reviews Fundamentals of General, Organic, a n d Biological Chemistry, Fifth Edition John R. Holum. Wiley: New York, NY, 1994. xvii + 889 pp. Figs., tables, & photos. 21.3 x 26.2 cm. $64.95. The fourth edition of this text was reviewed in J. Chem. Edue.
The book itself is attractively presented with interesting and colorful illustrations. The prose is readable, with boldface type used for frequent topic sentences. In short, this is a very wellwritten book an which great labor has been expended by the author. It is specially suited for survey courses far students in the allied health professions.
1990,67, A312-A313. Designed for students interested in allied
health professions and also by nonscience majors, this text has 11 chapters on basic chemical principles, seven on organic chemistry, and 11on biochemistry. The author has done a goodjob cramming three years of undergraduate chemistry into one book. Topics and the depth of coverage a r e based on what will he needed to understand the more biochemical chapters. The review of the fourth edition still applies: those who have used the older editions will find an old fiiend here with a little rewriting and rearrangement and a little new material. Treatment of many topics is superficial, and students will memorize more than they have time to understand. For example, the development of quantum mechanics gets a bare-bones treatment, but hybrid orbitals and MO's are used extensively. Resonance, as a concept, is not mentioned, hut the properties of ammatic molecules are explained in some detail as due to delacalizationof electrons in MO's. It was easy to read and satisfying, until I realized that few students, if any, would be able to appreciate what it really meant. In a similar veinithe organic chemist& section is weak an mechanisms of reactions. Then in the carbohydrates chapter, detailed multistep mechanisms for the aldal and retro-aldol condensations aooear. The presentation is good, but students without a ground$ in easier mechanisms will have trouble here. r like? Most ask for recall What art. thc c ~ d o k h a p t r prohlcms of lnrtunl matcrinl in the chapter Some are fur tramng lab technicians: Chapter 3 has 17 problems in a raw on how to prepare dilute solutions, and Chapter 9 has 16 more problems, essentially the same. Not much problem work in the earlier chapters has a biomedical flavor. Each chapter includes two to five special topics that are treated briefly. About eight come from environmental chemistry (not enough for a course on chemistry and the environment). But 25 have a medical or physiological connection. In fact, this is an excellent text for nursing majors or other students interested in the health sciences. Of particular interest is the chapter on "Extracellular Body Fluids" which brings together colligative properties, solution concentrations, acid-base chemistry, blood biochemistry, and a hit of physiology in health and disease. It would be a good chapter with which to end a course. The chapter on 'Nutrition" with which the hook ends is much less excitine and seems to call far a lot of memorization work. Fnr s llhernl arts course intended to introdure nonscienre major.~t,, chemtitry as a natural srlcnrc, this is not th? hook that I w0u.d choosc Some histnrienl remarks :are to he fimnd. some connections are made between theory and experiment, and same special topics are timely. But this text seems more likely to produce a useful vocabulary in heads swollen with memorized facts than an appreciation for the the power and beauty of science,
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Dennis P. Ryan Hofstra University Hempstead. NY 11550 Fun with Chemistry: A Guidebook of K-12 Activities,
Volumes 1 a n d 2
Mickey and Jeny Saquis, Editors; Institute for Chemical Education: Madison. W1, 1993. Two Vols.: 286 + 376 pp. This compilation of 107 activities (demonstration, hands-on activity, take-home project, etc.) should make i t easy for a teacher to stimulate interest in science in general, and chemistry in particular. Although most of the activities will, or should, be familiar to college or high school chemistry teachers, even they may find something new here (for example, I didn't know that iron-fortified cereals were fortified with elemental iron see #11, vol. 1, p 49). The preferred mode of presentation is noted. Each activity is adequately documented (many derive from Shakashiri's Chemical Demonstrations or J. Chem. Edue. articles), but for most purposes the explanation given with each demo would be sufficient. Careful. steo bv steo directions are @vcn for scttirjg up 311d rarrymg out each drmonrratinn, incltldlng cstlmntra of the timca nccdcdThr pruredurt. are spelled uut in such d r t n ~ fir l to make rhr nrtivity virtually fbolproof, even in the hands of the complete novice. Great attention is given to safe operating procedures and the proper disposal of leftover ar waste materials. Suggestions are made as to haw the demonstration can be integrated into the curriculum, and each demonstration is coded far the grade levels (K-3,4-6,7-9,lO12, or General) for which i t is appropriate. Alternate ways of carrying out the activity often are noted. Sources are listed for all of the materials needed. There are several appendices that will be of great help to the teacher. The list of easy-to-find chemicals, substances that can be bought in a grocery (acetic acid/vinegar)or drugstore (magnesium sulfate/Epsam salts) is not only useful, but instructive, and ought to help make teachers, and through them their students, aware that "chemical" is not a synonym for 'toxic." Several scientific supply houses are listed where items not generally available may be obtained. In addition to a conventional index of the activities by name. there is an index bv, key conceot: . . e.e.. . . .Gases and Their Proocrtws Ashort glossaryotrcchr~iculterms Solute: Asuhrtsncedisiolved in n solvrnr I provided. There are a few things I would suggest changing in the next edition. Even though the preparation is a bit demanding, and the underlying theory daunting, I would like to see an oscillating
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in T h i s Issue Reviewer
John R. Holum, Fundamentals of General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry, Fifth Edition Mickey and Jerry Sarquis, editors, Fun with Chemistry: AGuidebook of K-12 Activities. Volumes 1 and 2 B o d ~ eDouglas. Oar1 McOan~el,and John Alexander, Concepts and Mooe s of lnorqanc - Chem stry, Tn rd E d ~ t o n Edgar Heilbronnerand Jack D. Dunitz, Reflections on Symmetry in Chemistry. . . and Elsewhere New Volumes in Continuing Series
Dennis P. Ryan
A238
R .F. Trirnble
A238
Dean F. Martin
A239
J a y S. Siegel
A239 A240
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A238
Journal of Chemical Education
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