The International Convocations on Immunology are now well established as scientifically important events. The 8th Convocation was devoted to the timely problems of the regulation of the immune response. The present well-organized and beautifully produced vol ume contains the proceedings of the conference. The 'Ernest Witebsky Memorial Lecture' has been delivered by Sir Gustav Nossal on a 'Unifying concept of tolerance and immune regulation'. Then the following main topics have been thoroughly

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... d expertly re viewed in 38 presentations by leading workers: systemic immunoregulatory mechanisms; mucosal immunoregulatory mechanisms; immunoregulation to exogenous agents; implications in clinical disease states, and immunoregulation in bone marrow transplanta tion. There are also a number of abstracts of poster presentations. The book is warmly recommended. Paul Kallós, Helsingborg M. H. Grieco, D. K. Meriney (eds.) Immunodiagnosis for Clinicians Interpretation of Immunoassays Year Book Medical Publishers, London 1983 XI + 441 pp.; E26.40 ISBN 0-8151-4003-7 As the editors rightly point out the rapid development of immunology led to that 'immunological assays have been increasingly utilized by clinical laboratories'. Many clinicians feel that they lack knowledge of the basic immunologic mechanisms, which are at the bottom of the assays. This makes the interpretation of the results of such assays difficult. The present volume provides all the necessary information on 'basic immunology, methodology and the interpretation of immunoassays, grouped according to clinical disorders'. This very useful volume is warmly recommended. Paul Kallós, Helsingborg S. Leibowitz, R.A.C. Hughes Immunology of the Nervous System Current Topics in Immunology Series Arnold, London 1983 XI +298 pp.; E22.50 ISBN 0-7131-4300-2 This is a basic textbook in neuroimmunology; well written, broad, and full of useful information. The book should be valuable for both the immunologist and the neurologist and I recommend it to those interested in the field. It is not, however, the book that you read from cover to cover as it lacks the tense and excitement of a book that details new, but perhaps still controversial findings.