- Email: [email protected]
Antibiotics
of approach rarely found among present-day popularisers of astronomy. What he has to say is often thought-provoking, giving the reader new insight. It is unfortunate that the price is perhaps rather high for the popular market, especially since the illustrations are all in monochrome. Nevertheless, this is a book which I can recommend. It would make an ideal gilt for the budding amateur astronomer and be useful reading for the interested layman who wants a change from the many run-of-the-mill books currently on the market. F. R. Stephenson of the Twrodrlal
Planota
Zdenek Kopsl. Pp. xii + 224. Physics. Jan. 1979. f7.50.
The Rrlm
The Institute
by of
This excellent work of the great astronomical communicator, Professor 2. Kopal, deservesa better title. It deals with the Moon (60 pages), Mercury (11) Pluto (2 paragraphs) Mars (40 pages) the Asteroids (22) Venus (22) and the Earth (24) concluding with a good index. The collaboration of man and machine in the scientific exploration of the planets and the resulting new knowledge is a constant theme, illustrated in colour plates and over 50 monochrome illustrations. This work is even more interesting to read for the vast realms of no-knowledge still existing on the terrestrial planets. I should have welcomed a few paragraphs at least about the electronic miracles of amplifying the pictures which had travelled through hundreds of millions of kilometers to JPL’s Goldstone receiver and a few more diagrams might have helped. The book is admirably up-to-dateVenus Pioneers- and is not encumbered with lengthy footnotes or references. The author’s philosophy, completely shared by the reviewer, shines occasionally through the scientific text: The 1976 Viking findings of absenceof life on Mars should give us ‘an increased degree of cosmic importance and enhance our sense of responsibility to our terrestrial environment. . . We should therefore respect each other’s right for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness more than we have been doing of late.’ Altogether this book is highly recommended. A. R. Michaelis
Antibioticx
Edited by M. J. Weinstein and G. H. Wagman. Pp. 7 7 1. Elsevier, Amsterdam. f 978. $84.75 (Dfl. 195.00).
The editors of this book are members of the Schering-Plough Corporation. They have produced a volume which contains seventeen chapters shared among twenty-six authors involved in relevant research and a subject index which lists several hundred substances. The antibiotics are arranged in chemical families which are reviewed in alphabetical order, giving the book a curious discontinuity. Cephalosporins are separated from penicillins and new g-lactam antibiotics by the entirely deoxystreptamine-containing different aminoglycosids, griseofulvins, lincomycins, and macrolides, while a second group of containing aminoglycoside antibiotics,
streptamine, is preceded by peptides with dehydroamino acid residues, polyether antibiotics and siderochromes, and followed only by the tetracyclines. Except for the bacitracin peptides, most medically or biologically interesting antibiotic families are included and there are chapters on heterogeneous marine-derived and plantderived substances, some of which have only marginal antimicrobial activity. Although the emphasisis on methods of isolation, assay, and analysis of naturally occurring antibiotics, many chapters give brief accounts of the chemistry and biological properties of these substances and several describe the fruitful results of chemical modifications of the molecules concerned. The book is a rude mecum which brings together a great deal of information in a still expanding field. E. P. Abraham
Introductory
Dynamic
Oceanography
by Stephen Pond and George L. Pickard. Pp. xvi+24 1. Pergamon Press, Oxford. 1978. Hard cover f 15.00, Flexi cover f5.00.
This book succeedsin its aim of presenting a sound treatment of the essential aspects of dynamic oceanography starting from first principles. Only a limited mathematical background is assumedand all physical ideas are explained fully as they arise. The text is -based on the authors’ experience at the University of British Columbia in teaching mixed groups of studentsand this is reflectedin the clear verbal explanations which accompany many of the mathematical steps. The book starts with several short chapters describing the properties of sea water, basic physical laws, and the equations of continuity and motion. A chapter on currents without friction then deals with the theory of geostrophic flow and its practical application to the calculation of currents from temperature and salinity data. Another substantial chapter gives a good treatment of the wind-driven circulation, from the Ekman spiral to developments following Stommel’s demonstration of westward intensification and an outline of the boundary layer approach to circulation problems. A welcome feature is the inclusion of a chapter on numerical models. After reading this book the newcomer should have a sound basic understanding of dynamic oceanography and also be in a position to appreciate work being done at the frontiers of the subject. K. F. Bowden Ancient
Sedimentary
exclusively, and the other substantially, adopts the environmental approach to the study of sediments. By comparison this single-author volume clearly lacks the breadth of experience and the depth of treatment of the larger books. Nevertheless, it retains the conciseness and therefore the relative ihexpensiveness of the first edition. Referencelists have been brought up to date, although this is not always fully reflected in the text, and a very useful innovation is consideration, wherever possible, of subsurface methods of facies interpretation. This second edition should therefore continue to appeal to a wide audience at undergraduate and early professional level. It draws its many examples mainly from Europe, N. America and N. Africa, and is well illustrated with numerous line and some half-tone figures. In short, it remains a good brief handbook of the subject area defined by its tide.
