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 --------- Trevor Cradduck <[log in to unmask]> University of Western Ontario, London, Canada ---------