INT . J . RADIAT . BIOL ., 1981, VOL . 40, NO. 3, 333-334

Book Reviews

Biological Effects of Radiation . Second edition . By DANIEL S. GROSCH and LARRY E. HOPWOD .(New York, San Francisco, London: Academic Press, 1979 .) [Pp. xv+338.] £20.00 ;$30.50 .

IN their preface the authors list university students from a large number of disciplines(ranging from "fish and game conservationists" to physicists and nuclear engineers) to whomthey have delivered lectures on radiation biology; this book evidently reflects the content ofcourses given by the authors . Their stated aim was to "present an organized survey of thediverse experiments in which living material has been exposed to ionizing and exciting types ofradiations"; but the text includes also material that would not ordinarily be regarded as a partof that general field: for example, "food chains" (in the context of environmentalcontamination by radiosotopes) and the use of ionizing radiations in "pest control, foodtreatment and the sterilization of pharmaceutical products" . Within a text of 300-odd pagesdevoted to such an enormous number of subjects, it is not to be expected that any one topic canbe treated in any but a rather superficial manner . This characteristic renders it unsuitable as atext-book for any university course given in this country, even at undergraduate level; the fewpages devoted to the physics of ionizing radiations, for example, are not even of A-levelstandard .

Perhaps a book of such comprehensive coverage might be useful as a reference source-say, for students of ecology wanting an introduction to cellular radiobiology, or vice-versa ; oras an elementary introduction for people without degrees working in laboratories in which theresearch work made the book relevant . However, anyone recommending such usage wouldneed to do so with considerable reservation . There is no indication of when the first editionappeared (I have not seen it) ; but some of the material that has been retained suggests that itmust have been considerably more than ten years ago, although the authors say : "Advances inthe last decade (my italics) . . . necessitated revision of and addition to all but a few topics inevery chapter" . One wishes that the revisions and additions could have been even morethoroughgoing . For example : the reader will search in vain for definitions of the gray or thebecquerel ; agreed in 1975 . He will find only the history of the change from roentgen to rad,"finally" recommended in 1953 . There are two pages devoted to radiolysis of water, but nomention of the hydrated electron . References to the relationship between sensitization byoxygen and its partial pressure are no more recent than the 1950 work of Giles and Riley,whose test of damage was chromosomal aberration . While no scientific book, certainly no text-book, can be expected to be uniformly up-to-date and accurate, the value of a work of referencedepends to a great extent on the areas selected by the author as deserving of the effort to quotethe most recent developments .

TIKVAH ALPER

Photochemical and Photobiological Reviews, Volume 6. Edited by K . C. SMITH . (New York:Plenum, 1981 .) [Pp . 203 .] $29 . 50 .

THis is the sixth of the review series in photochemistry and photobiology edited by KendricSmith. The success of the series is reflected in its continued annual publication as scheduled .The main goal of the series is to provide a ready access to the recent literature for youngerscientists in the field and to senior scientists in related fields . Another important purpose is tooffer a critical evaluation of the direction that a field is taking or suggest a redirection whenappropriate . This volume contains articles on five different topics whose diversity makes itdifficult for one person to review critically . As with previous volumes, emphasis is given tophotobiological rather than photochemical subjects .

The first chapter, `The Blue Light Receptor(s) : Primary Reactions and subsequentMetabolic Changes' by H . Senger and W. R. Briggs, seeks to review the evidence that more

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