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Science and technology in the USSR
interest and its mathematical accessibility makes it an important volume for workers in theoretical neuroscience. A. Muir Technology in the 1990s: Utilization of Lignocellulosic Wastes. Proceedings of a Royal Society Discussion Meeting, April 1986. Edited by B. S. Hartley, P. M. A. Broda, and P. J. Senior. Pp. 164. The Royal Society, London. 1987. f30.00 IlJK addresses); f32.00 (elsewhere).
The book is divided into three sections covering short reviews of the resources (both of which are rather superficial), biological degradation, and conversion processes. The second section includes useful reviews of cellulases and lignin degrading systems from both enzymatic and molecular biological standpoints. The molecular biology of Trichoderma cellulases (Knowles and others) would have benefitted from more space. The peroxide generating system and the lignin degrading enzymes are well reviewed and the highlight of the book is the genetic analysis of lignin degradation in a white rot fungus, by Raeder and others. The last part of the volume deals with a variety of chemical and biological strategems for the conversion of lignocellulosic materials and includes papers that will usefully introduce the mysteries of steam explosion and other chemical engineering methods to a biological reader. The biological sections of this part are reiterative of the middle section of the book, quite literally so in the caseof figure 1 (p. 551) which was previously reproduced (as figure 2 on p. 464). The book ends rather oddly with an account of the fermentative metabolism of Bacillus stearothermophilus (Hartley and others). Overall, this is a comprehensive volume that provides a useful source of references but leaves the reader with the feeling that the subject has become rather stale and the quest for an effective process for harnessing the vast natural resource of lignocellulose (by methods other than simply burning it) is some way from its goal. .I. H. Parish Pharmaceutical Technology. Tableting Technology Vol. 1. Edited by Michael H. Rubinstein. Pp. 204. Ellis Hotwoood, Chichester. 1987. f35.00.
This book is no more than an edited collection of research papers on aspectsof tablet making which were originally presented at the 5th Pharmaceutical Technology Conference in Harrogate, U.K., from S-10 April 1986. It is well produced and there is a subject index. The topics covered range from an ‘Evaluation of a new cellulose material as a binding agent
for the direct compression of tablets’ to ‘Polymorphic transitions of carbamazepine during grinding and compression’. The papers follow the usual format of Introduction, Experimental Results, and Discussion and to this extent they are indistinguishable from similar contributions in scientific journals like Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Powder Technology, Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, etc. This leads one to ask
what particular purpose is served by collecting 16 such papers into a hard-back cover and offering them for sale at a price of f35. Formulation scientists in the pharmaceutical industry, graduate students, doctoral candidates in pharmacy, chemistry, and engineering to whom this book is addressed may well prefer to write to the authors in whose work they may be interested and ask for reprints in the usual way. N. Pilpel
Science and Technology in the USSR. Edited by Michael J. Berry. Pp. 424. Longman, Harlow. 1987. f63.00.
policy a different and more fruitful relationship can be established. This said, it must be stressed that the work contains a wealth of concisely and systematically displayed information. The first part, roughly one-third, deals in a general way with the history and current organization of science and technology in Russia, including the whole of the Academy of Science, the educational system, and the government research network. The second part concerns itself with specific areas from mathematics and computers to medical research and environmental protection. The work concludes with a postscript assessing important policy decisions taken in July and September 1987, to be introduced in 1988. There is also an index of the main organizations referred to. Here and throughout the work the British Standard system of transliteration is used, but the reader should note that this is not the same as, for example, the IS0 system often used by UNESCO and OECD. Trevor I. Williams
Over the last few years Longman have made an extensive and very valuable contribution to the systematic documenting of the international organization of science and technology. This they have done through two main series of works: Reference on Research and Guides
Annual Review of Computer Science, Vol. 1,1986; Vol. 2,1987. Edited by Joseph F. Traub, Barbara J. Crosz, Butler W. Lampson and Nils J. Nilsson. Pp. 459; Pp. 565. Hardback $39.00 (USA & Canada); $42.00 (elsewhere) each vol.
to World Science and Technology.
The Annual Reviews series started in 1932, with the Annual Review of Biochemistry: since then a further 26 series have been started, of which the Annual Review of Computer Science is the latest. The aim of these Reviews is to survey significant developments in their subject area and even, it is claimed, to assist in the definition of the subject. I feel that it is over-optimistic to foresee the time when ‘the domain of the Annual Review of Computer Science will become the operational definition of computer science.’ The books are aimed at practising professionals in the field, and so will be of little interest to the general reader. Computer scientists will perhaps dip into these volumes, but will not find them indispensable. What depressesme is the evidence the volumes give of the continuing trend of computer science awayfromreal-worldcomputing.Thecontents lists make the subject seem very esoteric, and the articles totally ignore the really exciting developments in personal computers and workstations, and the innovative software that is being developed for these machines. Most computer scientists dismiss this as beneath them: so much the worse for them and their subject.
