book reviews This material is distributed by the American Chemical Society through the office of the educational secretary. The format of the material is as follows: 2 cassettes with a total playing time of 149 min., s paperback 8'/1 X 1 0 L / ~with 23 pages of structures which follow the tapes and s. film strip which is a duplicate of the structures found in the first 23 pages of the text. The text also includes four reprints totalling 36 pages on the subject of hard and soft acid8 and bases. 1-y acquaintance with this audio course crtme when I was casting about for a. way to introduce the hard and soft concept of acids and bases into a freshman course. The material has not yet filteled down t o the freshman texts hut is not too sophisticated t o he a unifying framework for the average beginning student. The format of presentation to the students was to play the tapes and show the film strip during regular class meeting8 and also make the cassettes available in an area for individual student review. The material was presented in its entirety in a week's time and the articles in the text were required reading. At the conclusion of this "mini" course the students were given a demanding and representative (at least in the reviewer's judgment) examination over the material. The average grades ran well above the average of tests on other topical material.
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A constant and continual feedback fram thestudents was the advantage of listening t o the tapes a second time an an individual basis. In our experience the availability of the tapes for individual use is mandatory for a n audio course to be successful. The recordings themselves have.a flat quality which seems to be technical in origin. This deficiency could be improved for future audio courses of this type. The film strip was taken d i r e d y fram the text structures and diagrams and could have been vastly improved with 8. little imaginstion. The content of the course is excellent. I t begins with a short historical account of acid base theory, proceeds through to the Lewis concept and then to the hardsoft concept of acids and bases and its utility in explaining a. wide variety of chemical phenomena. The material was used in our course directly before the presentation of coordination chemistry. The material was extremely effective in preparing students t o understand the overall scope of coordination chemistry. From a, teaching standpoint the only minor criticism I would have is the order in which reprints are presented. They are presented chronologically and in decreasing order of difficulty. I n s. freshman course the two reprints from J . CHI:M. EDUC.should he read first and then the student should proceed t o the more difficult articles. I would strongly recommend the material for inclusion in freshmen level courses and as excellent review material for the
person wishing to up-date his knowledge in the area of modern theory of acids and bases.
JOHN M. DALY Rellarmine Collage Louisville, Kg. 40206
Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemical Analysis. Vol. 10
Edited by Foster Dee Snell and Leslie S . Eltre. Interscience Publishers, New York, 1970. xiv 680 pp. 26 X 19 cm. $45. single copy; $35. Subscription.
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Volume 10 of this authoritative compendium continues the discussion of methods appropriate for specific analysis. The subjects in this volume are a portion of the C's: Cigarettes; Cinnamaldehyde; Cinnamic Acid and its Derivatives; Cinnsmyl Alcohol; Citric Acid; Clays and Clay Minerals; Coagulants and Anticoagulants; Coal and Coke; Coated Abrasives; Cobalt; Coffee; Colors far Foods, Drugs, and Cosmetics; Confectionery Products; Contraceptives; Copper. Some of the extensive bibliographies include citations to literature as recent as 1969. WFK
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