The South Seas, as this region used to be called, conjured up images of adventure, belles and savages, romance and fabulous fortunes, but the long voyages of discovery and exploration of the vast Pacific Ocean were really an exercise in amazing logistics, navigation, hard grit, shipwreck and pure luck. The motivations were scientific and geographic, but at the same time nationalistic and materialistic. A series on global exploration and discovery would not be complete without this book by Quanchi and Robson. It is ambitious and informative and includes the familiar names of Laperouse, Bougainville, Cook, and Dampier, as well as the intriguing stories of the Bounty Mutiny, scurvy, and the mysterious Northwest Passage, Terra Australis Ignotia, and Davis Land. There are entries on first contacts, ships, navigational instruments, mapping, and botany. The scene is carefully set in the introduction, the chronology spans several centuries, and the extensive bibliography offers a guide to further reading. There are more than just dry facts in this book. It has a whiff of salt air, the clash of empires, cross-cultural beach encounters, and personal adventure.

Vision research is one of the largest and most active areas within brain research. Psychologists, neuroscientists, opthamologists and optometrists, computer scientists, and engineers all have an interest in the practical side of the subject. Vision Research is a clear and comprehensive laboratory manual providing all the detailed practical information needed to undertake vision research. Spanning methods used across the breadth of vision research, this book provides detailed protocols and advice on experimental techniques and procedures, as well as useful background information. It covers the choice and use of modern light sources and optical components, with particular consideration of how to generate specified colours, and the creation and presentation of images, with special emphasis on up-to-date computer techniques. It also deals with the design of psychophysical experiments, and the particular problems posed by working with children and with animals. Finally, it provides a thorough coverage of all types of physiological measurement: of ERG and evoked potentials, and the measurement of accommodation, eye movements, and pupil diameter. Here are the "tricks of the trade" of vision research, from some if its leading practitioners, of a kind that cannot be found in published papers and are often only acquired through apprenticeship and a life-time of personal experience. Accessibly written for those with little background in optics and electronics, this book will be essential for students undertaking practical vision research for the first time. Clinical researchers and experienced researchers in other fields wishing to learn about and use vision research techniques will also find it extremely useful. An essential resource in every vision research laboratory.

One Man in His Time is the biography of the Laird of Torosay Castle, traveller, wartime hero and escaper and distinguished politician.