K. Mahadevan with P.J. Reeldy and D.A. Naidu (eds.). Fertility and Mortality: Theory, Methodology and Empirical Issues. New Delhi: Sage Publications. 1986. 351 pp.

This is an ambitious title for a book of 350 pages, but the senior editor has no qualms and promises confidently that the “book will be a worthwhile addition to the existing body of knowledge in the field of population sciences” (p.9). The book is an outcome of a seminar held at the Tirupati University, India, in January 1984. Not all the papers presented at the seminar have been included and some new ones have been added. Since the programme of the seminar is not appended to the book, it is not clear which are which.