PE&RS December 2004

Book Review

Foundations of Image Science

Barrett, H.H. and Myers K.J. John Wiley & Sons, Inc: Hoboken, New Jersey
Xli and 1540 pp., diagrams, mathematical appendices, bibliography, index. $140.00. Hardcover. (ISBN 0-471-15300-1).
Reviewed by: Geoff Dougherty, Professor, Physics and Medical Imaging, California State University Channel Islands.

This book is intended to become a standard text in the field of imaging science. Its target audience is primarily graduate students and practitioners working with imaging systems, and well-motivated undergraduate students. There are a number of themes within the book, the major one being the need for objective assessment of image quality. All the theoretical tools for handling these themes are included: the principles, the mathematics and the statistics. A thorough treatment of the continuous-to-discrete model of digital imaging is presented throughout, and numerous examples are used and applications developed.

The book is grandiose in its vision. Its purpose is to provide an underlying theoretical foundation, based on both theory and experiment, to tie together all the sub-disciplines of imaging science. The central thesis is that image quality needs to be defined objectively, measured experimentally and optimized iteratively according to fundamental principles rather than ad hoc notions. Its unifying theme is the treatment of the imaging process as a mapping between object space and image space, with the continuous-to-discrete transform being the most common. This treatment is applied comprehensively to a wide variety of imaging systems, from optical imaging to planar imaging in radiography and nuclear medicine to tomographic reconstruction and more. Along the way, the authors present the detailed“ tools of the trade” in terms of mathematics and methodology, and cover multifarious themes associated with the big picture of imaging science as an integrated whole. The goal is not only to understand all the aspects of the process so as to use them objectively in assessing an imaging task, but to be able to iteratively optimize the process.

The accuracy of the material cannot be faulted, and the book approaches its material in a straightforward no-nonsense style. Its arguments are convincing and well-supported by examples. The authors are eminent practitioners in the field, and bring together many decades of practical experience, which enlightens and illuminates the text. Their attention not only to detail within each part of the argument, but also in their explanation as to how these parts contribute to the big picture of image formation, representation and assessment, is to be applauded. This is not a text for the faint-hearted. The mathematics is rigorous and pervasive and can be overbearing at times, but not to the point where the message becomes obscured. For a textbook on imaging, it might have been preferable to get past some of the initial chapters on the mathematical tools more quickly and get into the core concepts earlier: for a reference book, this is not as big a problem. Since it is about imaging, I would have liked more images to illustrate the concepts, particularly in the discussion of noise and image quality, and to make it more accessible.

Foundations of Image Science is certainly an impressive tome, comprehensive and inclusive in its sweep of imaging systems and breath-taking in its proportions. The authors approach the subject with a missionary zeal to collect the sometimes disparate approaches to imaging and forge them into an integrated whole. It is a scholarly work, put together with great attention to detail. I suspect that it will become a reference work in the field, rather than a standard textbook. The sheer size, not to mention weight, mitigates against the latter eventuality. Indeed, I would have preferred to have seen it split into a three-volume text, which would have made it less daunting and more portable. Indeed, the authors have it in them to expand the material into even more volumes, as they allude to in the Epilog. I would have liked to have seen them tackle ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging. Incidentally, I found that the binding is insufficiently strong for a book of this magnitude: my copy is already splitting apart at the seams.

In conclusion, the book certainly fills a void in the available literature with its comprehensive and unified treatment of imaging systems and science and is destined to become a reference work in this field. I highly recommend this book.

 

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