It is an essential library purchase and is destined to be valued by scholars and students - as well as by educational policy-makers - as a vital reference work and research tool.

They have consequently responded with funding initiatives for research that have produced an exponential growth in the numbers of investigators working in these fields, in the research students and post-doctorals that they train and supervise, in the undergraduate and graduate courses in cognitive gerontology, and in the neurophysiology and neuropsychology of ageing that they teach. MSc courses in cognitive gerontology are now common and courses in geriatric medicine have been promoted from a marginal to a core topic in medical schools. In short, cognitive and biological ageing has become a fast-growing and dynamic area of study and research, and the scale of this acceleration in growth makes this new four-volume collection in the "Psychology Press Major Works" series, Critical Concepts in Psychology, especially timely. A primary question is why we and all other complex animals and plants age, a question studied mainly by biologists, and Volume I ('Biological Bases of Ageing') includes key research on models for ethological and evolutionary ageing. It also takes full account of the body of work on the genetics of animal and human ageing and on genes that directly cause, or that interact with environmental influences to cause, individual differences in the rate of age-related changes. A quite distinct field of research has been the development of models for cognitive changes in the brain that are based entirely on behavioural evidence. Volume II ('Cognitive Ageing') gathers together the most important work on the search for the neuropsychological bases of cognitive ageing and in so doing helps to make sense of the rapid growth of developments in this area. The third volume in this collection ('Relating Cognitive Ageing to Brain Ageing') makes available the most significant recent research on how the amounts and time-courses of gross age-related changes in local areas of the brain affect cotemporaneous global and local changes in cognitive performance. Specific relationships between global brain changes and cognitive performance are explored, such as that between: increases in the incidence of white-matter lesions and progressive losses of memory and decision speed; cerebral blood flow and intelligence and information-processing speed; and memory impairment and losses of hippocampal volume. Key findings on the relationships between losses of tissue in the frontal lobes of the brain and changes in planning and intelligence is also gathered here, as is research on relationships between changes in neurotransmitter efficiency and in cognitive performance. Finally, the material collected in Volume IV ('The Effects of Health, Demographics and Social Conditions on Rates of Change in Old Age: Interpreting Data from Large Studies') examines how the methodology of longitudinal studies and cross-sectional studies affects the conclusions that can be reached from each and explores recent statistical models to analyse complex data sets. This volume does not simply describe some of the recent discoveries in statistical modelling and experimental design that enhance our use of longitudinal and cross-sectional data, but illustrates applications of these models to obtain new substantive contributions to our knowledge of how longevity - and so the maintenance of mental abilities in old age - are affected by declining health and the increasing burden of pathologies that accumulate as age advances; by the availability or absence of social and family support; by the extent and quality of social networks, and socio-economic advantage with its concomitant benefits of better education and access to medical care; and by diet and the use of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs. With comprehensive introductions to each volume, newly written by the editor, which places the collected material in historical and scientific context, the "Psychology of Ageing" is destined to be a useful work of reference and valued by scholars, students, and practitioners as a primary research resource.

"Art and Aesthetics" is fully indexed and has a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editors, which places the material in its historical and intellectual context. It is an essential work of reference and is destined to be valued by scholars and students interested in the relations between arts, aesthetics, culture, and society as a vital one-stop research and pedagogic resource.

Volume II ("Civilization, Civilizations, Progress, and History") includes a range of materials that intimately outline the relationship between the ideal of civilization and the idea of progress, including progress in the social, cultural, moral, scientific, and political realms. Research gathered here further examines how the concepts of civilization and progress in turn relate to the more general passage of history, particularly the idea of history with a purpose. Volume III ("Civilization and its Others") brings together the best scholarship to explore what civilization is not. The scholarship collected here comes from some of history's most distinguished political scientists, leading international lawyers, anthropologists, and controversial ethnologists. Can one, for example, usefully draw a distinction between civilized, savage, and barbarian peoples? The final volume ("Civilizational Relations: Past, Present, and Future") enables researchers and students to navigate through the equally sensitive field of historical and contemporary relations between the world's major civilizations or religio-cultural groups. It includes the catalysts of debates such as 'the clash-of-civilizations thesis' and the responses it has provoked. With a full index, together with a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, Civilization is an essential work of reference. It is destined to be valued by scholars, students, and researchers of politics, political philosophy, and international relations - as well as those working in allied disciplines such as security studies and international law - as a vital research resource.