This is a large and important work by one of the leading Russiancontributors to this subject. It covers topics of central importance tomagnetic fusion energy research with a breadth, depth and clarity notfound elsewhere. It is intended as a reference book and guide to theoriginal literature for serious practitioners of the field. The book isdivided into 8 large parts, listed below, and further subdivided into 31chapters.The preface states, ``A need was identified to summarize thelarge amount of information on the topic of instabilities. Thisinformation is scattered throughout many papers on certain specialsubjects on the theory of toroidal-plasma instabilities. This book aimsto treat it from a unified point of view.'' This is a good descriptionof the aims and approach. The range of topics is large and thetreatment deep and thorough. This is often accomplished by assumingconsiderable knowledge on the part of the reader, most appropriate formature researchers in the field. The pace is fast. The requisitebackground includes extensive knowledge of a wide range of physics,ordinary and partial differential equations, integral equations,differential geometry and special functions.The preface also states, ``The author starts with thefundamental principles, so that no special knowledge of plasma physicsis necessary before reading the book. It will therefore be useful forresearchers, postgraduates, high-school teachers and studentsspecializing in plasma physics and controlled fusion.'' In the opinionof this reviewer, that may be overly ambitious. The terse approach,characteristic of the whole book, as well as the steep price, would makeit rather challenging for such an audience. For example, in the openingchapter, `General results of equilibrium theory', the properties ofnon-orthogonal, curvilinear co-ordinates are stated tersely without muchexplanation or derivation, more as a review than a first presentation.It is common for physics students, at least in the USA, to encounterthis material first in a course on general relativity, which they mightnot have taken previously when specializing in plasma physics. Whilegood efforts are made by the author to provide an intuitive understandingof the many analytical results, this is often done with such brevitythat a substantial level of maturity is required to comprehend theideas.Another quote from the preface is, ``The book is based onanalytical approaches and should therefore be useful for everybody whois interested in the topic.'' In a field where complex geometry anddynamics and the importance of practical results have required muchnovel and creative computational work over the past 25 years, there isno mention, no acknowledgment, no hint of its importance. Theanalytical approach presented here certainly fills an important need,and there is no need for the same work to cover numerical work in depth,but some recognition of the importance of numerical work and itsrelationship with the analytical side of the theory might have beenjustified.Despite these shortcomings, this book is a major and welcomeaddition to the literature on plasma instabilities which I heartilyrecommend.Contents: 1. Equilibrium of a plasma in toroidalconfinement systems; 2. Internal magnetohydrodynamic modes in thecylindrical approximation; 3. Small-scale magnetohydrodynamicinstabilities in toroidal confinement systems; 4. Magnetohydrodynamicinternal kink modes in toroidal geometry; 5. Magnetohydrodynamic modesin collisionless and neoclassical regimes; 6. Drift-magnetohydrodynamicmodes; 7. External kink modes; 8. Alfvén eigenmodes and theirinteraction with high-energy particles; References; Index.