbing a
cloud of comets, which is inferred to exist at a
great distance from the Sun. This is said to
occur by encounters either with an undisco-
vered ‘Planet X’, or with an unseen compan-
ion star ‘Nemesis’, or with massive gas clouds
as the Sun oscillates across the plane of the
galaxy.
In an informative and well-balanced collec-
tion of articles by many authors, these ideas
are clearly set out, and explored in some
detail. The book includes relevant data and
some highly critical papers. The criticisms
include the suggestion that the 30 million year
cycle may not, after all, exist, in which case
the book will serve as a record of an interest-
ing historical aberration. Otherwise, it is an
excellent and readable source book.
A. F. Heavens
Antarctic Science. Edited by D. W. H.
Walton. Pp. 280. Cambridge University
Press. 1987. f25.00 ($39.50).
Antarctic science has developed rapidly since
the signing of the Antarctic Treaty 25 years
ago, carefully nurtured under a unique
umbrella of international cooperation. Now,
renewed public and political interest has
exploitation of resources on the horizon. This
timely book has been written by scientists
from the British Antarctic Survey, all with
long-standing experience of research in this
hostile, yet beautiful and fragile environ-
ment.
Most of the work is devoted to three
principal areas of science studied in Antarc-
tica - biology, the earth sciences, and atmos-
pheric science. Each section reviews the ma-
jor scientific developments during the past 25
years, drawn from the full breadth of interna-
tional achievements. Despite some inevitable
bias towards British activities the reader is
able to savour the rich fruits of a success story
in international cooperation. With the
Antarctic Treaty due for review in 1991, the
authors look forwards as well as backwards.
and make a strong case for sustained research
in this area.
This beautifully-produced and authorita-
tive book has been carefully edited. Useful
background chapters covering the geopolitic-
al scene and the organisation of science within
the Treaty help to guide the reader through
the complex web that binds science and
politics together, and weld the book into a
thought-provoking and wide-ranging review.
It is refreshing to find a book of this nature
written, so far as possible. in jargon-free
language. The book is profusely illustrated
with diagrams and fascinating photographs in
colour and B & W. Whilst there is much to
interest the scientist, those who simply wish to
understand more about this stimulating area
and its potential will find it an enjoyable and
rewarding read.
David A. Peel
The Physics of Welding, 2nd Ed. Edited by
J. F. Lancaster. Pp. 340. Pergamon Press,
Oxford. 1986. Hardcoverf32.00 ($55.00),
Flexicoverf 16.25 ($28.00).
This title conveys the impression that the
subject matter is both broadly based and
highly technical. Such a combination, while
desirable, is not easily achieved, particularly
in the field of welding. Interpretation of
welding phenomena requires a sound know-
ledge of many physical disciplines including
thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, mag-
neto hydrodynamics, electrodynamics, and
surface physics to name but a few. Perhaps it
is for this reason that welding is still regarded
by some practitioners as a ‘black art’, or at
best an empirically based subject.
This work is a timely addition to the
literature on welding processes and be-
haviour. Under the editorship of Prof. J. W.
Lancaster each section has been carefully
structured and compiled. Subjects are, as far
as is practicable, developed from basic physic-
al principles. The first two chapters discuss
units and general trends and move quickly
and smoothly to specific areas of interest.
Subsequent chapters include clear and con-
cise discussions on weld pool fluid motion, arc
plasma behaviour, and mass transfer as well
as the behaviour of specific welding proces-
ses. Examples are used in many instances to
49
illustrate the development of discussions and
the relevance of mathematical models.
This study can be recommended both as a
text book for advanced students of welding
engineering and as a valuable source of
reference for anyone working in the field of
welding research and development.
Ian’ M. Richardson
Three Degrees Above Zero. Bell
Laboratories in the Information Age. By
Jeremy Bernstein. Pp. 247. Cambridge
University Press. 1987. f 17.50.
Bell Research Laboratories has played a
spectacular role in the history of science and
technology as well as that of industrial re-
search. Jeremy Bernstein’s book reaffirms
this with a refreshing look at the contribu-
tions to the Laboratories’ success made by a
number of the organisation’s most famous
employees. The account was compiled from
hours of conversation with Bell’s numerous
Nobel and other prize winners combined with
the author’s own observation of the Labor-
atories at work.
It is not a scholarly study; it is, as Bernstein
is keen to emphasise, a scientifically-literate
journalist’s attempt to recount the essence of
the success of Bell Labs as perceived by those
most closely involved. The reasons suggested
by all had an uncanny similarity: interdiscipli-
narity, ease of communication, and the free-
dom of individuals to pursue ‘pure’ scientific
inquiry with only very long-term possibilities
of affecting the telecommunications industry.
Indeed the sub-plot of this book was soon
evident: what would the impact be on this
unique combination of academic freedom and
massive financial input, of the divestiture of
the parent company, AT&T, of its status as a
regulated monopoly? This happened in Janu-
ary 1984; perhaps a postscript is now needed
assessing the actual effect of divestiture.
M. Williams
Computerized Quality Control Programs
for the Analytical Laboratory. By T. F.
Hartley. Pp. 165. Ellis Horwood,
Chichester. 1986. f 18.50.
Computerized Quality Control is a textbook
of eleven computer programs in BASIC with
detailed commentary by the author. The
programs were written for use by analytical
chemists, but there will be no difficulty in
using them in other branches of technology
and industry.
The program listings are in very clear type.
