524 BOOK REVIEWS

to the genome of somatically generated antigen-binding base sequences (VH and VL in the
immunology jargon) is good for the system, as soon as these sequences have proven their
worth. Here I totally disagree. It seems to me that the antigen-binding site that has proven
its worth in the last generation is like the successful influenza vaccine of the last generation.
Its usefulness against the current epidemic is extremely doubtful.
I recommend this book to anyone who is not afraid of finding out one's true persuasion:
a crypto-Lamarckian.
SUSUMU OHNO
City ofHope Research Institute
Duarte, California

The Chromosome in Human Cancer and Leukemia. By A. A. SANDBERG. New York: Elsevier,
1979. Pp. 748. $119.50.
This monograph by Avery Sandberg was published in 1980; it is now 1982, and a cytoge-
neticist with limited resources who may be somewhat awed by the cost of this book might
well ask whether his money would be well spent. I would answer in the affirmative for two
reasons. The first is related to the completeness of this book; the second is related to the
great efforts of the author to make the book absolutely current in 1980. Dr. Sandberg
included data from a number of papers that were still in press and not published until 1981.
The book is really an encyclopedia. Its 18 chapters cover every aspect of the chromosome
pattern in the leukemias and lymphomas and in solid tumors. The comprehensive nature of
the contents is illustrated by the following statistics: there are 102 tables, and the references
comprise 133 pages of the 750-page volume. The tables are a particularly valuable feature,
since they frequently include some clinical information as well as the karyotype and the
reference for each case. Thus, an investigator can review the tables, select those cases that
are appropriate for a particular question, review subsequent publications, and obtain a
comprehensive picture of what is known about the karyotype in a particular neoplastic
disease.
To describe this book as an encyclopedia is not to imply that it should be used only as a
reference book. The beginning chapter, on historical background, is written from the
vantage point of a scientist who was involved as an active participant in some of the key
discoveries in this very vigorous scientific field. Dr. Sandberg can present, in an authorita-
tive manner, the development of our understanding of the types of chromosome changes
that were observed in human neoplasia. Since the book spans both the 10-year study of
human tumors prior to the introduction of chromosome banding techniques and the 10-
year period when the same diseases were studied with banding, he can provide a balanced
picture of our progress during this very productive era. As a hematologist with a back-
ground in steroid metabolism as well as in cytogenetics, he focuses on the clinical relevance
of the chromosome findings besides describing the particular karyotypic abnormalities.
Like every book, this one has some flaws as well as strengths. The text is lengthy and
could have been shortened. Dr. Sandberg seems to emphasize that the chromosome changes
in many of these malignant disorders are secondary, because apparent variability and
exceptions to the characteristic karyotypic patterns can be observed. More recent data
relating specific genes to particular translocations provide evidence that at least some
karyotypic changes may be causally related to the development of neoplastic transforma-
tion. In the area of cancer cytogenetics, which is advancing so rapidly, the author might
now want to modify a number of his statements or interpretations in the light of new
knowledge acquired since 1980.
 BOOK REVIEWS 525
This book will be especially useful for anyone working on the cytogenetics of cancer.
Thus, individuals who supervise cytogenetics laboratories or pathologists who often have
responsibility for interpreting particular karyotypic findings will find this volume a unique
source of information regarding what is already known about a particular neoplastic dis-
ease. The book can also be an important reference for medical students, or for biologists
who wish to know more about the chromosome changes seen in human cancer.
That this book has filled an important need is evidenced by the fact that, despite its very
high cost ($119.50), it is now in its second printing. This is a significant reference work on
human cytogenetics that will become outdated less rapidly than many other books because
of the author's great effort to keep updating it almost until it went to press.
JANET D. ROWLEY
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois

Human Chromosomes: Structure, Behavior, Effects. By E. THERMAN. New York: Springer-

Verlag, 1980. Pp. 235. $19.80.
Each word "tells" in this concise gem of a human cytogenetics text. Subjects covered in
217 pages are mammalian chromosome methodology, banding, chromosome structure,
meiosis, aneuploidy, structural aberrations, common human aberrations, phenotype-karyo-
type relations, breaks, cancer, and gene mapping. As a Ripley's burgeoning with cytogenet-
ic oddities and facts fast and furious, this is a good review for the cytogeneticist who
thought he or she knew it all. A few of Klaus Patau's unpublished observations also appear.
It is, as intended, a complete cytogenetics text with human examples whenever possible; the
Down phenotype replaces the bar-eyed fly. The author's breadth of experience allows her to
choose lucid examples from both kingdoms when human examples are inadequate, while
her direction, explaining what the human geneticist needs to know, shuns such cul-de-sacs
as paedogenic arrhenotoky in midge mites. Superb organization makes this an excellent text
for the organization of any cytogenetics course. It is especially useful for the academic corn
or Drosophila geneticist who now must teach a human cytogenetics course. However, its
brevity has faults. For example, alteration of generations is expounded in a scant para-
graph. Such brevity makes the text confusing as a primer without a tutor, but here the tutor
can shine, using this book for organization and human examples while personally treating
select subjects in greater depth. Most of the citations were from 1975-1979, emphasizing
recent works and reviews rather than older original publications.
This gem has other flaws. High-contrast prints reproduced to low-contrast format lost
considerable latitude; some low-power mitotic figures look like homogeneous grey blobs.
False statements such as "a chromatid's structure is determined by the base ratios and
arrangement of the bases" and "a prokaryotic chromosome consists of naked DNA" reflect
a generally weak section on chromosome structure that could have been improved by
review. The generalization, "When a leukemia undergoes remission, the chromosomally
abnormal cells decrease in number or vanish altogether," is just not true for the Philadel-
phia chromosome in marrow or blood of CML patients and is an oversimplification for
AML. These objections, however, are totally overshadowed by the general quality, organi-
zation, and style of a refreshing text.
GERALD HOLMQUIST
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas