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Advances in information systems science, vol. 8
Book reviews The Industrialization Powers 1780-1914 Pp. 495. Longman, Paperback f7.50.
of the Continental by Clive Trebilcock. London. 1987.
This is a thought-provoking book for, as its title indicates, it concerns itself over the period and the geographical area where the developments of the most important industrial revolution took place. It is a scholarly and lucid work; tautly constructed so that a vast amount of relevant information is conveyed within its five hundred pages; has a profusion of references; and a comprehensive index. But for serious students of the history of technology the thought-provocation lies as much in what the book omits as in what it includes. Where, we ask, are the folk heroes to whom we attach so much importance; Leblanc, Perkin, Watt, Liebig, Faraday, Nasmyth, even Bessemer-one of whose steel converters at Essen enlivens the dust jacket? Where are the processes and inventions-ammonia-soda, electromagnetic machines, steam turbines, telegraphs and in tcchmilestones tclephoncs-those nological history at which WC have long been accustomed to halt and pay our respects? The fact is that none of these, nor many others of comparable importance, are given sufficient mention to merit listing in the index. Let it at once be said that to draw attention to this is in no way intended as an adverse criticism of Trebilcock’s book, which is enviably good. Rather it is a compartcurrent ol the criticism mcntalization of industrial history. That industry develops in rcsponsc to the cconomic and social prcssurca of the day is undeniable. Equally, it is undeniable that it develops also in response to new technology. All thcsc factors are of profound importance, even if they cannot be quantified, but they do not pursue parallel and independent paths nor be studied as if they do. Their real significance lies in their interaction. In this, of course, there is a lesson as much for the historian of technology as for the economic historian. Trevor 1. Williams Gauge Theory and Variational Principles. By David D. Bleecker. Pp. xviii + 780. Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass. 1981. $17.50. With the recognition that all the fundamental interactions of physics are describable by gauge theories, their study has become extremely important. The present book is a very valuable addition to the literature, for it presents the natural mathematical framework for the construction of these theories. Endeavour, New Series, Volume 7. No. !, !983 (0 Pergamon Press. Prmted in Great Britain) 0160.9327/83/010047-06 $03.00.
The principal ingredient is ‘global analysis’, which is the synthesis of classical analysis and geometry, the most relevant part being the theory of ‘fibre bundles’. Although it has been perceived for some time that this does provide the appropriate mathematical machinery, its very complexity and the absence of suitably oriented texts has deterred many theoretical physicists from exploring its possibilities. The present volume should help to overcome these difficulties. It is written with the dual aim of giving theoretical physicists a rigorous but relevant treatment, and showing mathematicians the physical significance of their results; thus right from the very beginning the mathematical development is motivated by physical considerations. This book is the first of two parallel series on global analysis, one set consisting of basic texts, and the other providing advanced reports on the theory or its applications. J. F. Cornwell Advances in Information Systems Science, Vol. 8. Edited by Julius T. Tou. Pp. 332. Plenum, New York. 1981. $42.50 One of the problems of writing a survey article is that of getting the correct balance between introductory material, to define the field, and advanced topics. In the first chapter Guides and Ganesh give an excellent, well-balanced account of file organisation and performance, which faces the problems of secondary key organisation realistically. Chapter 2 is a discursive account by Culik II and Fdrah of linked forest manipulation systems as a tool for the formal description of programming languages. In Chapter 3, Shumaker fails to get the balance right in what purports to be ‘an overview of the development of software for control systems’. He gives an extended account of micro-based hardware systems; an introduction to digital control algorithms; some elementary comments on computational techniques; and, finally, a few rather superficial pages on software development. Lee, in Chapter 4, offers a somewhat verbose but valuable, wide-ranging account of methods and applications of cluster analysis. The final chapter by Reguicha and Voelcker offers an interesting account of geometric models and their representations. This is a difficult area and the authors present a lucid account of current attempts to establish a formalism which is applicable to mechanical design and production. D. G. Parkyn The South China Sea: Hydrocarbon Potential and Possibilities of Joint Development. Edited by Mark J. Valencia. Pp. 303. Pergamon Press, Oxford. 1982. f 75.00. The South China Sea offers a number of special challenges. First, the area is one of the most geologically complex in the world, being the locus of the junction of three major plates. Second, the overlapping claims make exploration and exploitation
