BOOK
would not be particularly enhanced by this conventional text,. The quantitative and experimental nature of chemistry is emphasized throughout. After three chapters of basic mathematics, concepts and definitions used in general chemistry, the states of matter, nature of solutions, and stoichiometry are discussed. Some descriotive chemistry is inrroclurrd m r t in R chqptm on urygeo, I , 1 t Thmnolhrmiitry, rrwtiwr vt1w:iry and rhtmiral \I~crmugeneous) equilibrium are discussed in however, no more frequent than in other Chapter 9. books on chemistry, and there are some Classification of chemical substances, very good features, such as the discussion the periodic table, radioactivity, atomic of the impact of the phlogiston theory or oarticles and the "mohitecture" of the that of the role of salt in chemical indusitom are treated in three succeeding try. chapters. The chief weakness of the book is its Some of the best illustrations in the heavy emphasis and almost exclusive book appear in a chapter on moleclimitation to theindustridviewpoint. To ular structure and the solid state. This the author, industry is "that basic index chapter and two others on solutions of of human life and aotivity" with very electrolytes, electrochemistry and heterolittle attention being given to any other geneous equilibrium are set (apparently possible index. not so much for continuity as for relief) Nonetheless, the author does do a good among chapters dealing with descriptive job of presenting a broad view of chemip. chemistry of the elements arranged in try in clear but non-technical language. groups such as the halogens, active The book should be quite effective for metals, and boron, carbon and silicon. readers who are not chemists. Teachers Following Chapter 22, An Introduction to of beginning students will find it pleasant Organic Chemistry, separate chapters on reading for themselves and an effective The Transitional Elements, The Metalloid, addition to library collections to encourage The Innertmnsitional Elements, The outside reading by students. Colloidal State, and Chemistry of Natural ROBBINC. ANDE~SON Products are added. Teachers will approve the generous Tne University of Tezas supply of questions, problems and refAustin erences a t tho end of each chapter.
REVIEWS
Understanding Chemistry
Lawence P . Lessing. Intersoience Publishers, h e . , New York, 1959. 192 pp. Illustrations. 14.5 X 21.5 cm. $3.50 Also, paperbound Mentor edition by New American Library, 5.50. For a book with a title as provocative and inclusive as that above, one must look &st for the author's objectives and the type of reader to whom he is writing. In this case, the publisher's description gives a reasonably effective statement that: "Here, told in language which every layman can understand, is the swift, yet scholmly stmy of man's great bctsio dip. coveries through chemistry about his world and hisuniverse, about the structure of the elements, their compounds and their relationship to one another, the growth of atomic theory, and the unravelling of the l a m of combination of elements, ending in chemistry as i t is today. "Here, too, is an account of the fascinating uses to which man has put this knowledge in everyday l i f e h o w color photography, anti-knock gasoline, and rocket fuels grew out of a study of reaction rates, whv the modern world of smthetic fibers.
First Principles of Chemislry
Moddie D. Taylor, Howard University, Washington, D.C. D. Van Nostrand Co., Ine., Princeton, New Jersey, 1960. xxii 688 pp. Figs. and tables. 16 X 23. 5 cm. 87.50.
Jnms L. HALL Colorado School ojMines Goldel.
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and medicines have resulted from a greater knowledge of biochemical cycles." As usual with such a book, questionable statements can be found-for example, the exclusion of d l nuclear reactions from ohemistry, the clasnifictttion of iso-octane as "the most typical" of hydrocarbons with eight to ten carbon atoms, and even the definition of chemistry itself simply and solely as dynamic change. These are,
-Reviewed Lawrence
There is nothing extraordinary in this book to recommend its use instead of several reputable texts on the subject. Any justification for publication of this new text will come from its adoption for introductory college chemistry classes of a terminal nature. Courses for science majors, engineers or for students with a good high school chemical background
in This Issue
P . Lessing, Understanding Chemistry
Moddie D. Taylor, First Principles of Chemistry Elbert C. Weaver and Laurence S . Foster, Chemistry for Our Times
0.A. Battista, The Challenge of Chemistry Paul Pascal, Nouveau TrsitC de Chimie Minerale, Volume 18 Paul R. Frey, Essentials of College Chemistry Arnold Weissberger, Physical Methods of Organic Chemistry.
Part 1
Noel B . Shier, Theory of Unimoleculer Reactions Robert Tharnta Morrison and Robert Neilson Boyd, Organic Chemistry F. L. M. Pattisn, Toxic Aliphatic Fluorine Compounds Roger Gilmont, Thermodynamic Principles for Chemical Engineers
550
/
~ournalof Chemical Education
Chemislry for Our Timer
Elbed C. Weaver, Phillips Academy Andover, Massachusetts, and Laumee S. Foster, Ordinance Materials Research Office, Watertown Arsenal, Massachusetts. 3rd ed. McGraw-Hill Book Co., 666 pp. Inc., New York, 1960. vi Figs. and tables. 17 X 24 cm. $5.72.
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The new edition of thiv well known and widely used text embodies few changes from the original pattern. The changes that me made w e either minor and inconsequential, such as updating the list of newly discovered elements and eataloguing some new technological discoveries, or they are changes that could be important were sufficient space devoted to them. I t is all too obvious that most of the new ideas introduced in the text had to be fitted into holes obtained by sacrificing some of the material of lesser stature in the second edition. In spite of ststements to the contrary in the preface to this book, I find no really great new emphasis upon principles of atomic and molecular structure and bonding. I t is true, for example, that, in the new edition, hydrogen bonding is mentioned; so is isomorphism. A new periodic chart shov5ng subshells is included. The inside cover of the book has a new chart of atomic and ionic radii.
