Chemical Education Today
The History and Use of Our Earth’s Chemical Elements: A Reference Guide Robert E. Krebs. Greenwood Press: Westport, CT, 1998. 282 pp + 25 pp glossary + 37 pp index. 15.9 × 24.1 cm. ISBN 0-313-30123-9. $39.95.
This book is an excellent resource for chemical educators at the high school and college levels. The format of the text is consistent and the writing style is clear and concise, making it ideally suited for student use also. The first three chapters serve to introduce the reader to a brief history of chemistry, early models of the atom, and the development of the periodic table. Names of the contributing scientists are mentioned whenever necessary, but the overall purpose of these introductory chapters is simply to lay a foundation for the subsequent seven chapters. A complete glossary of important scientific terms mentioned in the text should allow beginning students to use this book without feeling overwhelmed. Each entry for the 112 elements contains the following information: elemental symbol, atomic number, period, common valence, atomic weight, natural state, common isotopes, properties, characteristics, abundance, natural sources, history, common uses and compounds, and safety hazards. This information is well organized, with clear headings and separate sections making the book extremely user-friendly. Readers can easily obtain the information they desire without having to skim the full entry for a chosen element. One very nice feature of this book is that the elements entries are arranged by their locations in the periodic table. For example, chapter 4 contains the alkali metals and alkaline earth metals. This organizational scheme allows one to quickly see the patterns and trends within groups of elements. This format is significantly better than arranging the elements in alphabetical order, which places the entry for sodium far removed from the entries for lithium and potassium. I would highly recommend this book to high school teachers and college chemistry professors. It is well written and is an excellent source of information for both students and educators. Jeffrey D. Bracken Westerville North High School Westerville, OH 43082
JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 76 No. 4 April 1999 • Journal of Chemical Education
475
