BOOH REVIEUJI .
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gines, Clapeyon's equation, and entropy) by, verily, a modern Leonardo-an author/ teacher / researcher I chemist I industrialist1 mechanical engineer (at Princeton) and, currently, chemical engineer (at Yale). The reader soon senses that it is prohaMy an exhilarating intellectual experience to hear the author, John Fenn, hold forth in the classroom-even on a suhject so commonplace, and yet so formal, as classical thermodynamics. Classical thermodynamics, to paraphrase Robert Frost, takes the pulse of the physical world for its text. ProhaMv few subjects consider a simpler suhject matter: heatflow and friction, the dramatis personae of heat engines and heat pumps. Yet prohahly few scientific subjects raise, or lower, readers' hlaod pressures more. For few subjects suhjugate their suhject matter to such drastic linguistic transformations. For example: Cars, we all know, can he stopped hy braking. They cannot, of course, he started by debraking. Cars are not automatically mobiles. Any process whose net effect is the raising of a weight(or the acceleration of a car) and the cooling of a body (e.g., a brake drum) is impossible. Entropy always increases. ASt,,, > 0. Classical thermodynamics, one eventually sees, is merely a language for saying ordinary things in extraordinary ways. The ordinary experience that, fur example, friction always heats, never cools, hecomes in thermadynamics T = (aE/aS)v > 0. John Fenn deftly reverses such transformations. He says the extraordinary things of thermodynamics in ordinary ways. As Peter Debye has said, we do not really understand something until we can explain i t to the man on the street (or, perhaps, to a liberal arts student a t Yale)-that is to say, until we can say it in words. That is what John Fenn does for thermodynamics. He puts the crshhed mathematical details created largely hy Clausius and Kelvin, fine-tuned by Gibhs, misunderstood (initially) by Tait, and presented hy subsequent authors without Clausius's physical insights into the equivalence of transformations (of, e.g., friction and heat flaw, as demonstrated by, e.g., a Carnot cycle), into plain English. In "Engines, Energy, and Entropy," John Fenn exhihits a eharmine master" of two ease and grace. Chapter-ending problemssets (with answers) are headed, for example: Workout on Work; Scale Practice; Statesmanship Test; Warming-Up Exercises; Cycle Drill; Law Practice; Engine Problems. Ordinarily, authors claim more for their honks and thermodvnamicists claim more for an ordinary authority on thermodynamics. His appraisal of his hook will he useful, I be^ lieve, to many readers of THIS JOURNAL. "This hook [can he] used.. . in introductor" courses in chemistrv and uhvsics luer-
In a one~termcourse in thermodynamics for engineering students, especially freshmen or A26
Journal of Chemical Educatior
saphomares . . . . This book is not a cunventianal thermodynamics text. . Its aim is to lead the reader to a comfortable understanding of the basic principles and methods of thermodynamics. Unabashedly elementary, i t strives for simplicity with honesty." Henry A. Bent North Carolina State University Raleigh, NC 27650
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Hazardous Chemicals, Information a n d Disposal Guide Margarei-Ann Armour, Lois M Browne, and Gordon L. Weir, Department of Chemistry University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta. Canada T6G 2G2. 1982. xi 239 pp. 16.5 X 22.5 cm. PB $8.00
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This hook is a ready source of hazard information on more than two hundred chemicals quite often used in academic lahorata-
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the subsequent treatment of individual chemicals (or groups) we find information an physical properties, chemical properties, hazardous reactions, physiological properties and health hazards, spillage disposal, waste disposal, and leads to standard references for more complete reports. The latter sources mostly'are current, hut the second edition of "Hazards in the Chemical Lahoratory" (1977) is cited rather than the third edition of this Royal Society of Chemistry hook with L. Bretherick as editor. The second edition (1979) of Bretheriek's authoritative "Handbook of Reactive Chemical Hazards" is used. The hook provides a three-page listing of incompatible chemicals far guidance in the stockroom. Because of continuing changes in acceptable practices, readers in this country must check the suggestions an waste disposal against current laws, local and federal. The format lends itself to easy reading despite the small size of type. Proofreading has been done carefully. The book covers fewer substances than the highly regarded "Handling Chemicals Safely 1980" compiled by Dutch societies,which was reviewed in THls JOURNAL,58, A-227 (1981). But the substantially lower price will recommend the Alherta hook to many readers, who will be grateful to the authors for such a convenient compilation of useful data. Malcolm M. Renfrew University of Idaho MOSCOW, ID 83843
TITLES OF INTEREST Modern Molecular Photochemistry N. J. Turro, Benjamin/Cummings Publishers, Menlo Park, CA, 1978. ii 628 pp. Figs. and tables. 15.5 X 23.5 cm. $16.95 (PB).
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The text is written to familiarize students and researchers with the important concepts and methodology involved in studying organic photoreactiuns. Following the development of each general principle, a number of representative examples are given to help readers understand the principle. Students with two years of college chemistry and a year of college physics should be readily able to
handle the material. All important concepts are presented in terms of a geomet~rcrepresentation. This aouroaeh is cauoled with the oretical organic photochemistry. The method of presentation of material in chapters 1-9 will he useful to students interested in a qualitative, pictorial interpretation of spectroscopic processes involving the absorption and emission af light. Thus, a large portion of the text can be used in introductory courses in physical chemistry far nonmajors and in courses in biochemistry when a qualitative appreciation of the physical basis of light absorption and emission is desired. The numerous examples of photoreactions and their interpretation given in chapters 10-13 is appropriate material for discussion in courses in advanced organic chemistry or physical organic chemistry. A variety of examples of the utilization of organic photochemistry as a synthetic tool are presented in chapters 10-13. Chapter 14 is a thorough introduction and examination of chemiluminescent organic reactions. Numerous references to the urimarv literature and t o review articles are provided throughout the text.
Aspects
of
Ancient Indian Technology
H C. Bhardwaj, Motilal Banarsidass Indological Publishers, Delhi, India, 1979. xi 212 pp. Figs, and tables. 16 X 25 cm.
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A Bibliography of Ab lnitio Molecular W a v e Functions. Supplement for
1978-80 W. G. Richards. P. R. S c o d V. Sackwild, and S. A. Robins (Editors), Oxford University Press, New York, NY, 1981. vii 463 pp. 15.5 X 23 cm. $78.00.
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An Introduction t o Composite Materials Derek Hull, Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, 1981. vii f 245 pp. Figs. and tables. 13 X 21.5 cm. $45.00 HB, $16.05 PB. This book takes a rather narrower view of the suhject of composite materials since its main objective is to provide for students and researchers, scientists and engineers alike, a physical understanding of the properties of these substances as a basis for the impravement of the properties, manufacturing processes and design of products made from these materials. Calculator Programming for Chemistry a n d t h e Life S c i e n c e s Frank H Clarke, Academic Press, Inc.. New York 1981. v 226 pp. Figs. and tables. 15.5 X 23.5 cm. $24.50.
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It is the purpose of this book to illustrate with specific, detailed examples the new ca-
