Book reviews The Background of Ecology. Concept and Theory. By Robert P. McIntosh. Pp. 383. Cambridge University Press. 1985. f30.00 ($39.50).

This book is the latest in the ‘Cambridge Studies in Ecology’ series. The stated aim of the author is to provide a general, although not a wholly comprehensive. review of the origins, development, and current problems of ecology; I think he has generally been successful in achieving this objective. The book begins with a review of the emergence of ecology as a discipline from the back- ground of nineteenth century natural his- tory, biogeography, and physiology. Then comes a fairly detailed historical account of dynamic and community ecology and population ecology followed by two chap- ters which outline the development of ecosystem ecology and theoretical ecology from the 1920s to the present. The final chapter traces the links between ecology, conservation, and the environmental move- ment. These divisions are somewhat arbit- rary and there is inevitably some overlap in content.

Although concentrating mainly on Anglo- American ecology this book is a detailed but readable account of the historical and philo- sophical aspects of the development of the subject. It contains many interesting quota- tions and amusing anecdotes. I found it quite enthralling and difficult to put aside. At f30, however, I doubt whether many will purchase a personal copy but it will be a valuable addition to the library. I hope it will be widely read by ecologists and biolog- ists in general.

M. S. Davies

The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. Edited by A. Friday and D. S. Ingram. Pp. 432. Cambridge University Press. 1985. f25.00 ($45.00).

This multiauthor volume attempts to cover biological sciences in just over 400 pages of double column print interrupted by many diagrams and photographs. Inevitably, the treatment is uneven; some chapters read like catalogues of species while others give good discussions. The first third, ‘Processes and organisation’, starts from cell structure and biochemistry, moves on to morphology and physiology of plants and animals and then tackles genetics, behaviour, and ecolo- gy. The middle third, ‘Environments’, con- cerns features and communities in seas, freshwaters, and on land and concludes with organisms as environments for parasites. Last comes ‘Evolution and the fossil re- cord’, concluding with the recent history of fauna and flora and a brief classification: no

Endeavour, New Series, Volume 10, No. 1, 1986. 0160-9327166 go.00 + so. 0 1986. Pergamon Press. Printed in Great Britain.

mention here of Lamarck, Wallace, or cla- distics.

A reader knowing no biology would need to work through from the beginning because later sections build on ideas and terms used earlier; there is no glossary. Professional biologists will probably criticise the treat- ment of those areas they know but may find other chapters stimulating. This encyclo- paedia would probably be most useful to someone with about O-level biology who could dip into and understand the ideas in any section that looked interesting.

Margaret E. Variey

Global Change. Edited by T. F. Malone and J. G. Roederer. Pp. 572. Cambridge University Press. 1985. f35.00 ($59.50).

Many global problems can be seen as a result of modern science and technology being harnessed to outdated attitudes, poli- cies, and rivalries; e.g., those related to anthropogenic environmental changes, non- renewable resource depletion, ‘North- South’ disparities, and the escalating poten- tial for catastrophic war. Any coordinated attempt to solve them evidently remains outside the scope of contemporary diploma- cy. Yet grounds for optimism exist. The ICSU symposium proceedings ‘Global Change’ illustrate the growing and in- creasingly important international coopera- tion between scientists, especially through the machinery of the non-governmental organization of ICSU and of the UN agen- cies. However, they also illustrate the need for improved coordination and liaison, one role envisaged for UNEP (p. 329). The number of relevant organizations and inevit- ably over-lapping programmes are indicated by the bewildering array of abbreviations and acronyms cited. The symposium was essentially concerned with worldwide moni- toring and research as a vital step towards an effective system of forecasting and planetary management, and with the newly- proposed International Geosphere - Bios- phere Programme (IGBP). Forty contribu- tions from fifteen countries (including China and the USSR) also discuss the immensely complex interactions between planetary rotation, insolation. atmosphere, ocean, land, and biomass; and objectives, relevant timescales, methodology, and priorities for the new IGBP. A need is also indicated for more adequate scientific evidence than that implied by some recent publications before global trends and their possible climatic or ecological significance can be usefully quan- tified, e.g., in relation to atmospheric CO? and ozone levels. The proceedings in loto provide authoritative and informative, but not light, reading for the non-specialist.

F. P. W. Winteringham

The European Energy Challenge. East and West. By George W. Hoffman. Pp. 207. Duke University Press, London. 1985. f34.75.

