The Specialty Optical Fibers Handbook provides a technical review of their design, fabrication, operating characteristics and applications. Contributors to the 830-page volume include experts in the field, research groups and fiber manufacturers. Topics range from the basics of the technology, including fiber waveguide fundamentals, to descriptions of commonly used specialty optical fibers. A section on fibers for biomedical applications encompasses medical laser arms, transendoscopic surgery, fiber optic thermal sensing, optical fiber radiometry, absorption and evanescent wave spectroscopy, chemical and biochemical sensing, and IR imaging and tomography in minimally invasive procedures. Charts, diagrams, references and an index are provided. Alexis Méndez and T.F. Morse, eds. Academic Press, an imprint of Elsevier, Burlington, Mass., 2007; $99.95; h86.95.