BOOK REVIEWS
613
Donald Hamilton, The Evolving Universe, Astrophysics and Space Science Library 321, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 433 pp., 1998, Dfl. 325,00/US $175.00/GB £110.00, ISBN 0-7923-5074-X. The Evolving Universe claims to be a conference proceeding with a difference: work by younger scientists is highlighted, and the authors were encouraged to extend their papers into longer and more reflective reviews if they wished. It meets the first goal, and in a number of instances the second one as well (notably a clear and detailed review of distortions in redshift surveys of galaxies, and the values of cosmological parameters those distortions reveal). Other topics include useful summaries of extant and future redshift surveys, luminosity functions of galaxies, galaxy counts and what we learn from the properties and statistics of Lyman-alpha absorbing systems. The book is intended and suitable for graduate students studying cosmology and large-scale structure, but contains a number of papers that would be useful to a broader range of astronomers as well. The topics are presented in approximate order of increasing redshift (e.g., the faint end of the luminosity function, then evidence for clustering at z ∼ 1, Lyman-alpha surveys, and finally a search for primeval galaxies). That ordering emphasizes the importance of careful observational work at low redshifts (z . 1), sometimes lost sight of as we strain to push the observations to higher and higher redshifts. Haverford College, Haverford, PA, U.S.A.
R. B. PARTRIDGE
Arnab Rai Choudhuri, The Physics of Fluids and Plasmas: An Introduction for Astrophysicists, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 427 pp., 1998, paperback GB £19.95, ISBN 0-521-55543-4. The important role of plasma physics in modern astrophysics is becoming increasinly recognized. An introduction to fluid and plasma physics for astrophysicists is therefore very timely. The present book is aimed primarily at graduate students in astrophysics. Neutral fluids and plasmas are treated sequentially rather than within the framework an all-encompassing general theory, but both are treated from a unified point of view and in both microscopic and macroscopic formalisms. The plasma part constitutes just over half of the text. Fluid mechanics and plasma physics are treated as logically coherent subjects with astrophysical applications, rather than as tools for solving selected astrophysical problems. In the astrophysical applications, the author has limited the use of specialized terminology, in order to make the book accessible also outside the astrophysical community.
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BOOK REVIEWS
The book’s usefulness as a textbook is enhanced by the exercises that follow each chapter and by the lists of formulas, natural constants and (a few) basic plasma parameters at the end of the book. The c.g.s. system is used. Suggestions for further reading are included, in addition to an index and a list of references. Alfvén Laboratory, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
C ARL -G UNNE FÄLTHAMMAR