However, when program listings have to go
through the intermediate process of being
typeset one has to be more than ordinarily
careful that no errors are inadvertently over-
looked. The fact that SPLINE: line 752 and
VMASK: line 3310 contain errors means that
there may be others.
In several places the author used express-
ions of the type EX2 - (Ex)‘/n to obtain the
sum of squares instead of the more fun-
damental E(x-x)‘. The latter avoids the well
known problem which occurs when Ex’ and
(Ex)‘/n are very nearly equal.
50
The program OCCURVE, for obtaining an
operating characteristic, adopts the very te-
dious approach of calculating binomial coef-
ficients using Pascal’s triangle. The sum of a
binomial series is much more easily obtained by
using the recursion formula.
The use of matrix algebra for the programs
for linear calibration would be much more
efficient than the author’s elementary treat-
ment and would enable more information to be
easily obtained.
In writing the programs for cusum techni-
ques, the author may have reinvented the
wheel, as flow charts and documentation
already exist in BS5703: Data Analysis and
Quality Control Using Cusum Techniques.
To the best of the writer’s knowledge Dr
Hartley’s programs are new, the exceptions
being those for fitting straight lines and cusum
techniques. The others, in spite of their de-
ficiencies in technique, fulfil adequately the
task they are supposed to do, and will be of use
in organisations with small computing facilities
and someone with an enthusiasm for com-
puting.
D. J. Lancaster
Fifty Years of Neutron Diffraction. The
Advent of Neutron Scattering. Edited by
G. E. Bacon. Pp. 280. Adam Hiiger, Bristol
and the int. Union ofCrystallography.
1987. f30.00.
This book completes a trilogy, sponsored by
the IUC, describing the histories of the X-ray,
electron, and neutron diffraction techniques.
It covers the period from 1936, from the first
suggestion that thermal neutrons might be
diffracted by crystalline materials up to the
present day. Its editor, G. E. Bacon, has
clearly had a formidable task in compiling this
history of the technique within the limit of 280
pages. His selection of topics includes the
evolution of neutron sources from radium-
beryllium to the present dedicated high-flux
research reactors and accelerator-based
pulsed sources. It also follows the develop-
ment of neutron instruments from the early
primitive devices to the modern machines
capable of dealing with microgram samples
and real-time experiments. The geographical
spread of the technique, which has led to a
world-wide neutron scattering community, is
also described. A balance is maintained
throughout between scientific aspects of the
technique and personal reminiscences, which
often illustrate the excitement of working in
neutron scattering, both in the pioneering
days and today. The book will obviously be
popular with neutron scientists but deserves a
much wider readership as a fascinating
account of this ‘peaceful use of atomic
energy’.
N. Cowlam
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. General
Concepts and Applications. By William W.
Paudier. Pp. 291. Wiley, Chichester. 1987.
f32.10.
The techniques and applications of Nuclear
Magnetic Resonance are still rapidly develop-
ing more than 40 years after the initial experi-
ments. The field is so vast that it is a major
task to write a book which, starting from the
elementary theory of NMR spectroscopy, is
able ‘to provide sufficiently detailed informa-
tion to familiarize the reader with not only the
theoretical foundation but the numerous ap-
plication of this technique’. Unfortu-
nately this book is not really successful in its
aims. One major problem is that the standard
of proof reading is very poor throughout the
book. In addition it is confused and confusing
about several topics. For instance, the discus-
sion of spin lattice relaxation states that
eqn.l.15 becomes eqn.l.16 when tempera-
ture is explicitly considered. Temperature
does not appear in either equation and is not
explicitly required to describe the approach to
thermal equilibrium. The discussion on polar-
ization transfer is unclear. How does ‘the
application of two simultaneous 180” pulses’
transfer polarization? The more complex
pulse sequences, e.g. INEPT, are discussed
before the simpler inversion recovery etc.
pulse sequences. In summary, although the
range of topics is reasonable for a first intro-
duction to NMR for chemists, rather better,
cheaper books exist.
R. Dupree
Aquatic Surface Chemistry. Chemical
Processes at the Particle-Water Interface.
Edited by Werner Stumm. Pp. 520. Wiley,
Chichester. 1987. f64.15.
This symposium in print is a synthesis of
current knowledge on chemical processes
occurring at the soil-water interface. Each
author presents the principles underlying a
particular process and then explores the re-
sults and implications of recent research,
emphasizing quantitative, mechanistic ex-
planation and intellectual stimulation rather
than extensive documentation. Links be-
tween theory, controlled laboratory inves-
tigations, and environmental behaviour are
constantly stressed, as are current areas of
ignorance.
Part 1 (The solid-solution interface, 6 chap-
ters) deals with adsorption mechanisms, elec-
trical double layers, charged polyelectrolyte
gels, and the surface chemistry of oxides and
soils. Part 2 (Formation and dissolution of
solid phases, 5 chapters) discusses the control
exerted by the kinetics of surface reactions
and describes how these reactions can be
simulated by Monte-Carlo methods. Part 3
(Regulating the composition of natural wa-
ters, 7 chapters) examines the fate of metal
ions in lakes; metal complexation; particle-
particle interactions; the role of colloids in
partitioning solutes in natural waters and of
particles in regulating the composition of
seawater; and the abiotic transformation of
organic chemicals.
The text is nicely printed, but lacks a
standard format for the references and the
many graphs. There is a good index and
extensive cross-references between chapters.
The book is essential reading for all working
in aquatic surface chemistry.
D. A. Rose