Seeds handbook: biology, production, processing and storage. 2nd edn.
Desai BB. 2004.
New York: Marcel Dekker.£115 (hardback). 787 pp.
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The range of the book is therefore extremely comprehensive, but not surprisingly this is associated with an inexpert coverage of important subjects that lacks originality. A great deal of relevant literature is summarized, but the sequencing and synthesis of information is at best puzzling. There is a great deal of summary reportage of results with rather less attention paid to interpretation, with the latter often ascribed to others and frequent use of phrases such as ‘according to ...’. Equally chronology seems to be ignored, with equal prominence given to ideas from publications from (in one case I found, albeit not cited) as long as a century ago, as to more recent research. This gives quite a false impression to readers. One example is the following sentence (page 760) ‘More research is requested to understand the biochemistry and physiology of bolting in crop plants’. This view is supported by reference to a book chapter published a quarter of a century ago, however.
I found it difficult, initially, to determine what the market for this book might be, until I recognized that the library resources in biology, horticulture and agriculture at my institution are quite considerable. This book may well find a market in institutions with limited library resources (but I suspect that they could find a better use of the funds required to meet the considerable purchase price), but it won't appear in book lists for my undergraduate or postgraduate students.
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