Content area
Full Text
Plant Roots, The Hidden Half, 3rd Edition. Edited by Y. WAISEL, A. ESHEL, and U. KAFKAFI. Marcel Dekker, Inc., 270 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016. 2002. Hardcover, 1120 pp., $250.00. ISBN 0-8247-0631-5.
This massive volume (in physical weight as well as comprehension) is a critical reference for anyone who is even peripherally interested in roots and root function. The book is an update and revision of the 2nd edition, with numerous author changes and chapter deletions and additions (10 more chapters than the previous edition). Most of the chapters that cover material contained in earlier editions have been extensively updated and extended. The result is a change in the tenor of the volume (for the better; the chapters and sections appear to flow more smoothly) and some changes in points of view, that are sometimes orthogonal to the similar chapters in previous edition(s). Whenever you ask others to write chapters for a book or monograph, there is always the inevitable overlap and even contrary points of view expressed by different authors. The resulting duplication is one of the better aspects of this book: The chapters are often sufficiently comprehensive to provide restatements of the same point from different angles or points of view. For example, the section on regulation of root growth has chapters on each of the five major growth substances, followed by chapters on root signals, environmental sensing, and...