Marine Microbiology. By B. Austin. Pp. 222. Cambridge University Press. 1988. Hardback f27.50, US$59.50; paperback f 10.95, lJS$l9.95.

This book is aimed at giving undergraduates taking courses in marine biology or micro- biology an introduction to the specialist topic of marine microbiology. A difficult task in only 176 pages of text, but the author has adopted a readable style and has used exten- sive tables to great effect. The superficial nature of the treatment of some topics, however, detracts from the book’s overall usefulness.

Chapters on methodology and quantifica- tion of microbial populations adequately set the scene before taxonomy is covered in some detail. Unfortunately, identifying any- thing from the sketch diagrams in this chap- ter is impossible. They are very poor, as are those of the sampling apparatus earlier and spoil an otherwise well produced and printed volume. Chapters on ecology and macro- organisms follow before consideration of the deep sea, pollution, and biotechnology. The brevity of the background chapters has led to some errors: for example carbon is not a metal, hydrothermal vent fluids are not oxic. Fortunately, the microbiology seems more accurate. References are extensive and reasonably recent, with over half the 680 citations being post-1980.

For undergraduates the price is certainly competitive. However, I doubt whether the book is sufficiently detailed to be adopted as a course text; a role of ‘appetite whetter’ seems more likely.

S. .I. Wakefield

Brass & Glass. Scientific Instrument Making Workshops in Scotland. By T. N. Clarke, A. 0. Morrison-Low and A. 0. C. Simpson. Pp. 320. National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh. 1989. Paperback f25.00.

Much historical research has been published on the technical, economic, and social aspects of the Industrial Revolution, but scarcely any attention has been paid to the precision instrument-making industry. Its products for use in astronomy, surveying, navigation, physics, microscopy, meteorolo- gy, electricity, etc., both fostered and be- nefitted from the Industrial Revolution.

The National Museum of Scotland posses- ses the largest collection of Scottish-made instruments (and is also rich in instruments made elsewhere). The present book is based on that part of the holdings known as the Arthur Frank Collection, which is sufficient- ly representative to give a balanced view of the trade during the late-18th and 19th cen- turies.

The strength of the book lies in the histor-

ical accounts of some 60 workshops and retailers, whose premises were in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee or Leith. Here the two curators were joined by T. Clarke of the Scottish Record Office, and the result is a model of the genre. Each account of a firm is followed by catalogue entries, with photo- graphs, of its instruments preserved in the Frank Collection. There are 174 instruments in all, occupying a fifth of the work. Thus the bulk of this large book is devoted to the trade, and is an outstanding contribution to the history of scientific instrument making.

G. L’E. Turner

Pioneers in Polymer Science. Edited by Raymond B. Seymour. Pp. 272. Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, Dordrecht. 7989. Of/ 750.00; US$79.00; f49.00.

The importance of polymers in modern soci- ety make it very appropriate to compile a work commemorating the pioneers who have played leading roles in their scientific and technological developments. While this book goes some way towards meeting this need it is no more than partially successful. Some biographies - such as those of W. H. Carothers, Emil Fischer, Karl Ziegler, Leo Baekcland and Giulio Natta - are a pleasing blend of personal and professional descrip- tion, with adequate references. Unfortunate- ly others, such as that of Carl Marvel, are little more than a colourless catalogue. But these are faults of commission; far more serious are those of omission.

Of these the worst is J. R. Whinfield - dismissed in a single sentence, with his name misspelled and his initials wrong. The uni- formed reader would not deduce from this that polyester fibres, which Carothers in DuPont had passed over, were in fact de- veloped in Britain by ICI and that Whinfield is the acknowledged pioneer.

Again, the important silicones are sum- marily dismissed. There is a curious state- ment that ‘few chemists have investigated inorganic polymers. Some have investigated polyphosphazenes and silicones’. Five pages later there are two short paragraphs on the work of E. G. Rochow, but that is the sum total. For most historians of chemistry the first name that would come to mind in this context is surely that of F. S. Kipping, of Nottingham.

Other surprising omissions are James Swinburne, M. W. Perrien, F. 0. Gibson, E. W. Fawcett. Hans Michels, T. Svedberg, D. V. N. Hardy, C. M. A. Stine, Rowland Hill, and J. Crawford to name a few at random. The publisher’s claim that this is ‘an inspir- ational and rewarding source book for a study of the history of polymer science’, cannot be justified.

Trevor I. Williams

Schrodinger. Life and Thought. By Walter Moore. Pp. 513. Cambridge University Press. 1989. f25.00, lJS$39.50.

Erwin Schrodinger was unusual amongst the creators of the revolution in physics of this century in the breadth of the interest in physics and in the rest of the world of the intellect (except for music, which he hated) that he showed, as well as in the adventurous life he led. This is admirably captured by Walter Moore who strikes a nice balance between the physics, where he gives very full descriptions that will be readily accessible to those with an elementary knowledge of phy- sics, the adventures, and Schrodinger’s courageous stand against the Nazis (exile in Oxford, in Graz in time for the Anschluss, and finally to Dublin) and the many amours where he has the advantage over many scien- tific writers of some ravishing photographs of the ladies involved. All parts of the book are excellent, but perhaps the most useful is the helpful discussion of the ideas of quantum mechanics and the background to Schrodin- ger’s thought on the many aspects of this which it has only recently transpired that we do not at all understand.

C. W. Kilmister

From Creation to Chaos. Classic Writings in Science. Edited by Bernard Dixon. Pp. 280. Basil Blackwell, Oxford. 7989. f 75.00.

Do you believe that your scientific writing can be improved by reading well-written contributions from other scientists? Editor Bernard Dixon and his colleagues (Richard Gregory, Dorothy Hodgkin, Fred Hoyle, Peter Medawar, and Jonathan Miller) be- lieve that this is so. Together they have published this anthology which is subtitled Classic Writings in Science.

There are 65 contributions to the antholo- gy. Most are extracts from longer pieces that are (irritatingly) cut short. The subject mat- ter is very broad: it ranges from astronomy to zoology, and includes autobiography, fiction, and poetry. For me this range reduces the value of the book. If I was concerned with improving my writing I would prefer a set of examples of good writing from within my own discipline. Furthermore, these extracts are totally verbal: there are no pictures, diagrams, tables or graphs here. So we appear to be considering a particular kind of scientific writing.

The most readable pieces, I think, are those written in a personal way and addres- sed to a wide audience. Medawar’s radio talk ‘Is the Scientific Paper a Fraud?’ is one such piece which (thankfully) is included in full. Perhaps one learns more about good writing from listening to one’s prose?

James Hartley

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