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The Connoisseur's Guide to the Mind How We Think and How We Learn and What it Means to be Intelligent
189 programme are now quite well understood, the major groups of players having been delineated and in some cases described in some detail. This little book in the In Focus series provides a concise but frequently information-dense outline of some of the major actors in the process. The major part of the book deals with the charging of tRNA by aminoacyl tRNA synthetases, ribosome structure (specifically of E coli), the ribosome cycle and translation of the genetic message, and protein folding and post-translational modifications of polypeptide chains. Also reviewed briefly are targeting and translocation of proteins, and translational control of gene expression. There is a glossary and an index (which I would have liked to be longer). The chapters are well organised and each ends with a list of publications for further reading, and references to work cited in the text. The numerous illustrations are colorful, clear and instructive. Students who are majoring in biochemistry and graduate students working in the area of protein biosynthesis should find the book a useful overview of the fundamentals and a pointer to some recent developments. F Vella
The Connoisseur's Guide to the Mind How We Think and How We Learn and What it Means to be Intelligent
came upon a word or phrase related to the mental processes about which I wanted to learn what Schank has to say. This approach often made me backtrack for the evidence, in the gourmet sections, that was the substrate for the author's analysis of some aspect of the topic of mind, thinking, learning and intelligence. The book contains a good index in which - - apart from the headings 'Bordeaux', 'restaurants', and 'wine' and the numerous page references included under them - - most headings are connected with mental processes or characteristics. Because of this, I could have approached the book backwards, by reading only those bits I was directed to by the page references in the headings I had selected. Not only would this have been rather tedious, but it would have made me ignore the evidence for Schank's statements or conclusions about the mental activities involved. As a scientist, this simply would not do for me. In writing the above, I find myself analyzing my own thought processes which were engaged, or elicited, by my problem of writing about this book. After all, each one of us has only one mind that we can submit to analysis (our own), and this is what Schank does in his book. One other thing I found myself doing. I went to a lot of effort to analyze and make sense of a lot of things I am not particularly interested in so as to learn about those things I am interested in. There are lessons here for all educators, aspiring connoisseurs of good food and wine, or simply of biochemical education. F Vella
by R C Schank. pp 272. S u m m i t B o o k s , NY. 1991 ISBN 0-671-67855-8 Imagine an author (holder of three professorships concurrently - - in Computer Science, in Psychology and in Education - - at the same prestigious American university) who has already published almost a dozen books and many more articles on artificial intelligence, learning and creativity and who simply loves to analyze and explore the mental processes he employs in thinking, learning and remembering. Imagine also that he considers himself (nay, is) a connoisseur of food and wine and has had numerous opportunities to travel to many interesting places where he could indulge himself in these pleasures. Now imagine further that this author brings these interests and pleasures together in a gala celebration of good food, good wine and thinking about how he learned about good food and good wine. Now stop imagining, because you have formed an idea of this book and of what it is all about. Although I like good food and good wine (and who doesn't?) I cannot be called an expert judge of either. However, I am interested in the mind and of necessity in how we think, how we learn and in what constitutes intelligence. I am also interested in the teaching/learning process and in applying what I have learned about thinking, learning and intelligence (because my objective is to encourage or develop these in my students) to my teaching activities. This is why I read (I should really write studied) this book and very rewarding I found it. Whether Schank explores the association of expectations with knowledge in the thinking process, or scripts and scenes and storytelling as a part of the memory and recall process, or the connection between these (or many other topics) to the teaching/learning process, he expresses himself clearly, directly and interestingly. I started to read this book in the usual way, that is, right from the beginning (after I had, of course, read all that was put on the dust cover, including four very laudatory quotes from persons I have good reason to trust) and plodded methodically page after page. I soon found myself in a seeming morass of information about restaurants, good wine, friends of the author, adventures he had in many restaurants in many p l a c e s . . , material that I was not specifically interested in. Occasionally, I found myself skimming (or even skipping) the gourmet parts of a chapter till I BIOCHEMICAL
EDUCATION
20(3) 1992
Biochemical Journal Reviews E d i t e d by W H Evans. pp 241. P o r t l a n d Press, L o n d o n . 1992. £12.50 ISBN 1-85578-020-8 This is a collection of the reviews (15 of them) published over the course of a year in the Biochemical Journal. It provides a valuable teaching aid at a reasonable cost over quite a wide range of biochemistry and molecular biology. Many of the diagrams are now enhanced by the skilful use of a second colour, and a few of the articles have colour plates of molecular structures. The papers are divided broadly into subject areas, eg Gene Structure and Expression (5 reviews), Cell Biology and Development (3 reviews), Proteins (4 reviews), Membranes and Bioenergetics (1 review) and Regulation of Metabolism (2 reviews). There is no index, but there is a list of reviews previously published in the BJ 1988-1990. In the present volume the pages are re-numbered from the originals. Areas covered include pulmonary surfactant proteins, adenovirus oncoproteins, protein-DNA recognition, transcription factors, regulation of gene expression by insulin, glycosylation mutants and protein transport, dioxin toxicity, interaction of ribosomes and cytoskeleton, muscle contraction, blood coagulation and the complement system, caidesmon, ras proteins, magnetic resonance of membranes, regulation of muscle protein turnover and control of heart ATP synthesis.
