A discipline has reached a measure of maturity when it needs to organize its knowledge for those devotees who were not present at its foundation. This text answers that need, providing a basis for "physiologic" thinking about neoplasia and its treatment. Larger tomes—standard works in the oncologic literature—attempt to do this, but the focus of such texts is ultimately on staging and standard treatment.

Certain chapters of this book are noteworthy for their lucid writing and up-to-date information. Those on cell cycle control, tumor suppressor genes, viral carcinogenesis, growth-factor signal transduction, and cellular adhesion mechanisms are elegant in their synopses. Those relevant to molecular abnormalities in particular tumors (lymphoid, childhood, breast, colon, and lung) combine descriptions into a symphony for which the above mentioned mechanisms are the notes. The chapters dealing with radiation effects on cell signal transduction and monoclonal antibody therapy are unique in their completeness.

The book is not perfect. There are occasional errors of detail (for example, particles don't have four protons); there is redundancy in the initial introduction of certain key molecules, such as ras; and the coordination could have been better between certain topics, such as oncogenes and the cell cycle, growth factors in malignancy and growth-factor signal transduction, and the three chapters related to hematopoietic malignancies. But these issues only underscore that this book is a Bildungsroman of a rapidly evolving field, in which different perspectives are important in reaching an overview.

For researchers, the book serves as a summary of the state of the art in unfamiliar aspects of molecular oncology. For the student, resident, or fellow, it is a useful introduction to a field whose jargon is bewildering and whose origin is obscure. For the practitioner, it provides a scientific basis for counseling patients. All will find new, important, and useful information. The demarcation of that common ground is the book's ultimate appeal.

Edward A. Sausville, MD, PhD

National Cancer Institute

Bethesda, MD 20892