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Handbook of units and Quantities
332
Book Reviews
Handbook of Units and Quantities by F. A. ROCKE.AAEC.
Lucas Heights, NSW, .4ustralia (1981). ISBN 0 642 59782 0. AS15.00. vii + 2iO pp. This book delivers what the publisher promises. it is an extremely useful reference for everyone who has dealings with units for physical measurements. The text is competently organised thanks to a generously set out list of contents, a 23-page index amply supplied with cross references and including names of all units and their abbreviations, and each page is printed with the relevant chapter and sub-chapter, as well as the page number. The eight basic SI units are at the core of the book but there is full information on other systems of units: imperial units, customary units, cgs units, etc. as well as conversion factors and conversion procedures, all being readily located without having to search through a lot of irrelevant data. Tables listing details about units, the corresponding physical quantities, etc. are accompanied by explanatory notes whose descriptive completeness leaves nothing to be desired. Such a comprehensive volume must have shortcomings but very few were apparent. Strangely enough there is no list
of figures but of the seven figures, six illustrate worked examples and have no relevance to other text. The joule is stated as the energy generated or dissipated when it would have been preferable to describe this as e.g. ener_qv converted or downgraded, and there are actually one or two typographical errors! A more serious omission is the failure to refer explicitly to standards because it is through standards that units are realised with the accuracy now taken for granted. Also, it would have been useful to refer to the concepts connecting units and the physical quantities they serve to measure. In particular, there are the recent successes in relating SI units to the fundamental constants of nature. There is certainly more than enough substance in the book to strongly recommend it as a necessary text at the elbow of everyone who has anything to do with measurements. The author and also others who contributed to this publication deserve our thanks.
G.
c.
LOWXTHAL
Australian School of Nuclear Technology
Book Reviews
Handbook of Units and Quantities by F. A. ROCKE.AAEC.
Lucas Heights, NSW, .4ustralia (1981). ISBN 0 642 59782 0. AS15.00. vii + 2iO pp. This book delivers what the publisher promises. it is an extremely useful reference for everyone who has dealings with units for physical measurements. The text is competently organised thanks to a generously set out list of contents, a 23-page index amply supplied with cross references and including names of all units and their abbreviations, and each page is printed with the relevant chapter and sub-chapter, as well as the page number. The eight basic SI units are at the core of the book but there is full information on other systems of units: imperial units, customary units, cgs units, etc. as well as conversion factors and conversion procedures, all being readily located without having to search through a lot of irrelevant data. Tables listing details about units, the corresponding physical quantities, etc. are accompanied by explanatory notes whose descriptive completeness leaves nothing to be desired. Such a comprehensive volume must have shortcomings but very few were apparent. Strangely enough there is no list
of figures but of the seven figures, six illustrate worked examples and have no relevance to other text. The joule is stated as the energy generated or dissipated when it would have been preferable to describe this as e.g. ener_qv converted or downgraded, and there are actually one or two typographical errors! A more serious omission is the failure to refer explicitly to standards because it is through standards that units are realised with the accuracy now taken for granted. Also, it would have been useful to refer to the concepts connecting units and the physical quantities they serve to measure. In particular, there are the recent successes in relating SI units to the fundamental constants of nature. There is certainly more than enough substance in the book to strongly recommend it as a necessary text at the elbow of everyone who has anything to do with measurements. The author and also others who contributed to this publication deserve our thanks.
G.
c.
LOWXTHAL
Australian School of Nuclear Technology