Translational Control of Gene Expression, edited by Nahum Sonenberg, John W.B. Hershey, and Michael B. Mathews. 2000. Cold Spring Harbor, New York: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. Cloth, 1,020 pp. $113.

For two decades, up to the mid-1980s, study of the translation phase of gene expression was conducted by a relatively small group of protein biochemistry, cell physiology, and developmental biology labs. These workers labored against a widely held view that anything and everything exciting in the control of gene expression must occur at the level of transcription. Since that time, however, the use of molecular genetics has revealed an amazing array of mechanisms for regulating both overall protein synthesis and selective control of translation of individual mRNAs in response to physiological conditions. This led to a remarkable influx of workers into the field, severely challenging the catering facilities at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory during the biannual meetings on Translational Control, which were inaugurated in 1987. The first Cold Spring Harbor “Translational Control” monograph was published in 1996, and its excellent articles have provided a valuable resource to established workers and newcomers alike. However, it is a reflection of the rapid development of knowledge in this field that this volume now looks decidedly middle-aged. It was therefore decided to produce a new volume of articles for the year 2000. Although a few of the 36 chapters in the new monograph are necessary updates of subjects covered previously, by far the majority of the articles are by different authors and cover new directions, many of which were barely a gleam in the eye in 1996.