Book reviews 143 Chapters 12, 14, 1.5, 18 and 19 will be of special interest to food engineers. Each chapter is accompanied by hundreds of references, which, being equipped with full titles, provide an invaluable route into the literature. My only adverse comment on this magnificent work is addressed solely to the publishers; why cannot Dekker equip their books with bindings that do justice to their authors’ efforts? The usefulness of these volumes’ contents will certainly outlive their physical vehicle. T. P. Coultate Packaging: Specifications, Purchasing and Quality Control. 3rd edn, revised and expanded. By Edmund A. Leonard. Marcel Dekker, New York, 1987. vii + 230 pp. Price US$45.00. ISBN O-8247-7729-8. This is the third edition of a text well known to the packaging industry in the USA and written by one of that country’s most prominent packaging experts - Edmund Leonard. It forms the first volume in a new series of references books on packaging. The book falls basically into two parts. The first covers fundamental principles in four chapters: functional, marketing, manufacturing and cost criteria in specifications; the buyer-supplier relationship and quality control principles. The second, in five chapters, covers detailed examples of container specifications and associated quality control procedures. Glass, metal, plastics and paper-based containers as well as unitised constructions for distribution are included. The final chapter, which stands on its own, is on computerised specifications. Overall, the book is essentially very practical and full of detail. It is, however, clearly biased towards the USA. Besides differences between British and American practices in terms of specification details and approaches to quality control, the appendix on technical and trade associations as well as the bibliography given at the end of the book have obviously been written for American readers. The fact that there is hardly any coverage of colour and print standards and specifications, for example, is likely to restrict readership to people mainly working in the technical functions. As a ‘How-To’ book (as it is described in the Foreword), it would have been more useful if information on more modem composite and multicomponent constructions such as aseptic cartons had been included. Despite these limitations, this is an important book in which students of packaging as well as packaging practitioners will find a wealth of very useful information. D. Man

Packaging: Specifications, purchasing and quality control. 3rd edn, revised and expanded: By Edmund A. Leonard. Marcel Dekker, New York, 1987. vii + 230 pp. Price US$45.00. ISBN 0-8247-7729-8

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Page 1: Packaging: Specifications, purchasing and quality control. 3rd edn, revised and expanded: By Edmund A. Leonard. Marcel Dekker, New York, 1987. vii + 230 pp. Price US$45.00. ISBN 0-8247-7729-8

Book reviews 143

Chapters 12, 14, 1.5, 18 and 19 will be of special interest to food engineers. Each chapter is accompanied by hundreds of references, which, being equipped with full titles, provide an invaluable route into the literature. My only adverse comment on this magnificent work is addressed solely to the publishers; why cannot Dekker equip their books with bindings that do justice to their authors’ efforts? The usefulness of these volumes’ contents will certainly outlive their physical vehicle.

T. P. Coultate

Packaging: Specifications, Purchasing and Quality Control. 3rd edn, revised and expanded. By Edmund A. Leonard. Marcel Dekker, New York, 1987. vii + 230 pp. Price US$45.00. ISBN O-8247-7729-8.

This is the third edition of a text well known to the packaging industry in the USA and written by one of that country’s most prominent packaging experts - Edmund Leonard. It forms the first volume in a new series of references books on packaging.

The book falls basically into two parts. The first covers fundamental principles in four chapters: functional, marketing, manufacturing and cost criteria in specifications; the buyer-supplier relationship and quality control principles. The second, in five chapters, covers detailed examples of container specifications and associated quality control procedures. Glass, metal, plastics and paper-based containers as well as unitised constructions for distribution are included. The final chapter, which stands on its own, is on computerised specifications.

Overall, the book is essentially very practical and full of detail. It is, however, clearly biased towards the USA. Besides differences between British and American practices in terms of specification details and approaches to quality control, the appendix on technical and trade associations as well as the bibliography given at the end of the book have obviously been written for American readers. The fact that there is hardly any coverage of colour and print standards and specifications, for example, is likely to restrict readership to people mainly working in the technical functions. As a ‘How-To’ book (as it is described in the Foreword), it would have been more useful if information on more modem composite and multicomponent constructions such as aseptic cartons had been included.

Despite these limitations, this is an important book in which students of packaging as well as packaging practitioners will find a wealth of very useful information.

D. Man