Environmentx
R. C. Selley. Pp. xii+287. Chapman Andover. 19 78. Paper f4.95.
by 8 Hail,
This book is a concise introduction to sedimentary environments, emphasising ancient examples, and dealing with each environment in turn. When it first appeared in 1970 it was a very welcome addition to the literature of sedimentology. It so happens that the second edition has been published almost simultaneously with two much longer sedimentological treatises, one of which
B. M. Funnel1
Storage in Excavated Rock Rockstore 77: Proceedings International Symposium, Vol. 1.2, and 3. Edited by M. Pp. 832. f125.0~.
Pergamon
Press,
Caverns: of the First Stockholm. Bergman. Oxford. 1978.
The first international symposium on the useof underground space took place in Sweden in September 1977. These three volumes record the proceedingsof that symposium. Man has made use of underground space sinceprehistoric times, but in recent years there has been a great upsurge in interest. It started perhaps with the Suez crisis, which led the Governments of the industrialised nations of the West to hold strategic reserves of petroleum fuels. Impetus has come also from the continuing preoccupation with defenceand national security, and from concern for the environment. The symposium was organised under the auspices of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the international Association of Engineering Geology, the International Society for Rock Mechanics, and the International Tunnelling Association. The papers are by acknowledged experts in their field and cover, perhaps not very systematically or evenly, the subject from planning and design through to construction and operation. Volume 1 covers Sessions 1 and 2. The papers from Session 1 on the demand for subsurface storage put the subject in its historical context and then turn to more recent feasibility studies on the use of underground space. The papers from Session 2, on experience in the use of underground storage, provide real examples of how successfully the technique has beenapplied. Volume 2 covers Sessions3 and 4, and the papers become more technical. The third sessionsdeals with the geo-planning and design of storage caverns in rock and the fourth with the problems of interaction between the rock and the stored material. Volume 3 covers Sessions 5 and 6 and a special session. The papers from Session5 deal with the techniques of construction in rock, and those from Session 6 are a collection of case histories. The special
Planota
Zdenek Kopsl. Pp. xii + 224. Physics. Jan. 1979. f7.50.
The Rrlm
The Institute
by of
This excellent work of the great astronomical communicator, Professor 2. Kopal, deservesa better title. It deals with the Moon (60 pages), Mercury (11) Pluto (2 paragraphs) Mars (40 pages) the Asteroids (22) Venus (22) and the Earth (24) concluding with a good index. The collaboration of man and machine in the scientific exploration of the planets and the resulting new knowledge is a constant theme, illustrated in colour plates and over 50 monochrome illustrations. This work is even more interesting to read for the vast realms of no-knowledge still existing on the terrestrial planets. I should have welcomed a few paragraphs at least about the electronic miracles of amplifying the pictures which had travelled through hundreds of millions of kilometers to JPL’s Goldstone receiver and a few more diagrams might have helped. The book is admirably up-to-dateVenus Pioneers- and is not encumbered with lengthy footnotes or references. The author’s philosophy, completely shared by the reviewer, shines occasionally through the scientific text: The 1976 Viking findings of absenceof life on Mars should give us ‘an increased degree of cosmic importance and enhance our sense of responsibility to our terrestrial environment. . . We should therefore respect each other’s right for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness more than we have been doing of late.’ Altogether this book is highly recommended. A. R. Michaelis
Antibioticx
Edited by M. J. Weinstein and G. H. Wagman. Pp. 7 7 1. Elsevier, Amsterdam. f 978. $84.75 (Dfl. 195.00).
