Book Review: Information Storage and Retrieval Systems: Origin, Development and Applications

My initial reaction when reading the first chapter was of slight irritation: another book on information storage and retrieval which starts yet again with ideograms, papyrus, Sumerian writing and the inven tion of printing . . . When I finished the book though, the first chapter seemed concise and short enough. One has to start somewhere and Steve Pollitt does not labour the point anywhere in his short book. Its conciseness is indeed one of its major qualities. The topic is also well covered and very up to date (with English examples which makes a change from the numerous American books). There are many figures, illustrations and examples of real systems. Any recent text on computerised retrieval systems which does not give pictures of real screens should be questioned. Pollitt would certainly agree with this statement and this illustrative approach is another major quality of his book.