ed T B Martonen
WIT Press (2000)
290pp, price: £89.00, ISBN: 1 85312 613 6

The rapid growth in computer power in recent years has stimulated great interest in computational modelling of biological systems, and it is now an important growth area. This book aims to provide both reference material for researchers, and educational material for classwork. Although the title of the book suggests a general review, the material covered is quite specific, focusing on three areas: branching algorithms to generate vascular network geometries, simulated fluid flow in vascular networks and simulated interaction of laser light with the eye.

Chapter 1 gives an introduction to fluid dynamics, covering Newtonian fluids, the Navier Stokes equations, and an introduction to turbulence. Chapters 2 and 3 cover the theory and applications of algorithms to generate simulated vascular trees. Chapters 4 and 5 make up the bulk of the book and describe both simulations of blood flow in branching vessels and application of these principles in surgical reconstruction of the carotid artery bifurcation. The use of laser light in eye surgery is becoming increasingly important, and chapters 7, 8 and 9 cover the physics of the interaction of laser light with the eye, ocular fluid dynamics and thermodynamics, and the use of finite element models of the eye to simulate surgical procedures.

This book clearly demonstrates how the rigorous application of computational mathematics can illuminate problems in medicine and biology, and contains excellent examples. The chapters on fluid flow in branching vessels are particularly good, containing a thorough review of the biological and mathematical aspects of the problem as well as informative results of numerous simulations. The major limitation of the book is the absence of a unifying structure to glue the disparate elements together. Although the book is in general well written, the differences between the three subject areas are accentuated by an inconsistent style. Each chapter has an abstract, but the book has no index and some of the figures and diagrams are poorly reproduced. If you have an interest in one of the three subject areas covered in the book it may be worth buying it, although it is likely that two thirds of the book will remain unread.