- Email: [email protected]
Photographic dosimetry of ionizing radiations
554
Book reviews
Photographi c D o s h n e t r y o f I o n i z i n g / ~ u l / a t l o n s V. F. KOZLOV,published in the U.K. by MacDonald Oldbourne Press (1967) at 65s. 124 pages. Tins book, tramlated from the Russian by an Israeli organisation, was first published by the U.S.A.E.C. as AEC-tr-6712 in 1966 and was reissued as a U.K. publication in November 1967. The book was originally published in Moscow in 1964 and the present issue does not appear to include any revision after that date. The bibliography lists 123 references covering work published up to 1963. It reviews the subject in logical sequence passing from the basic photographic process, via photographic techniques to a consideration of the photographic dosimetry of specific types of ionising radiation. The treatment is adequate and provides a good working background but the coverage provided is very variable, ranging from the rather sketchy account of actual film dosimeters (section 3.4) to the excessively detailed presentation of data on the accuracy of the method (3.9). Occasionally the text is obscure as for example the use of the words "control" and "calibration" in section 3.6. Also, sudden changes of subject such as the change from phantom absorption measurements to orientational response characteristics of a film
dosimeter (page 58), can be a little bewildering. There are numerous minor errors, for example on page 50 the range of independent response extends to 1000 keV not 100 keV; on page 76 the response to 1 MeV neutrons is three times not one third of the response at 6 MeV; on page 86 the cross section at 200 keV is 1.5 millibarns not 1.5 barns. These errors and obscurities may not have been present in the original Russian text. They should certainly have been removed before a second issue of the translation. The presentation of the book is below the standard one might expect at this price. The juxtaposition of widely differing type faces for text, formulae, symbols and tables in conjunction with residual evidences of translation makes it a rather trying book to read though this criticism would not apply to use for reference purposes. The line drawings are unduly heavily printed and the pictorial illustrations lack detail and constrast. No subject index is included. It is not possible to review this book without a comparison with Dr. Becker's Film Dosimetry (Focal Press, 1966) which is a considerably more polished and authoritative account of the subject with a revised bibliography listing some 900 publications dating to 1965.
M. J. HEARD
Book reviews
Photographi c D o s h n e t r y o f I o n i z i n g / ~ u l / a t l o n s V. F. KOZLOV,published in the U.K. by MacDonald Oldbourne Press (1967) at 65s. 124 pages. Tins book, tramlated from the Russian by an Israeli organisation, was first published by the U.S.A.E.C. as AEC-tr-6712 in 1966 and was reissued as a U.K. publication in November 1967. The book was originally published in Moscow in 1964 and the present issue does not appear to include any revision after that date. The bibliography lists 123 references covering work published up to 1963. It reviews the subject in logical sequence passing from the basic photographic process, via photographic techniques to a consideration of the photographic dosimetry of specific types of ionising radiation. The treatment is adequate and provides a good working background but the coverage provided is very variable, ranging from the rather sketchy account of actual film dosimeters (section 3.4) to the excessively detailed presentation of data on the accuracy of the method (3.9). Occasionally the text is obscure as for example the use of the words "control" and "calibration" in section 3.6. Also, sudden changes of subject such as the change from phantom absorption measurements to orientational response characteristics of a film
dosimeter (page 58), can be a little bewildering. There are numerous minor errors, for example on page 50 the range of independent response extends to 1000 keV not 100 keV; on page 76 the response to 1 MeV neutrons is three times not one third of the response at 6 MeV; on page 86 the cross section at 200 keV is 1.5 millibarns not 1.5 barns. These errors and obscurities may not have been present in the original Russian text. They should certainly have been removed before a second issue of the translation. The presentation of the book is below the standard one might expect at this price. The juxtaposition of widely differing type faces for text, formulae, symbols and tables in conjunction with residual evidences of translation makes it a rather trying book to read though this criticism would not apply to use for reference purposes. The line drawings are unduly heavily printed and the pictorial illustrations lack detail and constrast. No subject index is included. It is not possible to review this book without a comparison with Dr. Becker's Film Dosimetry (Focal Press, 1966) which is a considerably more polished and authoritative account of the subject with a revised bibliography listing some 900 publications dating to 1965.
M. J. HEARD