in the area particularly difficult. This book on petroleum resources in the South China Sea contains the proceedings from a conference convened in August 1980 which were originally published as a special issue in the journal Energy. The volume provides basic reading with its in-depth technical articles on the geology and hydrocarbon potential, although information is somewhat lacking on the Western part of the area involving China and Vietnam. Further articles discuss production in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand. The following sections, dealing in particular with technological, economic, legal aspects, and precedents for joint development, are weaker. A major reason is that China’s claim to a considerable share of the South China Sea is not adequately analysed. nor is the territorial conflict between China and Vietnam covered. Furthermore, the volume introduces a number of precedents for joint development in other parts of the world but neglects to discuss these in the economic and political realities of the countries bordering on the South China Sea. J. Sigurdson Vistas in Astronomy, Vol. 24. Edited by A. Beer, K. Pounds and P. Beer. Pp. 381. Pergamon Press, Oxford. 1982. f50.00. This is a bound set of four issues of Vistas published in 198&81. As with any such collection, the result is a fairly heterogeneous group of articles, ranging for example from Sir Fred Hoyle’s 1978 Milne Lecture (‘Comets-a Matter of Life and Death’) to a review of X-ray astronomical spectroscopy (S. S. Holt). Indeed, most of the contributions have the flavour of reviews rather than research papers. For sheer direct appeal to the reader (or viewer) the palm must go to David Malin for eight colour plates included by way of illustration in his article on Colour Photography in Astronomy. For a book produced from typescript this is scarcely a bargain for the individual buyer at its price. Equally however, few astronomers would wish their institution’s library to be without it. A. R King The Channels of Mars. By V. R. Baker. Pp. xiii + 224. Adam Hilger, Bristol. 1982. f22.50. Surface features on Mars have much in common with those on earth, and one important feature of the martian landscape is the presence of a variety of different types of valley form. These are thought to have been carved by flowing water at an earlier time in martian history. Dr. Baker deals with the origin of these valleys not just as a member of the new breed of scientist known as planetologists, but as a geologist well established in the field of geomorphology from studies of terrestrial valleys and other landforms. Although a number of books have now been written about surfaces of planets in general and of Mars in particular this is one
47
of the Continental by Clive Trebilcock. London. 1987.
This is a thought-provoking book for, as its title indicates, it concerns itself over the period and the geographical area where the developments of the most important industrial revolution took place. It is a scholarly and lucid work; tautly constructed so that a vast amount of relevant information is conveyed within its five hundred pages; has a profusion of references; and a comprehensive index. But for serious students of the history of technology the thought-provocation lies as much in what the book omits as in what it includes. Where, we ask, are the folk heroes to whom we attach so much importance; Leblanc, Perkin, Watt, Liebig, Faraday, Nasmyth, even Bessemer-one of whose steel converters at Essen enlivens the dust jacket? Where are the processes and inventions-ammonia-soda, electromagnetic machines, steam turbines, telegraphs and in tcchmilestones tclephoncs-those nological history at which WC have long been accustomed to halt and pay our respects? The fact is that none of these, nor many others of comparable importance, are given sufficient mention to merit listing in the index. Let it at once be said that to draw attention to this is in no way intended as an adverse criticism of Trebilcock’s book, which is enviably good. Rather it is a compartcurrent ol the criticism mcntalization of industrial history. That industry develops in rcsponsc to the cconomic and social prcssurca of the day is undeniable. Equally, it is undeniable that it develops also in response to new technology. All thcsc factors are of profound importance, even if they cannot be quantified, but they do not pursue parallel and independent paths nor be studied as if they do. Their real significance lies in their interaction. In this, of course, there is a lesson as much for the historian of technology as for the economic historian. Trevor 1. Williams Gauge Theory and Variational Principles. By David D. Bleecker. Pp. xviii + 780. Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass. 1981. $17.50. With the recognition that all the fundamental interactions of physics are describable by gauge theories, their study has become extremely important. The present book is a very valuable addition to the literature, for it presents the natural mathematical framework for the construction of these theories. Endeavour, New Series, Volume 7. No. !, !983 (0 Pergamon Press. Prmted in Great Britain) 0160.9327/83/010047-06 $03.00.