The editors of this book are members of the Schering-Plough Corporation. They have produced a volume which contains seventeen chapters shared among twenty-six authors involved in relevant research and a subject index which lists several hundred substances. The antibiotics are arranged in chemical families which are reviewed in alphabetical order, giving the book a curious discontinuity. Cephalosporins are separated from penicillins and new g-lactam antibiotics by the entirely deoxystreptamine-containing different aminoglycosids, griseofulvins, lincomycins, and macrolides, while a second group of containing aminoglycoside antibiotics,
streptamine, is preceded by peptides with dehydroamino acid residues, polyether antibiotics and siderochromes, and followed only by the tetracyclines. Except for the bacitracin peptides, most medically or biologically interesting antibiotic families are included and there are chapters on heterogeneous marine-derived and plantderived substances, some of which have only marginal antimicrobial activity. Although the emphasisis on methods of isolation, assay, and analysis of naturally occurring antibiotics, many chapters give brief accounts of the chemistry and biological properties of these substances and several describe the fruitful results of chemical modifications of the molecules concerned. The book is a rude mecum which brings together a great deal of information in a still expanding field. E. P. Abraham
Introductory
Dynamic
Oceanography
by Stephen Pond and George L. Pickard. Pp. xvi+24 1. Pergamon Press, Oxford. 1978. Hard cover f 15.00, Flexi cover f5.00.
This book succeedsin its aim of presenting a sound treatment of the essential aspects of dynamic oceanography starting from first principles. Only a limited mathematical background is assumedand all physical ideas are explained fully as they arise. The text is -based on the authors’ experience at the University of British Columbia in teaching mixed groups of studentsand this is reflectedin the clear verbal explanations which accompany many of the mathematical steps. The book starts with several short chapters describing the properties of sea water, basic physical laws, and the equations of continuity and motion. A chapter on currents without friction then deals with the theory of geostrophic flow and its practical application to the calculation of currents from temperature and salinity data. Another substantial chapter gives a good treatment of the wind-driven circulation, from the Ekman spiral to developments following Stommel’s demonstration of westward intensification and an outline of the boundary layer approach to circulation problems. A welcome feature is the inclusion of a chapter on numerical models. After reading this book the newcomer should have a sound basic understanding of dynamic oceanography and also be in a position to appreciate work being done at the frontiers of the subject. K. F. Bowden Ancient
Sedimentary
exclusively, and the other substantially, adopts the environmental approach to the study of sediments. By comparison this single-author volume clearly lacks the breadth of experience and the depth of treatment of the larger books. Nevertheless, it retains the conciseness and therefore the relative ihexpensiveness of the first edition. Referencelists have been brought up to date, although this is not always fully reflected in the text, and a very useful innovation is consideration, wherever possible, of subsurface methods of facies interpretation. This second edition should therefore continue to appeal to a wide audience at undergraduate and early professional level. It draws its many examples mainly from Europe, N. America and N. Africa, and is well illustrated with numerous line and some half-tone figures. In short, it remains a good brief handbook of the subject area defined by its tide.
Environmentx
R. C. Selley. Pp. xii+287. Chapman Andover. 19 78. Paper f4.95.
by 8 Hail,
This book is a concise introduction to sedimentary environments, emphasising ancient examples, and dealing with each environment in turn. When it first appeared in 1970 it was a very welcome addition to the literature of sedimentology. It so happens that the second edition has been published almost simultaneously with two much longer sedimentological treatises, one of which
B. M. Funnel1
Storage in Excavated Rock Rockstore 77: Proceedings International Symposium, Vol. 1.2, and 3. Edited by M. Pp. 832. f125.0~.
Pergamon
Press,
Caverns: of the First Stockholm. Bergman. Oxford. 1978.
The first international symposium on the useof underground space took place in Sweden in September 1977. These three volumes record the proceedingsof that symposium. Man has made use of underground space sinceprehistoric times, but in recent years there has been a great upsurge in interest. It started perhaps with the Suez crisis, which led the Governments of the industrialised nations of the West to hold strategic reserves of petroleum fuels. Impetus has come also from the continuing preoccupation with defenceand national security, and from concern for the environment. The symposium was organised under the auspices of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the international Association of Engineering Geology, the International Society for Rock Mechanics, and the International Tunnelling Association. The papers are by acknowledged experts in their field and cover, perhaps not very systematically or evenly, the subject from planning and design through to construction and operation. Volume 1 covers Sessions 1 and 2. The papers from Session 1 on the demand for subsurface storage put the subject in its historical context and then turn to more recent feasibility studies on the use of underground space. The papers from Session 2, on experience in the use of underground storage, provide real examples of how successfully the technique has beenapplied. Volume 2 covers Sessions3 and 4, and the papers become more technical. The third sessionsdeals with the geo-planning and design of storage caverns in rock and the fourth with the problems of interaction between the rock and the stored material. Volume 3 covers Sessions 5 and 6 and a special session. The papers from Session5 deal with the techniques of construction in rock, and those from Session 6 are a collection of case histories. The special