This book gives a good survey and is, therefore, of special value for students, researchers and technicians in microbiology, immunology, pharmacology and pharmacy. As the author himself writes in the preface it represents his "own personal distillate of statistical insights and techniques which he, as a laboratory biologist, believes may be useful to others with similar interests".
The book is written in a relaxed and familiar style. This, in fact, not only contributes to the book's readability but also is a way to overcome the "math-phobia" of the students for whom it is intended. The book is not a candy-coated approach to a hard subject, however, the author pays close attention to the important issues in the experimental statistics. Wherr mathematical formulas are given sufficient conceptual and intuitive explanations are offered t o make these readily understood.
The book makes effective use of tables and figures. Kumerous sections with subtitles allow to read selectively or use the text as a reference. The level of the required statistical knowledge is low, however, also the experienced statistician who wants t o know what statistical methods in microbiology are all about may have his profit from reading this book.
It starts with a chapter on "a simplr laboratory exercise" and continues with descriptive statistics, significance tests (t-test, F-test, U-test, WILCOXON'S test, sign test) and the statistical treatment of proportion and rount data. Design of experiments and analysis of variance are covered in two chapters. After defining regression and correlation, an introduction to parallel-line and sloperatio assay is given. Following these chapters, 50 up-to-data references are given. The index is detailed and accurate. The book also provides a glossary containing definitions of statistical terms. An appendix of 17 tables is given. These tables range from a list of random numbers to percentiles of common distributions and most probable numbers.