The principal ingredient is ‘global analysis’, which is the synthesis of classical analysis and geometry, the most relevant part being the theory of ‘fibre bundles’. Although it has been perceived for some time that this does provide the appropriate mathematical machinery, its very complexity and the absence of suitably oriented texts has deterred many theoretical physicists from exploring its possibilities. The present volume should help to overcome these difficulties. It is written with the dual aim of giving theoretical physicists a rigorous but relevant treatment, and showing mathematicians the physical significance of their results; thus right from the very beginning the mathematical development is motivated by physical considerations. This book is the first of two parallel series on global analysis, one set consisting of basic texts, and the other providing advanced reports on the theory or its applications. J. F. Cornwell Advances in Information Systems Science, Vol. 8. Edited by Julius T. Tou. Pp. 332. Plenum, New York. 1981. $42.50 One of the problems of writing a survey article is that of getting the correct balance between introductory material, to define the field, and advanced topics. In the first chapter Guides and Ganesh give an excellent, well-balanced account of file organisation and performance, which faces the problems of secondary key organisation realistically. Chapter 2 is a discursive account by Culik II and Fdrah of linked forest manipulation systems as a tool for the formal description of programming languages. In Chapter 3, Shumaker fails to get the balance right in what purports to be ‘an overview of the development of software for control systems’. He gives an extended account of micro-based hardware systems; an introduction to digital control algorithms; some elementary comments on computational techniques; and, finally, a few rather superficial pages on software development. Lee, in Chapter 4, offers a somewhat verbose but valuable, wide-ranging account of methods and applications of cluster analysis. The final chapter by Reguicha and Voelcker offers an interesting account of geometric models and their representations. This is a difficult area and the authors present a lucid account of current attempts to establish a formalism which is applicable to mechanical design and production. D. G. Parkyn The South China Sea: Hydrocarbon Potential and Possibilities of Joint Development. Edited by Mark J. Valencia. Pp. 303. Pergamon Press, Oxford. 1982. f 75.00. The South China Sea offers a number of special challenges. First, the area is one of the most geologically complex in the world, being the locus of the junction of three major plates. Second, the overlapping claims make exploration and exploitation
in the area particularly difficult. This book on petroleum resources in the South China Sea contains the proceedings from a conference convened in August 1980 which were originally published as a special issue in the journal Energy. The volume provides basic reading with its in-depth technical articles on the geology and hydrocarbon potential, although information is somewhat lacking on the Western part of the area involving China and Vietnam. Further articles discuss production in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand. The following sections, dealing in particular with technological, economic, legal aspects, and precedents for joint development, are weaker. A major reason is that China’s claim to a considerable share of the South China Sea is not adequately analysed. nor is the territorial conflict between China and Vietnam covered. Furthermore, the volume introduces a number of precedents for joint development in other parts of the world but neglects to discuss these in the economic and political realities of the countries bordering on the South China Sea. J. Sigurdson Vistas in Astronomy, Vol. 24. Edited by A. Beer, K. Pounds and P. Beer. Pp. 381. Pergamon Press, Oxford. 1982. f50.00. This is a bound set of four issues of Vistas published in 198&81. As with any such collection, the result is a fairly heterogeneous group of articles, ranging for example from Sir Fred Hoyle’s 1978 Milne Lecture (‘Comets-a Matter of Life and Death’) to a review of X-ray astronomical spectroscopy (S. S. Holt). Indeed, most of the contributions have the flavour of reviews rather than research papers. For sheer direct appeal to the reader (or viewer) the palm must go to David Malin for eight colour plates included by way of illustration in his article on Colour Photography in Astronomy. For a book produced from typescript this is scarcely a bargain for the individual buyer at its price. Equally however, few astronomers would wish their institution’s library to be without it. A. R King The Channels of Mars. By V. R. Baker. Pp. xiii + 224. Adam Hilger, Bristol. 1982. f22.50. Surface features on Mars have much in common with those on earth, and one important feature of the martian landscape is the presence of a variety of different types of valley form. These are thought to have been carved by flowing water at an earlier time in martian history. Dr. Baker deals with the origin of these valleys not just as a member of the new breed of scientist known as planetologists, but as a geologist well established in the field of geomorphology from studies of terrestrial valleys and other landforms. Although a number of books have now been written about surfaces of planets in general and of Mars in particular this is one
47