The Williams Dictionary of
Biomaterials, compiled by D F Williams. Liverpool University Press 1999,
Liverpool UK (343+xvii pages, ISBN 0-85323-734-4 (hardcover), ISBN
0-85323-921-5 (softcover)). Obtainable from Marston Book Services PO Box
269, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 4YN tel +44 1235 465500 fax +44 1235 465555
email trade.order@marston.co.uk
or, in North America, from ISBS, 5804 NE Hassalo Street, Portland, Oregon OR
97213-3644 tel (503) 287 3093, freefone (800) 944 6190, fax (503) 280 8832
email info@isbs.com. Price £49 for
hardcover, £30 for softcover.
This is far more than a list of terms and words
relating to materials used in healthcare. It includes definitions of many
concepts relevant to understanding the biological and medical contexts in
which such materials might be used, and many other words and phrases that
are 'bio', chemical or physical. The
professions concerned with biomaterials, such as dentistry, toxicology,
surgery and engineering, are not overlooked by the Dictionary, either. Here,
one can find definitions of terms as diverse as ameloblastoma, atomic force
microscope, capsulotomy, depolarisation, immunosuppression, network
modifier, pyrogenicity, Young's modulus and much more. At last, I know
enough to ask my dentist what my DMF ratio is!
The words and their explanations are gathered from an impressive
range of sources, with more than 10% from Professor Williams's own
interpretations and usage. Over
25 sources are listed, including standards (CEN, ISO), regulatory bodies
(European Commission, Dept of Health Canada, Code of Federal Regulations
USA), other scientific dictionaries (Larousse, Black's, Heinemann, Szycher,
McGraw Hill, Dorland) and scientific organisations (US ASTM, National
Institutes of Health, the NIH's Medline), as well as individual authors of
relevant books and OECD.
This Dictionary has widespread value and should
certainly aid in the cross-discipline understanding that will become even
more essential for further progress and innovation in biomaterials.
The Notes added to a good number of the entries are especially
useful. Of course, there is no need of an Index and therefore no problems,
as so often found, with inadequacies in that department.
This Volume succeeds well in its aim of bridging the
gulfs of diversity in terminology and understanding between the biological,
chemical and engineering aspects of biomaterials, and can be warmly
recommended. One can propose that readers send to Professor Williams the
definitions of terms and words they find useful that aren't in the
Dictionary, citing the source (including themselves) and preparing them in
the same succinct and easy-to-understand format, so that the inevitable
second edition can continue the good work of the first.
