The authors of this book have created, with the advice and encouragement of the late Dr Alexander Wiener, an honest-to-goodness textbook in a field which has sorely needed one. Although a number of books have been published in the area of blood groups, their chief value has been as reference books and so they do not easily serve the purpose of didactic education.
The book is divided into three main parts. Part I (Principles) includes an up-to-date description of the history, immunology, and genetics of the various blood group systems. There is also a chapter on erythroblastosis fetalis which discusses in more detail than I have ever seen the anatomical basis and physiological sequelae of the disease, as well as the usual serological testing procedures. There is a very brief (a little over two pages), and thoroughly inadequate, description and discussion of blood group disease associations.
Part 2 presents a detailed review of the work in simian blood groups done by Wiener and his colleagues. The review covers tests with reagents originally made to detect human blood group antigens and tests with reagents made against simian blood cells. The work is of interest to the highly specialized immunogeneticist but can hardly be considered useful to the prime users of this book, ie, blood bankers.
Part 3 describes the techniques of blood grouping in cook-book detail. The major divisions of this section cover the techniques of typing, the tests (which tests and how done) used in medicolegal typing, and tests made before a transfusion. The section also includes a chapter on "mathematics and blood groups" a rather ingenuous title for gene frequency analysis.
The glossary is more than a dictionary; each term is defined and elaborated upon so that each entry becomes a short essay on the subject. The book concludes with a thorough index.
To note that a text is badly needed is not to propose that this volume satisfactorily meets that need. The quantity and quality of the information presented is certainly and clearly adequate for a complete comprehension of the field. However, I found it difficult to accept the text on two grounds: 1) The authors "politicize" the text by the large amount of space devoted to defending the late Dr A.S. Wiener. The number and importance of Dr Wiener's contributions is not to be challenged, but I grow weary of the constant reminders and proofs (not really relevant to an understanding of the subject at