It is rare to find a treatment of such an extensive topic which is so thorough, well-

informed, and neatly constructed. Today’s energy problems in both East and West Europe are analysed with their origin in the oil shocks of 1973/4 and 1979. Trends in energy consumption and the Continent’s endowment of energy resources are re- viewed with the aid of many useful tables and maps. One chapter considers what scope exists for improvement in end-use efficiency and conservation programmes in various countries, paying particular atten- tion to the problem posed by existing infras- tructure to fuel substitution. The growing importance of the USSR as a European energy supplier is discussed in some detail, being a particularly welcome addition to the literature. Another very useful discussion which benefits from a European context is the problem of security of energy supplies where such options as an international high- pressure gas grid and a strategic European reserve are considered.

The only complaint is the poor index. David Collingridge

Aspects of Matter in Science Today. Discussions with Emile No&l. Translated and edited by W. J. Duffin. Pp. 196. W. J. Duffin, North Humberside. 7985. Paperback f3.95. State of the World. A Worldwatch Institute Report on Progress Toward a Sustainable Society. Edited by Linda Starke. Pp. 301. W. Norton, New York. Distributed by Wiley, Chichester. Cloth f 18.95 ($22.00), Paperback f7.95 ($9.50).

M. Noel describes his aim in compiling this discussion volume as ‘to try to understand the laws regulating what is commonly called matter, using neither specialist jargon nor mathematical language; to try to define the limits of the known and the knowable; and to find out what the discourse of science can bring us and what must not be expected from it’. The final product, based on trans- cripts of a radio series broadcast by France- Culture, satisfied these requirements, but in a somewhat systematic manner. Although individual chapters focus on individual inter- viewees and topics (elementary particles, the origin of matter, anti-matter, plasmas, the technology of materials .) some are tightly structured and others discursive. One is heavily foot-noted and has a similarly- sized appendix ‘for the non-specialist read- er’. All of the expected information is there, in other words, but it does not emerge in the best shape or form. Although admirably up-to-date, and with unusual breadth pro- vided by one historian and one philosopher, this is not a book to be recommended to those wanting a clear and enticing primer.

‘The threats to progress that the world faces today are of such immense proportions that people from all walks of life will have to participate in solving them,’ writes Lester Brown, concluding this latest survey from the Worldwatch Institute. Covering the same basic issues as the first report last year, it adopts several different perspectives - in dealing with population-induced climatic

50

change, for example. The book contains an astonishing concentration of factual in- formation, while remaining highly readable. It ends, appropriately enough, with ques- tions of complexity and leadership after surveying topics ranging from freshwater management to the conservation of biologic- al diversity, from population growth to the protection of forests. This is a review which ought to be on the shelf of every concerned citizen and every scientist interested in the push-pull interplay between the worlds of science and technology, and the condition of our planet and its animal, plant, and micro- bial inhabitants.

Bernard Dixon

The Cambridge Atlas of Astronomy. Edited by J. Audouze and G. Israel. Pp. 432. Cambridge University Press. 7985. f29.95 until 31.72.85, then f40.00.

This is a splendid book, as much an encyc- lopaedia as an atlas. An international team of more than 40 specialists has combined to produce a work which is a veritable mine of information on astronomy today.

‘The Cambridge Atlas of Astronomy’ contains five main sections - Sun, Solar System, Stars and the Galaxy, the Extraga- lactic Domain and the Scientific Perspective. Well over one hundred individual topics are covered. A typical two-page spread (many entries are longer) is full of facts and figures in an easily readable form. Subjects covered are as diverse as the solar wind, the Martian soil, Wolf-Rayet stars, the intergalactic medium, and the history of astronomy. There is also a useful glossary of more important terms.

Throughout the book, the text is profuse- ly illustrated with 1100 photographs and diagrams, 650 of which are in colour. Photo- graphs are of high quality, ample use being made of the latest images from space. In general, diagrams are clearly and attractive- ly executed.

The publishers describe this work as ‘the most comprehensive reference book on astronomy available in a single volume’. It would be difficult indeed to dispute such a claim. This fine work should appeal to a very wide readership - from the professional astronomer to anyone with only the most casual interest in astronomy. It is an excel- lent buy.

F. R. Stephenson

Active Galactic Nuclei. Edited by J. E. Dyson. Pp. 383. Manchester University Press. 1985. Paperback f20.00.

In 1963, some starlike objects associated with cosmic radio sources were discovered to have large redshifts. If this redshift were due to the expansion of the universe (the Hubble law), then these objects had the amazing property of being hundreds of times more luminous than entire galaxies, even though the power output was concen

trated in a region smaller than our Solar System.

