Annals of Botany 89: 129, 2002
© 2002 Annals of Botany Company
Book Reviews
Plant–fungal pathogen interaction.
Prell HH, Day PR. 2001.Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer-Verlag. £44.50 (hardback). 214pp.
This book is a distillation of the essence of physiological and molecular plant pathology in just over 200 pages! It is intended for postgraduate students and scientists in a wide range of disciplines. It would be of immense value to final year undergraduates as well. The authors suggest that the book might also be appreciated by interested lay people. That may be so, but such readers would require a fairly high level of scientific understanding to appreciate the book fully.
The first edition of Plant–fungal pathogen interaction appeared in German in 1996. The present edition is an up-dated and revised translation of the earlier work. The focus of the book is specificity and resistance, as one might expect, but wider aspects of host–pathogen relationships are covered, including mechanisms of pathogenicity. Great care is taken to define, ‘translate’ and make clear the technical language of plant pathology. There is an excellent glossary to support this objective. In addition, recent research findings are built upon a comprehensive historical review of the ideas, hypotheses and research leading up to the current position. This approach is especially valuable for students in the widest sense of that word.
The book is lucidly and logically written and presented, and is therefore a very easy read. Not a word is wasted and the book is as dense as a Christmas pudding with information, facts, ideas and theories. Inevitably it relies on secondary material (reviews, other books and so on) rather than primary research papers as its sources. This is at once both a strength and a weakness: it makes possible the coverage of such a broad spectrum of research in such a limited space, but it gives the reader a feeling of being a long way from the action. In addition, although the authors are meticulous in presenting the ideas, opinions and conclusions of others, they are sometimes a little shy of presenting their own innovative ideas and views as well. As a result, the book does not have the reader on the edge of his or her seat, waiting to see what brilliant idea, outrageous statement or breathtaking interpretation is coming next. It is thus a springboard for new thinking, rather than being a source of new thinking in its own right.
Having read the book, two rather more general conclusions stand out clearly. First, in plant pathology we still have a very long way to go before our understanding of the mechanisms of interaction between plants and parasites catches up with what is known and understood for animals. And secondly, in the past, a wealth of research and creative thinking has been squandered as a result of research often being fashion-led rather than ideas-led.
In conclusion, this book is an excellent synopsis of current thinking in physiological and molecular plant pathology, set against a comprehensive historical background. It provides a superb course book for advanced students and a unique introduction to the literature for research scientists new to plant pathology. I recommend it very strongly indeed.
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