1050 J. Chem. Inf. Comput. Sci., Vol. 36, No. 5, 1996
BOOK REVIEWS
BOOK REVIEWS Symmetry Through the Eyes of a Chemist. 2nd ed. By Istva´n Hargittai and Magdolna Hargittai. Plenum Press: New York. 1995. 469 + xii pp. No price included. ISBN 0-306-44851-3 hdbk, 0-306-44852-1 pbk. Instead of a highly technical treatment of the topic, the authors discuss symmetry from a combination of both aesthetic and scientific viewpoints, spiced with a sprinkling of historical vignettes. By integrating the concept of symmetry into culture and science in general, they have created an elegant perspective. Their material has been updated to include references as recent as 1995, and they have continued the visual attractiveness of the first edition. They begin with an essay about the importance of symmetry and briefly survey its functions in crystallography, fullerenes, periodic tables, etc. In the next chapter, they define simple and combined symmetries; to illustrate their points, they use examples as varied as the rose window of Notre Dame Cathedral, snowflakes, and music by Bach. Chapter 3 shifts the focus to molecular geometry and shapes before a digression into the mathematical tools intended to assist the reader in understanding the sections on molecular vibration, electronic structures, and chemical reactions. The book concludes with chapters on space-group and crystal symmetries. Although some topics are presented at an elementary level, the book requires a knowledge of chemistry for full appreciation of most of the material. The book should be appealing to any chemist interested in a captivating look at the applications of symmetry; it is a good introduction for the student or an entertaining review for the experienced scientist.
Jan Williams Monsanto Company CI960422L S0095-2338(96)00422-2
The Art of Abstracting, 2nd ed. By Edward T. Cremmins. Information Resources Press: 1110 North Glebe Road, Suite 550, Arlington, VA 22201. xvii + 230 pp. 1996. ISBN 0-87815-066-8 (paper). Within the scientific and technical literature, particularly that of library and information science, education, and technical writing, the definition of an “abstract” is very varied. The American National Standard Institute defines it tersely as the following: “An abstract is an abbreviated, accurate representation of the contents of a document, preferably prepared by its author(s) for publication with it”. The first edition of this book was published in 1982 and received the Best Information Science Book Award from the American Society for Information Science (ASIS). The new edition significantly updates and improves the earlier work. The literature on abstracting has been thoroughly reviewed, extracted, or cited where appropriate. The suggested three-stage reading model for abstracting, that was introduced in the first edition, is revised and expanded; the three stages are the following: Exploratory- to-Retrieval Reading, Responsive-to-Inventive Reading, and Connective (Value-to-Meaning) Reading. The six Parts are divided into 21 Chapters, with seven Appendixes. New references are added with a well-written Glossary and an excellent Index. The book will be of great use to abstractors in training, as it provides systematic, step-by-step instructions, with examples, both of initial writing of the abstract and, perhaps even more importantly, refinement into a document which conveys the maximum of useful information in the minimum of words. The book will be useful also for experienced abstractors.
Venkat K. Raman Chemical Abstracts SerVice CI9604302 S0095-2338(96)00430-1
Reviews in Computational Chemistry. Edited by Kenny B. Lipkowitz and Donald B. Boyd. VCH Publishers, Inc.: 220 East 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010. Vol. 6. 1995. xix + 480 pp. List Price $ 110.00. ISBN 1-56081-667-8 (hard copy), ISSN-10693599. This series brings together respected experts in the field of computeraided molecular research. Computational chemistry is increasingly used in conjunction with organic, inorganic, medicinal, biological, physical, and analytical chemistry. This volume examines quantum chemistry of solvated molecules, molecular mechanics of inorganics and organometallics, modeling of polymers, technology of massively parallel computing, and productivity of modeling software. It also includes a guide to force-field parameters and a new software compendium. The volume has tutorial-reviews on topics of interest to workers within the domains of both science and technology. Each tutorial is followed by a review of the current state of the topic. The volume has five Chapters: (1) continuum solvation models: classical and quantum mechanical implementations, (2) molecular mechanics force fields for modeling inorganic and organometallic compounds, (3) computational methods for modeling polymers, (4) high-performance computing in computational chemistry, and (5) molecular modeling software in use. The tabulation in Appendix 1 will help users of molecular mechanics and molecular dynamics programs track down supplemental parameters required for their calculation. Appendix 2 provides addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses of suppliers of software. The volume can be highly recommended for everyone who wants to learn about the present state of development in computational chemistry.
Venkat K. Raman Chemical Abstracts SerVice CI960431U S0095-2338(96)00431-3
C Programming. A Modern Approach. By K. N. King. W. W. Norton & Company: New York. 1996. 661 pp. $39.95. ISBN 0-393-96945-2. Changing one’s programming language is a little like changing one’s religious convictionssnot something to be done on a whim. A few years ago, I decided to switch from Fortran (which I had used for over 20 years) to C. I purchased about a dozen different books purporting to explain how to use the C language. Most were densely unreadable, few had a usable index, and some were riddled with errors. The learning curve was unnecessarily steep. Now comes the book I really wanted, by Prof. Kim King of Georgia State University. It is apparent that this book was written by someone who has spent time teaching the subject. The writing style is entertaining and clear. There are many good examples throughout the book. Each chapter includes a “Q & A” section which addresses frequently asked questions as well as tangential issues which would detract from the flow of the text. There are frequent cross-references to related material in other parts of the book. Source code for the book’s programs as well as errata are available on the author’s World-Wide Web page. And each chapter has a variety of exercises, enabling the reader to evaluate the learning process. Best of all, the index takes you right to the part of the book you needsit is not too sparse, and it is not cluttered with irrelevant references. The first time I picked up this book I quickly found the solution to a file-reading bug which had perplexed me for months. I am placing this book at the top of my heap of programming texts, and I am recommending it to all of my programming colleagues.
D. Eric Walters Finch UniVersity of Health Sciences/The Chicago Medical School CI960432M S0095-2338(96)00432-5
