K. Koyama, S. Kitamoto and M. Itoh (eds.), The Hot Universe, IAU Symposium

This book concerns the publication of the proceedings of an IAU Symposium held in Tokio in the summer of 1997. As implied by the title, it provides an overall review of our knowledge on all aspects of high-energy phenomena occurring in the universe obtained via the observations in X- and gamma-rays with orbiting satellites. It contains 44 invited (4 pages each) and 132 (2 pages each) contributed papers covering: Sun, stars, supernovae and their remnants, galaxies and their clusters, white dwarfs and neutron stars, black hole binaries, active galactic nuclei, gamma-ray bursts, large scale structure and hot intergalactic medium, and a chapter on future space programs in X- and gamma-ray astronomy. Many of the contributions have since appeared in the astronomical literature. The invited reviews, although very concise, are generally valuable in presenting the most relevant points of the various subjects. The book is for professional astronomers and may serve as a quick and very useful reference to becoming acquainted with the main developments in the field of high-energy astrophysics beginning of 1998.