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The biology of cancer, a new approach
166
BOOKREVIEWS
Encyclopaedia of Computer Science and Technology, Volume 5, ed. by J. Belzer, A. G. Holzman and A. Kent, Marcel Dekker Inc., New York, 1976, pp. 506. Price
Swiss Francs 285. The reviewer is no more enamoured of this fifth volume of the Encyclopaedia than of the fourth. It consists onceagain of a series of essays, mostly at a fairly elementary level, The coverage is clearly incomplete. We have, for example, an entry of over 100 pages on Computer-Aided Composition followed by 23 pages on Computer-Aided Instruction but only two pages on Computer-Aided Design added as an afterthought to the chapter on Computer Graphics. More amazingly, Computer itself has no entry at all. Other entries would not have been out of place. How about Coincident Current Memory, Complement (as in Complement Arithmetic), Clock (as in Clock Pulse) and so on, ad nauseam. The publishers have clearly set themselves and their authors an impossible task. Reading briefly through some of the entries suggests that there does not exist a clear definition of the ground to be covered by the Encyclopaedia or of the audience at whom it is directed. This reviewer can only suggest that the project be abandoned. M.M.
LEHMAN
The Biology of Cancer, a New Approach, by P. R. L. Burch, MTP Press Ltd,
Lancaster, England, 1976, pp. 452, 38 pp. of references. Price: f12.95. Cancer remains a mystery despite all our efforts. It is one of the most dreaded diseases and yet neoplastic changes may be present in the body and remain symptomless and painless for a great many years and one may die before cancer will become diagnosed. The author of this book assumes that ‘natural malignant neoplasms’ result from random errors of central control cells. His concept of cancer ‘as a large group of genetically determined and usually fatal diseases’ is so general that it can be applied to life itself. Every baby is born with a genetically determined and fatal condition; its life will end in death without a shadow of doubt. Yet what is important are the additional factors which, when superimposed, can make life painful, or cat it short, instead of allowing it to continue happily for three score and ten years. In cancer, whether in man or animals, besides genetic predisposition, various other factors appear to operate: viral, immunological, physical or chemical. Some of the agents are environmental and it might be possible either to eliminate or to control-or at least to minimise-their hazards. The experimentalists among the cancer researchers who try to recognise such environmental factors, regardless of whether these accelerate the appearance of an existing condition or start it de nouo, will have little empathy with this book, as the author recognised himself.
BOOKREVIEWS
167
It seems to me that everybody who deals with the problem of cancer should perform a simple experiment on a few mice or rats of similar genetic background. To observe how tumours develop in those animals which had a few exposures to a carcinogenic agent, while their siblings kept as controls remain tumour-free till death, is an experience worth volumes of arguments. However, it may be salutary to read this book summarising a great many papers (38 pages of references), selected in support of the author’s view on the unavoidable occurrence of ‘natural malignant neoplasms’. It is a comfort to feel that the actual problem of cancer is not as bleak as presented in this book. R. SCHOENTAL
BOOKREVIEWS
Encyclopaedia of Computer Science and Technology, Volume 5, ed. by J. Belzer, A. G. Holzman and A. Kent, Marcel Dekker Inc., New York, 1976, pp. 506. Price
Swiss Francs 285. The reviewer is no more enamoured of this fifth volume of the Encyclopaedia than of the fourth. It consists onceagain of a series of essays, mostly at a fairly elementary level, The coverage is clearly incomplete. We have, for example, an entry of over 100 pages on Computer-Aided Composition followed by 23 pages on Computer-Aided Instruction but only two pages on Computer-Aided Design added as an afterthought to the chapter on Computer Graphics. More amazingly, Computer itself has no entry at all. Other entries would not have been out of place. How about Coincident Current Memory, Complement (as in Complement Arithmetic), Clock (as in Clock Pulse) and so on, ad nauseam. The publishers have clearly set themselves and their authors an impossible task. Reading briefly through some of the entries suggests that there does not exist a clear definition of the ground to be covered by the Encyclopaedia or of the audience at whom it is directed. This reviewer can only suggest that the project be abandoned. M.M.
LEHMAN
The Biology of Cancer, a New Approach, by P. R. L. Burch, MTP Press Ltd,
Lancaster, England, 1976, pp. 452, 38 pp. of references. Price: f12.95. Cancer remains a mystery despite all our efforts. It is one of the most dreaded diseases and yet neoplastic changes may be present in the body and remain symptomless and painless for a great many years and one may die before cancer will become diagnosed. The author of this book assumes that ‘natural malignant neoplasms’ result from random errors of central control cells. His concept of cancer ‘as a large group of genetically determined and usually fatal diseases’ is so general that it can be applied to life itself. Every baby is born with a genetically determined and fatal condition; its life will end in death without a shadow of doubt. Yet what is important are the additional factors which, when superimposed, can make life painful, or cat it short, instead of allowing it to continue happily for three score and ten years. In cancer, whether in man or animals, besides genetic predisposition, various other factors appear to operate: viral, immunological, physical or chemical. Some of the agents are environmental and it might be possible either to eliminate or to control-or at least to minimise-their hazards. The experimentalists among the cancer researchers who try to recognise such environmental factors, regardless of whether these accelerate the appearance of an existing condition or start it de nouo, will have little empathy with this book, as the author recognised himself.
BOOKREVIEWS
167
It seems to me that everybody who deals with the problem of cancer should perform a simple experiment on a few mice or rats of similar genetic background. To observe how tumours develop in those animals which had a few exposures to a carcinogenic agent, while their siblings kept as controls remain tumour-free till death, is an experience worth volumes of arguments. However, it may be salutary to read this book summarising a great many papers (38 pages of references), selected in support of the author’s view on the unavoidable occurrence of ‘natural malignant neoplasms’. It is a comfort to feel that the actual problem of cancer is not as bleak as presented in this book. R. SCHOENTAL