1230 J. Chem. Inf. Comput. Sci., Vol. 36, No. 6, 1996
BOOK REVIEWS
BOOK REVIEWS Preparing Scientific Illustrations: A Guide to Better Posters, Presentations, and Publications, 2nd ed. By Mary Helen Briscoe. Springer: New York. 1996. 204 pp. $29.95. ISBN 0-387-94581-4. This excellent book is the second edition of the equally good Researcher’s Guide to Scientific and Medical Illustrations (1990) by the same author. The material is better presented in the second edition but there is no significant change in content except for the section on Molecular Graphics. This is the only section that has been augmented significantly. Another useful addition in the second edition is a listing of the sources of software that was used in the book. Preparing Scientific Illustrations is an excellent desk reference for all scientists. Mary Helen Briscoe gives clear and practical suggestions on how to produce good illustrations and hence communicate well. She urges changes in the approach to communication, thinking about the purpose of communication and making an informed choice of the best medium to use. There is a chapter each on drawings, diagrams, charts, photographs, tables, molecular graphics, slides, graphs, and posters where the good and bad practices in each is demonstrated giving ample examples. The advantages and limitations of each graphical representation are also discussed. Also included are points to keep in mind while using an illustrator or while drawing by hand and guidelines to follow while preparing a figure for a journal article. Throughout the book, the importance of communicating clearly, keeping the intended audience in mind, the need for careful planning, and the time that needs to be spent on preparation is emphasized. Preparing Scientific Illustrations is an excellent book, a must-have for all scientists and libraries especially if the previous edition is not in the collection.
Jayashri Nagaraja Princeton UniVersity CI960426Q S0095-2338(96)00426-X
Information: New Questions to a Multidisciplinary Concept. Edited by Klaus Kornwachs and Konstantin Jacoby. Akademie Verlag GmbH: Berlin. 1996. 360 pp. $85.00. ISBN 3-05-501665-3. This book is a multipronged exploration into a subject so basic, so universal, so ephemeral, that few of us, the practitioners, give it much thought. Overwhelming as this subject is, Klaus Kornwachs and Konstantin Jacoby have compiled a series of essays that ask the most fundamental of questionsswhat is information. Understanding information in its smallest and most theoretical form is the focus of this monograph. Researchers and scholars from varied disciplines present the theory of information from their own disciplinary perspective. Does information exist independent of the mind? Is it matter; can it be quantified in its most elementary form, and does it exist outside of our perceptions, i.e., if a tree falls in the woods, ...? Can information be understood as a system? If so, then is it a complex or simple system? And, which is the more effective model; the complex or the simple?
The classical dichotomy of matter and mind, is this still our best philosophical understanding, or is there a more elegant model, a model consistent with modern science; the science of mind complementing the science of matter, a complementary model in lieu of the paradoxical dilemma of matter versus mind. Informationsnotion or process? Or, is information the intermediary between transmitter and receiver? Fascinating models from linguistics and its theory of information relay examples from mythology and poetry. Can information at this level be understood? This book leads the reader to believe that it is only from a scientifically based discipline that it can be explained and understood in its smallest form. It is important to understand that information per se is being discussed. Its impact, its interpretation, and its uses are not specifically the domain of this work. The term “multidisciplinary” refers mainly to the sciences: Physics, computer science, biology and systems. Linguistics, the study of language and meaning, also brings valuable theory to the forefront. Some of the more difficult chapters are from the philosophers; these works require the most disciplined of reading to capture the totality of meaning. Conspicuously absent is the perspective of 20th Century literary criticism. Much of this century’s serious literary theorists deal primarily with ideas and their manifest forms such as symbol, metaphor, and allegory. This too is information. Poetry is mentioned briefly, and there is clear reference to information in myth and mythology. This is not a criticism, rather it is a question as to why literary media are not considered information per se. Some discussion of this area would provide some disciplinary symmetry to this work. The excellent introduction provides the template upon which one can review all that is new in information theory. The review provides the reader with seminal information theory spanning the entire century, each article wrestling with this theory from its own perspective. Is this book too theoretical to be of value to the practicing information scientist? This book may not help in the design of a retrieval system, nor will it necessarily improve one’s performance at a reference desk. Nevertheless, it is a book one would want the database designer to have read. It has powerful insights into the nature of this energy, information. For those of us who work in the information industry and use its language, this book does serve a purpose. It gives one new perspectives into intelligence and its artificial offspring. Many of us now spend much of our time maneuvering between human and artificial intelligence. Intriguing theories into both the human and artificial demonstrate how similar they can be. This book, like its title, lends itself to a multidiscplinary audience. This book of essays is recommended for library collections specializing in Systems, Information Science, and Communication Arts. Both Physical and Life Science libraries should consider this as an asset to their collection.
Veronica Calderhead Rutgers CI960427I S0095-2338(96)00427-1
