veloped by, for example, Lucien Kroll for the design of the Medical Faculty at University of Louvain, Brussels and described in the Archit. Assoc. Q. Vol 7 No 4 (1975) and that of Tony Gibson from Nottingham University and pre- sented at a Design Research Society seminar in Liverpool on 1 December 1979, both using three dimensional modelling with the simple, though crude, materials of polystyrene and cardboard, would appear more appropriate.

This is a book to stimulate the designer. Its educational value is that it can help to lay the foundation for a visual thinking habit. It can be used as a reference book while designing, or dip- ping into it at will should encourage one to take up a pen and draw.

Bob Fowles, Welsh School of Architecture, UWIST, UK

Design for reliability F A Tillman, C-L Hwang and W Kuo Optimization of systems reliability Marcel Dekker, New York, NY, USA (1980) 311 pp, SFr 82.00

This book is aimed at the postgraduate level and brings together in a methodic- al way OR techniques potentially applic- able to reliability engineering. To some extent its basis is similar to the apoc- ryphal approach to Chinese Philosophy: first familiarize yourself with the topic 'China', then with the topic 'philosophy', then put the two together. In the present case for 'China' read 'reliability' and for 'philosophy' read 'optimization tech- niques'.

Reliability is reviewed in terms of system structure, whether series, paral- lel, or derivatives of these, with account also of some exceptions. The optimiza- tion techniques are reviewed under the conventional categories but with an emphasis upon non-linear integer pro- gramming. Very soon it becomes appar- ent that specific techniques are difficult to operate or that solutions obtained are non-integer and therefore not necessari- ly optimal.

Although there has been limited success in dealing with some small- scale systems little has emerged of value for large-systems. What is clear is that there is a shortage of adequate cost data. As might be expected there is no apparent reference to the now well- accepted part played by human indi-

viduals in system reliability. On the face of it there is much to

be said for the less sophisticated ways to optimization of reliability such as: using large safety factors, keeping the system simple, increasing the reliability of components, using parallel redun- dancy of standby capacity, using re- levant maintenance procedures. Some

Brief reviews J A Duffie and W A Beckman Solar engineering of thermal processes Wiley (1980) 762 pp, £18.90

This is a soundly developed reference book aimed to support calculations of process performance. Whether for ap- plications in buildings or in industrial operations the principles are the same. Subjects include: available solar radia- tion, heat transfer, absorption, be- haviour of covers and collectors, flat- plate systems, concentrators, storage, system calculations, process economics (covering discounting, life-cycle costing, and uncertainty analysis), system de- sign methods, passive heating, cooling by heating and energy production.

G L Glegg The development of design Cambridge UP, Cambridge, MA, USA (1981) 80 pp, £7.50

This short book costs almost 10 p per page. It is possibly the last of Glegg's series of four. It sets out his thoughts on the testing of new ideas accompanied by suitable anecdotes from experience. This could be put in a single diagram but it might then be seized upon as a method approach which he does not like. Equally it would take away the enjoyment of re-telling accounts of his beastliness to prototypes.

Mark Stephens Three mile island Random House (1980) 245 pp

This is an hour-by-hour account of the nuclear power station catastrophe which has shaken professionals in the US rather like the events at Flixborough in the UK and Seveso in Italy. Re- thinking is the consequence.

The account is directed at two areas: first, plant operators and their responses to the perceived problems; second, politicians' responses to the problems of the local community. Reasonable proposals to deal with the

heuristic approaches make practical sense, eg the introduction of improve- ments of the kinds just listed in the section or stage of a system having the lowest reliability and, in proceeding further, to do the same up to some limiting cost.

H Faber

operator difficulties have since been published.

The TMI incident will take a lot of living down even in countries with different technological and political cul- tures. Although we have a case history presented we know very well that the next time will be different.

Anne V Whyte and I Burton Environmental risk assessment Wiley (1980) 157 pp, £12.00

This book comes from the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environ- ment. It provides methods for tackling problems of environmental risk in which a 'best route' is to be found taking account both of the risk and social benefit. Risks involved include pollution from industry or other sources. On an overall world basis soil degradation and deforestation out- weigh inadequate disposal of waste and sewage. Modelling, comparison, benefit estimation are important major approaches. For specific systems in- volving technical risk such as fault trees, system reliability studies or design quality we have possible approaches to be selected from modelling, monitoring, testing. Examples are given.

L Bailyn Living with technology MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA (1981) 134 pp, £9.30

This book considers technical special- ists, why some flourish, and others become alienated. From field data col- lected from MIT alumni Bailyn consid- ers four career types, each of which is linked with particular value norms, aspirations, and reactions. The so-called cognitive process of research is used. A need for changes in educational approach is suggested, as well as a much enlarged range of in-company roles.

Sydney Gregory

160 DESIGN STUDIES