Book Reviews

The two-volume set entitled Knowledge-Based Systems (Volume 1, Knowledge Acquisition for Knowledge-Based Systems, 355 pp., and Volume 2, Knowledge Acquisition Tools for Expert Systems, 343 pp., Academic Press, San Diego, California, 1988), edited by B. R. Gaines and J. H. Boose, is an excellent collection of papers useful to both commercial practitioners of knowledge-based-systems development and research-oriented scientists at specialized centers or academic institutions. The set is the result of a call for papers to support the first American Association for Artificial Intelligence Knowledge Acquisition for Knowledge-Based Systems Workshop, held 3-7 November 1986 in Banff, Canada. Although the conference was held three years ago, these volumes are still timely and sorely needed. Few books dedicated to knowledge acquisition exist. The first volume, Knowledge Acquisition for Knowledge-Based Systems, begins with a paper whose title sounds appropriate: "An Overview of Knowledge Acquisition and Transfer" by the editor B. R. Gaines.