Genetics Today

convened in Washington in September 1961 for a three day meeting, and this volume is the result of their deliberations. If, as did most of us, you missed the meeting but would like to know what transpired, this book provides the answers. Published, ".. . in part as an experiment. .. ," the book is a verbatim transcript of the proceedings , jests and all. The participants discussed, mostly through exchanges of fairly short statements or by questions and answers, computer instru-mentation and applications in bio-medical problems, with heavy emphasis on the electrocardiogram as a data generator. There were evidently none of the usual formal presentations, but some of the statements run to several pages. At the other extreme, some of the answers consist of a single word or two. The result conveys some of the spirit in which the meeting was conducted and gives the reader some insight into the extent to which the experts agree or disagree on various topics. Judging from the discussion, it was a very stimulating meeting to those present. This mode of presentation makes for a more pleasant type of reading than does the more usual style, in that it is more like reading a play; the reader can visualize the setting and the interchanges and interruptions as they occurred, especially if the characters are familiar. On the other hand, it is difficult to find out what conclusions were reached or to locate any definite technical facts. There is an eight-page index that seems to be accurate, but there are no illustrations and, with one questionable exception, there are no references to the literature. The organization of the discussion is of some help, as it flows from discussions of the electro-cardiogram and methods of automating its recording and interpretation, to problems of tape recording, through discussions of computers, including analog-to-digital interfaces, cost and limitations of computers, ending with a more general discussion collected under the heading, "The Philosophies for Bio-Medical Computation." This book can be recommended to those who are interested in general discussions of bio-medical electronic and computer applications and to those especially interested in applications to the analysis and interpretation of the electrocardiogram. However, for those who want a primer in computer applications, it will not be as useful as a number of other recent books, at least one with the same publisher have been segregated into 18 different categories and published, …