Seven Decisions When Teaching Students by D Bligh, D J a q u e s and D W Piper. pp 281 + bibliography and index. E x e t e r University T e a c h i n g Services, D e v o n , U K . 1981. ISBN 0-905314-04-2 The teaching of post-secondary students, if motivated by genuine interest in promotion of learning and the acquisition of
The Connoisseur's Guide to the Mind How We Think and How We Learn and What it Means to be Intelligent
came upon a word or phrase related to the mental processes about which I wanted to learn what Schank has to say. This approach often made me backtrack for the evidence, in the gourmet sections, that was the substrate for the author's analysis of some aspect of the topic of mind, thinking, learning and intelligence. The book contains a good index in which - - apart from the headings 'Bordeaux', 'restaurants', and 'wine' and the numerous page references included under them - - most headings are connected with mental processes or characteristics. Because of this, I could have approached the book backwards, by reading only those bits I was directed to by the page references in the headings I had selected. Not only would this have been rather tedious, but it would have made me ignore the evidence for Schank's statements or conclusions about the mental activities involved. As a scientist, this simply would not do for me. In writing the above, I find myself analyzing my own thought processes which were engaged, or elicited, by my problem of writing about this book. After all, each one of us has only one mind that we can submit to analysis (our own), and this is what Schank does in his book. One other thing I found myself doing. I went to a lot of effort to analyze and make sense of a lot of things I am not particularly interested in so as to learn about those things I am interested in. There are lessons here for all educators, aspiring connoisseurs of good food and wine, or simply of biochemical education. F Vella
by R C Schank. pp 272. S u m m i t B o o k s , NY. 1991 ISBN 0-671-67855-8 Imagine an author (holder of three professorships concurrently - - in Computer Science, in Psychology and in Education - - at the same prestigious American university) who has already published almost a dozen books and many more articles on artificial intelligence, learning and creativity and who simply loves to analyze and explore the mental processes he employs in thinking, learning and remembering. Imagine also that he considers himself (nay, is) a connoisseur of food and wine and has had numerous opportunities to travel to many interesting places where he could indulge himself in these pleasures. Now imagine further that this author brings these interests and pleasures together in a gala celebration of good food, good wine and thinking about how he learned about good food and good wine. Now stop imagining, because you have formed an idea of this book and of what it is all about. Although I like good food and good wine (and who doesn't?) I cannot be called an expert judge of either. However, I am interested in the mind and of necessity in how we think, how we learn and in what constitutes intelligence. I am also interested in the teaching/learning process and in applying what I have learned about thinking, learning and intelligence (because my objective is to encourage or develop these in my students) to my teaching activities. This is why I read (I should really write studied) this book and very rewarding I found it. Whether Schank explores the association of expectations with knowledge in the thinking process, or scripts and scenes and storytelling as a part of the memory and recall process, or the connection between these (or many other topics) to the teaching/learning process, he expresses himself clearly, directly and interestingly. I started to read this book in the usual way, that is, right from the beginning (after I had, of course, read all that was put on the dust cover, including four very laudatory quotes from persons I have good reason to trust) and plodded methodically page after page. I soon found myself in a seeming morass of information about restaurants, good wine, friends of the author, adventures he had in many restaurants in many p l a c e s . . , material that I was not specifically interested in. Occasionally, I found myself skimming (or even skipping) the gourmet parts of a chapter till I BIOCHEMICAL
EDUCATION
20(3) 1992
Biochemical Journal Reviews E d i t e d by W H Evans. pp 241. P o r t l a n d Press, L o n d o n . 1992. £12.50 ISBN 1-85578-020-8 This is a collection of the reviews (15 of them) published over the course of a year in the Biochemical Journal. It provides a valuable teaching aid at a reasonable cost over quite a wide range of biochemistry and molecular biology. Many of the diagrams are now enhanced by the skilful use of a second colour, and a few of the articles have colour plates of molecular structures. The papers are divided broadly into subject areas, eg Gene Structure and Expression (5 reviews), Cell Biology and Development (3 reviews), Proteins (4 reviews), Membranes and Bioenergetics (1 review) and Regulation of Metabolism (2 reviews). There is no index, but there is a list of reviews previously published in the BJ 1988-1990. In the present volume the pages are re-numbered from the originals. Areas covered include pulmonary surfactant proteins, adenovirus oncoproteins, protein-DNA recognition, transcription factors, regulation of gene expression by insulin, glycosylation mutants and protein transport, dioxin toxicity, interaction of ribosomes and cytoskeleton, muscle contraction, blood coagulation and the complement system, caidesmon, ras proteins, magnetic resonance of membranes, regulation of muscle protein turnover and control of heart ATP synthesis.
Seven Decisions When Teaching Students by D Bligh, D J a q u e s and D W Piper. pp 281 + bibliography and index. E x e t e r University T e a c h i n g Services, D e v o n , U K . 1981. ISBN 0-905314-04-2 The teaching of post-secondary students, if motivated by genuine interest in promotion of learning and the acquisition of