istry make this general chemistry text mare specialized than most. I do not recommend it for courses with a large component of engineering students, and I have reservations about its appropriateness for chemistry majars. But those teaching courses primarily far biologically and medically oriented students and willing to modify the usual emphases should consider this hook carefully. Hearst and Ifft have written a gaod one. Contemporary Chernlstry
John E. Heorst. University of CaliforniaBerkeley, and James B. Ifft, University of Redlands. W. H. Freeman & Co., San Francisco, 1976. xi 753 pp. 17 X 24 cm.
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$14.95. Figs. and tables. "Contemporary Chemistry" is intended for a fairly specific student client-the premedilife science major who enters college well prepared, with high school math through trigonometry and high school chemistry. One might add that concurrent college math is desirable, for calculus notation is used oceasinnally. Thus, considerable student sophistication is presupposed. One hesitates to describe something as traditional, because of pejorative implications, but the progression of topics in this text is traditional, in a pleasing and (to me) logical way. The text is organized into 11 large chaoters: with the elimination of artificial
attention to material covered earlier. A pedagogical standoff appears to result. After a brief introduction, the authors launch directly into a rather rigorous discussion of matter and atomic theorv. A chapter on periodicity and chemical properties follows. In Chapter 4, the Chemical Bond, considerable time is spent discussing hybridization, and there is a brief introduction t o complex ions. The next two chapters consider molecular properties and the states of matter. The latter tonic is es~eciallvwell presented. Chaoter 7 oresents an in-deoth treatment r r n d n w n i , * ,w t h ~ t v r n l p;tyec drwred I , ,~ ~ d l ~ p a tproperties i\,r Enzyme kinetics and some optional material on the theory of chemical reactions are featured
in Chapter 8. Not until page 383 in this chapter are concentration units defined; there is almost none of the usual solution stoichiometry in the book. At 84 pages, Chapter 9, Chemical Equilibrium is the second longest in the book. A great deal of emphasis is placed on acid-base equilibria. The tenth chapter considers oxidation-reduction reactions with an interesting treatment of redox in living systems. The final chapter is entitled "The Chemistry of Life," and is 89 pages long. The bulk of its attention is given to protein and nucleic acid chemistry. Since many of the earlier descriptive examples are from biological systems, this largely biochemical "capstone" chapter, along with the relative dearth of descriptive inorganic chemistry, gives the entire text a distinctively biophysical perspective. Two special features deserve note. After eaeh chapter there is an "interlude" which explores a topic of contemporary importance and which is germane to the preceding chader. These are successful and interesting. thobgh I am not convinced that suchmaterial should be so segregated. In addition, eaeh interlude is introduced by a vintage cartoon (mostly from New Yorker). These alone may be worth the price of the book! Each chapter is followed by e carefully chosen and annotated bibliography. A gaod variety of problems is also provided. There are no problem answers in the text. The text is well written. The language is clear, direct, and quite spritely; it will not tend to put students to sleep. The internal organization is sound, and follows directly from the premises established by the authors. I did not note any important typographical errors, and in only a few spots is the book misleading (but see the line following Eq. 2-1 on page 11 and the implication on pp. 178179 that there are 102:'atoms/mole). Its deemphasis of certain time-honored topics like stoichiometry and descriptive chemistry, and its focus on biological chem-
W. C. Langwonhy, Dean S c b i of Science and Mathematics Caiif Poiytechnic State University San Luis Obispo. California 93407
Bask lnorganlc Chemistry
F. Albert Cotton, Texas A&M University and Geoffrey Wilkinson, University of London. John Wiley & Sans, New York, 1975. viii 579 pp. Figs. and tables. 18 X 26 em. $14.95.
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Prior t o 1972 only afew texts designed for use in undergraduate inorganic chemistry courses were available. Within the last few years, however, hooks of this type have been written by several authors, including Huheey (19721, Demitras, e t al. (19721, Lagowski (19731, and Jolly (1976). These texts tend to fall in one of two categories-those which include a systematic treatment of the chemistry of the elements by group and those which lareelv emnhasize fundamentals of
favorably by those who believe that an undergraduate inorganic chemistry course should include a healthy dose of descriptive chemistry. The hook is divided into four parts. Part 1 (chapters 1-81 covers basic principles such as atomic structure, covalent and ionic bonding, cwrdination chemistry, acid-base chemistry, and general periodic relationships. In addition, there is a good chapter dealing with the structures, properties, and modes of coordination of a variety of anions. Part 2 (chapters 9-22) and Part 3 (chanters 23-27) cover the . chemistry of the main group elements and the (Continued on page A421
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-Reviewed in this Issue John E. Hearst and James R I f f t , Contemporary Chemistry F. Albert Cotton and Geoffrej Wilkinson, Basic Inorganic Chemistry R. T. Sanderson, Chemical Bonds and Bond Energy. Second Edition Thomas H . Lowry and Kathleen Sehueller Richardson, Mechanism and Theory in Organic
Reviewer W. C . Langworthy Wayne P. Anderson George D. Sturgeon Richard M. Pagni
A37 A37 A42 A44
Patrick S. Cnllery Lawrence H. Bowen Reed M. lzatt Stephen B. W. Roeder
A46 A46 A48 A48
Charles E. Carraher
A52
George B. Kauffman Aaron J. Ihde
A52 A54
Chemistry
D.MocLean D.Evans and John Bowen Jones, Introduction to Medical Chemistry T. C. Gibb,Principles of Mossbauer Spectroscopy. Studies in Chemical Physics J Rarthel and R. Wochter, Thermometric Titrations Nugent F. Chamberlain, The Practice of NMR Spectroscopy with Spectra-Structure Correlations for Hydrogen-]
Herman F. Mark and Norbert M. Biholes, editors, Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Technology. Plastics, Resins, Rubbers, Fibers. Supplement Volume 1: Aerylonitrile Polymers, Degradation of Vinyl Chloride
O w n Hannawo,: The Chemists and the Word: The Didactic Origins of Chemistry Wyndham Miles, editor, American Chemists and Chemical Engineers
Vo'olume 55. Number 1. January 1978 / A37
