Although the following book review is not of direct interest
to medical physics I found the book to be sufficiently
interesting that I suspect others might like to obtain a copy too.
It has been suggested that I post this review to this list as the
subscribers may well find it of some interest.
 
--------------------
 
Book review: The Matrix: Computer Networks and Conferencing
Systems Worldwide by John S. Quarterman.  Digital Press,
Bedford, MA (1990), $60.00 (Can)
 
In 1986 Quarterman and Hoskins published a paper entitled
"Notable Computer Networks" [1] which became recognized as a
comprehensive review of the many networks facilitating
electronic communication throughout the world.  That paper has
become recognized as the basic reference on the subject.  "The
Matrix" is a natural successor to that earlier paper.  The
book reflects the rapid changes that have taken place in the
past three years and is also much more comprehensive in its
coverage.
 
Including the Index (60 pages alone), The Matrix has 719 pages
covering 21 chapters and two appendices.  The book is divided
naturally into two parts.  Part I covers the background and
includes chapters that deal with the more technical aspects
on international networks - the various standards; the
communications protocols and management protocols; how the
networks are administered; their history and their future.
 
The second part of the book (the remaining 13 chapters)
describe The Matrix itself and the many components that go to
make up that matrix throughout the world.  Quarterman
describes The Matrix as a "worldwide metanetwork of connected
computer networks and conferencing systems that are like, yet
unlike, those of telephones, post offices and libraries."
 
Having painted a picture of The Matrix in Chapter 9,
Quarterman provides an overview of worldwide networks in
Chapter 10 and The Internet in Chapter 11.  The remaining
chapters divide the world into segments - North America,
Europe, Australasia, Far East, Southeast Asia, South Asia,
Latin America, Middle East, Africa and Commercial Systems.
Each chapter describes the networks within the region and the
countries that make up those regions, giving details such as
the protocols used, the interconnections available, the
history and plans for future development and, finally, an
address, both e-mail and postal, for access to further
details.
 
The two appendices describe the Public Data Networks (PDN's)
in the various regions of the world and the law as it relates
to computer mediated communications.
 
This book makes one appreciate that the political walls that
have been tumbling over the past few months of 1989 were
largely transparent to electronic communication.  The Warsaw
pact countries are linked by X.25 connections to IASnet - the
"network for Socialist countries".  IASnet is connected to
other networks via RADAUS run by Radio Austria, and Datapak
- the Finnish public data network.  IASnet was still being
implemented in August, 1988 but no doubt we can expect
stronger ties to the western world to develop in the near
future.
 
China, too, is connected to the rest of the world.  A CSNET
link between Beijing and Karlsruhe, West Germany was
established in September, 1987.  In addition, there is a UUCP
link to HARNET in Hong Kong and a 1200 baud Kermit link to
Vienna, Austria.
 
It is useful to cite these networks in the East Bloc and China
because they indicate the extraordinarily comprehensive
coverage of this book.  It is possible to look up almost any
country in the world in the very complete index to discover
if there is electronic communication to that country and what
form it takes.  For example, having visited Nepal myself and
experienced the primitive communication infrastructure of that
country, I was both surprised and pleased to see that the Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN)
has contributed to the support of a network (CGNET) that
reaches into many developing nations, including Nepal, to
provide support in the development of improved food
production.
 
"The Matrix" is not a book from which the average Nuclear
Medicine or Medical Physics Department will benefit.  It is
an extremely comprehensive and, considering the enormous
amount of research that must have been entailed in its
production, a very much up-to-date compendium of the
international computer networks.  It will prove valuable to
any one charged with the responsibility of maintaining a local
e-mail node and provide an invaluable resource for the local
postmaster and maintainer of any e-mail system.
 
The back cover cites several comments by persons well versed
in the field and perhaps the one that reflects my own
impression best is that by John Demco of CDNnet and Ean
Networks, Canada - "The Matrix... is well organized, thorough
and evenhanded.  On reading it, I get a familiar urge to be
transported to other lands; perhaps the book should be in both
the Computer and Travel sections of the bookstores."
 
T.D. Cradduck
London, Ontario, Canada
891226 (Tue)
------------------
References:
 
1. Quarterman JS, Hoskins JC: Notable computer networks. Comm
   ACM, 29:10, p932-972, 1986
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Trevor Cradduck <[log in to unmask]>
University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
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