edited bv HARRIET G. FRIEDSTEIN Rochester Institute of Technology
media exchange Chemical Abstracts: An Introduction to Its Effective Use Self-paced instruction, 2.3 hours of playing time Format: 2 audio-tapes and a manual (214 pages) Cat. No.: C-52 Price: $180 Supplier: American Chemical Society, 1155 Sixteenth St., NW, Washington, DC 20036
Time:
ACS audio courses have been highlighted in a previous issue (J.CHEM.EDUC.,58,573 (1981)).This particular course is so essential to any chemistry curriculum, that it warrants its own coverage. Part of the role of an instructor is to provide students with techniques for further study and an appreciation of the litvmture. K~wwltvlgt~ ,,ih#,a rv ,-trr\. out ;I litersturr nvtrvh i> H \.aluahlr rnlwrtettaw ior all st ~ ~ l t . n t i - ~ e g a r d l c c ,~ i s arwr plans. This audio course offers an exceptional opportunity to present a systematic approach for a literature search. The verbal instructions are supplemented with a concise manual that~allows - ~ - the - ~student to follow alone. The instructions are very clear and the reproductions in the manual are exactly as one ~-~~finds in the volumes themselves. The manual includes information on how one goes about using the guide. The student is guided through progressively more complicated operations including use of the Index Guide, the Chemical Substance Index. the CAS Registrv Numbers, the ~
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the student to "survey the chemical literature regarding the plasticizer known as DOS." This activity demonstrates to the
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Journal of Chemical Education
P O . Box 9887 14623
Rochester. N Y
student the use of the Index Guide, the Index Guide Supplement, and the Chemical Substance Index. Accordingly, the actual pages from the 1977 Guides are reproduced to illustrate that, if the chemical is not listed in the Index Guide, the researcher must refer to the Index Guide Supplement, where the student is referred to Volume 88, page 1692 of the Chemical Substance Index. This index lists the full chemical or chemical function ~ u b d i v i s i ~ nass an aid in the research goal. The purchase of this audio course would be money well spent for any library or chemistry department. The use of the course would he up to the individual instructor. Since this can be assigned as a project, as an extra credit assignment, or as a requirement in the course, the time spent by the student could he spread over a period of weeks. I t would he time well used.
For Your Library Once in a while, someone publishes a readable, exciting hook that explains chemical phenomena in simple terms for the general public. When one of these hooks finds its way to my desk, I take time to read it. Usually, I am not disappointed: the information is not new, hut the content is presented in a creative way. Those of you whose chemistry reading is reserved for textbooks exclusively will he pleasantly surprised to find an unusual approach. Those of you who ordinarily do not have time to read for recreation probably will find ideas in these hooks that can be used as suuolementarv material in ~
book," please t a k e a few m i n u t e s t o write a review of i t and
send i t t o me. T h e Cookbook Decoder or Culinary Alchemy Explained Arthur E. Grosser. Beaufort Books, New York, 1981
One of my favorite non-texts is Arthur Grosser's "The Cookbook Decoder or Chemistrv Alehemv Exalained." You do not have to be a cook tc, nlrprermt: the pn,ce.-e.:ind m r i w n ~ n of s t c w i prepam tion. Vortl~mewhonninelined tocxperlmrnt in the kitd~rn.Crossrr ~ncludesytmc rwIw\ which ;tlltw the r r i h r t,, irwn sctenrilw principles as well as to enjoy some good food. Some of the recipes use ingredirnt. that arc 11111 tuund 111 ~.veryon..'ik~tchen:r .wrri, tor t r ample, in tila recip. ibr "l)n,wnwl Sole." Hcrwever, i did w t read thi; houk a s 3 "nwkbwk." I read i t n~nlnlvfw informatmn vmtained. Then. im chapter