Thousands of these ‘quasars’ are now known; moreover. it has become clear that quasars are just the most extreme instances of the general phenomenon of ‘violent activ- ity’ in galactic nuclei. Some runaway catas- trophe seems to have occurred in the cen- tres of many galaxies. leading probably to the formation of a black hole millions (or even billions) of times more massive than the Sun. Theorists are now trying to under- stand how this happens, and how gravita- tional energy is efficiently converted into the optical, radio, and x-ray emission that is observed. This enterprise is at the same level as our knowledge of stellar structure and evolution was 50 years ago: we are still unsure of the primary energy generation mechanism in active galactic nuclei; nor do we understand how the power is reproces- sed (often in much more extended region) into the radiation actually seen.

Quasars still engender boisterous con- troversy: the subject has not yet reached the stage where definitive textbooks or mono- graphs can be written. The proceedings of specialised conferences are therefore the basic literature available in book form. The ‘coming of age’ of quasars in 1984 was marked by an international conference held in Manchester, which offered a timely opportunity to assess progress. The pub- lished proceedings report the latest data in all wavebands, and discussions of some currently-favoured theoretical models. Sci- entists seeking to learn the Havour of the subject could do no better than read the introductory chapter by Hazard (himself the co-discoverer of quasars), and the summary chapter by Pagel. The 3X)-odd pages be- tween these two fine contributions, though generally of high quality, are primarily of specialist interest.

M. .I. Rees

Theory and Experiment in Gravitational Physics. By C. M. Will. Pp. 342. Cambridge University Press. (Hardback version 1987.) Paperback, 1985. f 75.00.

Until quite recently relativistic theories of gravitation had a reputation of being dif- ficult to refute. Their testable predictions were often either indistinguishable from Newtonian predictions or beyond the pow- ers of experimental detection. C. Will has attempted the task of testing theories of gravitation using modern experimental tech- niques and a PPN (pdrameterised post- Newtonian) formalism that looks for effects that supplement the classical Newtonian effects. His classification of different theore- tical models owes much to a hierarchy of ‘equivalence principles’ and the role played by the metric in such theories (models based on connections with torsion or non-metric connections are dismissed in passing). As one who has always regarded the equiva- lence principle as useful scaffolding in the development of gravitational theory rather

than as a foundation for the whole edifice, I was eager to understand the logical struc- ture that followed from such a classification. The book’s theoretical development, however, followed a traditional component- oriented approach and resorted to ‘rules of thumb’ when the curved space prescriptions became ambiguous.

I felt somewhat uneasy in many calcula- tions where physical terms were being used at crucial steps without being precisely in- troduced. I would have wished to avoid a not truly measurable spin precession’ half way through a calculation on the inertial drag experienced by a gyroscope. However, the book has much to recommend it. It contains a wealth of modern experimental information that I found fascinating and is not to be found succinctly elsewhere. It leaves one feeling that the author is contri- buting to a developing and exciting area in gravitational physics.

R. W. Tucker

Surnames and Genetic Structure. By G. W. Lasker. Pp. 148. (Cambridge Studies in Biological Anthropology) Cambridge University Press. 1985. f 75.00 ($24.95).

This book is concerned mainly with the use of the frequencies of marriages between people of the same surname to estimate the level of inbreeding in a population. The coefficient of inbreeding of an individual is the probability that the two genes of any locus are identical by descent; that is, copies of some single gene possessed by a common ancestor of the individual’s parents. The coefficient is important in human genetics because of its implications for the probabil- ity that an individual is homozygous for genes that are harmful when present in ‘double dose’. In many societies the family name is the male surname. Then, in the commonest cases of marriage of relatives, such as marriage of first cousins. the in- breeding coefficient of the children will be four times the probability that the husband and wife had the same surname before marriage. The overall frequencies of the surnames in the population can be used to see if there is any tendency for marriages between people of the same surname, who may therefore be related, to be more or less frequent than would be expected by chance.

The use of the frequency of same-name marriages to estimate the average inbreed- ing in a population has advantages and disadvantages compared with the study of pedigrees. Pedigrees are often available for only a limited number of generations and only for selected families. The main difficul- ties with the use of surnames are the assumption of the unique origin of every name and the complications caused by migration and by geographical and social stratification affecting the choice of mar- riage partners.

This book presents the ideas and limita- tions of the method with many examples based on real data. Unfortunately, it is not

51