In this latest Guide they essay the formidable task of delineating what goes on in the Russian world of science and technology. An Editor, M. J. Berry of the Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University of Birmingham, has assembled a dozen well qualified colleagues - a number associated in one way or another with CREES - to assist him. To say that the result is somewhat patchy is not to imply any criticism of them: it reflects not only the severe problems of language and transliteration but also the extreme difficulty of establishing direct lines of communication with institutions and individuals in the USSR. My own discouraging experience over many years is that letters are simply not acknowledged. Peter Blandon’s excellent chapter on Forestry epitomises the problem: ‘Contacting Soviet forestry experts directly is a difficult business attendances at international conferences tend to be rather few’. To pursue an agricultural analogy, it is difficult to peel off more than the outer layers of the onion. How far the difficulty stems from official discouragement of the person-to-person communication which is normal in the west, and how far from the sheer inertia of a vast bureaucracy is difficult to tell, but it is very much to be hoped that under the new glasnost
D. W. Barron
151
The book is divided into three sections covering short reviews of the resources (both of which are rather superficial), biological degradation, and conversion processes. The second section includes useful reviews of cellulases and lignin degrading systems from both enzymatic and molecular biological standpoints. The molecular biology of Trichoderma cellulases (Knowles and others) would have benefitted from more space. The peroxide generating system and the lignin degrading enzymes are well reviewed and the highlight of the book is the genetic analysis of lignin degradation in a white rot fungus, by Raeder and others. The last part of the volume deals with a variety of chemical and biological strategems for the conversion of lignocellulosic materials and includes papers that will usefully introduce the mysteries of steam explosion and other chemical engineering methods to a biological reader. The biological sections of this part are reiterative of the middle section of the book, quite literally so in the caseof figure 1 (p. 551) which was previously reproduced (as figure 2 on p. 464). The book ends rather oddly with an account of the fermentative metabolism of Bacillus stearothermophilus (Hartley and others). Overall, this is a comprehensive volume that provides a useful source of references but leaves the reader with the feeling that the subject has become rather stale and the quest for an effective process for harnessing the vast natural resource of lignocellulose (by methods other than simply burning it) is some way from its goal. .I. H. Parish Pharmaceutical Technology. Tableting Technology Vol. 1. Edited by Michael H. Rubinstein. Pp. 204. Ellis Hotwoood, Chichester. 1987. f35.00.
This book is no more than an edited collection of research papers on aspectsof tablet making which were originally presented at the 5th Pharmaceutical Technology Conference in Harrogate, U.K., from S-10 April 1986. It is well produced and there is a subject index. The topics covered range from an ‘Evaluation of a new cellulose material as a binding agent
for the direct compression of tablets’ to ‘Polymorphic transitions of carbamazepine during grinding and compression’. The papers follow the usual format of Introduction, Experimental Results, and Discussion and to this extent they are indistinguishable from similar contributions in scientific journals like Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Powder Technology, Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, etc. This leads one to ask
what particular purpose is served by collecting 16 such papers into a hard-back cover and offering them for sale at a price of f35. Formulation scientists in the pharmaceutical industry, graduate students, doctoral candidates in pharmacy, chemistry, and engineering to whom this book is addressed may well prefer to write to the authors in whose work they may be interested and ask for reprints in the usual way. N. Pilpel
Science and Technology in the USSR. Edited by Michael J. Berry. Pp. 424. Longman, Harlow. 1987. f63.00.
policy a different and more fruitful relationship can be established. This said, it must be stressed that the work contains a wealth of concisely and systematically displayed information. The first part, roughly one-third, deals in a general way with the history and current organization of science and technology in Russia, including the whole of the Academy of Science, the educational system, and the government research network. The second part concerns itself with specific areas from mathematics and computers to medical research and environmental protection. The work concludes with a postscript assessing important policy decisions taken in July and September 1987, to be introduced in 1988. There is also an index of the main organizations referred to. Here and throughout the work the British Standard system of transliteration is used, but the reader should note that this is not the same as, for example, the IS0 system often used by UNESCO and OECD. Trevor I. Williams
Over the last few years Longman have made an extensive and very valuable contribution to the systematic documenting of the international organization of science and technology. This they have done through two main series of works: Reference on Research and Guides
Annual Review of Computer Science, Vol. 1,1986; Vol. 2,1987. Edited by Joseph F. Traub, Barbara J. Crosz, Butler W. Lampson and Nils J. Nilsson. Pp. 459; Pp. 565. Hardback $39.00 (USA & Canada); $42.00 (elsewhere) each vol.
to World Science and Technology.
The Annual Reviews series started in 1932, with the Annual Review of Biochemistry: since then a further 26 series have been started, of which the Annual Review of Computer Science is the latest. The aim of these Reviews is to survey significant developments in their subject area and even, it is claimed, to assist in the definition of the subject. I feel that it is over-optimistic to foresee the time when ‘the domain of the Annual Review of Computer Science will become the operational definition of computer science.’ The books are aimed at practising professionals in the field, and so will be of little interest to the general reader. Computer scientists will perhaps dip into these volumes, but will not find them indispensable. What depressesme is the evidence the volumes give of the continuing trend of computer science awayfromreal-worldcomputing.Thecontents lists make the subject seem very esoteric, and the articles totally ignore the really exciting developments in personal computers and workstations, and the innovative software that is being developed for these machines. Most computer scientists dismiss this as beneath them: so much the worse for them and their subject.
In this latest Guide they essay the formidable task of delineating what goes on in the Russian world of science and technology. An Editor, M. J. Berry of the Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University of Birmingham, has assembled a dozen well qualified colleagues - a number associated in one way or another with CREES - to assist him. To say that the result is somewhat patchy is not to imply any criticism of them: it reflects not only the severe problems of language and transliteration but also the extreme difficulty of establishing direct lines of communication with institutions and individuals in the USSR. My own discouraging experience over many years is that letters are simply not acknowledged. Peter Blandon’s excellent chapter on Forestry epitomises the problem: ‘Contacting Soviet forestry experts directly is a difficult business attendances at international conferences tend to be rather few’. To pursue an agricultural analogy, it is difficult to peel off more than the outer layers of the onion. How far the difficulty stems from official discouragement of the person-to-person communication which is normal in the west, and how far from the sheer inertia of a vast bureaucracy is difficult to tell, but it is very much to be hoped that under the new glasnost
D. W. Barron
151