Handbook of photosynthesis, 2nd edition. * Pessarakli M. (ed). 2005. Boca Raton: CRC Press. $159{middle dot}95 (hardback). 928 pp.

The motto of the PhotosynthesisCongress in Brisbane in 2001 was that ‘photosynthesissimply sustains all life on Earth’. For this reason, photosynthesisis a large, well-researched area, so it is especially ambitiousto put together a handbook that attempts to cover the wholesubject. This volume is definitely not a handbook in the sensethat it provides a compendium for the novice, but instead itis a conspectus of areas of