Chemical Education Today edited by
Book & Media Reviews
Jeffrey Kovac University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN 37996-1600
Instant Notes in Inorganic Chemistry, Second Edition by P. A. Cox BIOS Scientific Publishers: Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK, 2004. 282 pp. ISBN 1859962890 (paperback). $31.95 reviewed by Peter M. Smith
One of the most common complaints from students in upper-level chemistry courses is that the textbooks are boring, wordy, and/or too difficult to comprehend. Many times they feel as if the authors are intentionally trying to obfuscate concepts. Enter the Instant Notes series of books, designed to be a clear and concise rendering of the most important concepts in a particular scientific discipline. This book is precisely that, a brief and very readable overview of most of the major concepts covered in inorganic chemistry textbooks. At 282 pages and $31.95, it can be a very attractive supplement to a course in inorganic chemistry. Like the other titles in the series, the book is divided by the major sections of inorganic chemistry (ten in this case: atomic structure; introduction to inorganic substances; structure and bonding in molecules; structure and bonding in solids; chemistry in solution; chemistry of nonmetals; chemistry of non-transition metals; chemistry of transition metals; lanthanides and actinides; and environmental, biological and industrial aspects). Each section is further divided into subsections that help flesh out each concept. Each subsection starts with a list of the three to five main topics, stated in one or two sentences. As I use the same approach in my courses, I appreciate giving the students the take-home message up front. The subsections are generally very short, three to five pages, and contain mostly text. There are tables, graphs, diagrams, and structures interspersed throughout the subsections that can help the reader grasp the concept at hand. Most of the chosen examples in the book are the classic ones
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included in traditional inorganic textbooks: NaCl is used as the example for the Born-Haber cycle, the Monsanto acetic acid process is used in the discussion of organometallic catalysis, etc. For those familiar with the first edition, this second edition has been fully reviewed, revised, and updated. It includes new material on recent developments in the synthesis, reactivity, and characterization of inorganic compounds including noble gas compounds. Also included are new chapters on inorganic reaction classification, characterization techniques, spectroscopic methods, and solvent systems. The reasons why this book is attractive—brevity and simplicity—may also be its drawbacks. It is printed in black and white. There are no practice problems or exercises of any type. Some very important concepts in inorganic chemistry are given only cursory treatment: Lewis acids and bases are covered in two and one-half pages; ligand field theory gets three and onehalf pages; the entire field of bioinorganic chemistry is covered in four pages; and catalysis is discussed in three pages. Perhaps most surprisingly, inorganic reaction kinetics is treated in only two pages and without any mathematical content. These sections are the briefest of reviews and would require significantly more material than what is presented in Instant Notes for the students to fully comprehend the concepts. I would confidently recommend this book as an inexpensive supplemental text for an upper-level inorganic chemistry course. Students will benefit from the concise explanations of the concepts and will not get bogged down by cumbersome calculations. The book would also serve as a useful reference for those wishing to learn the more descriptive aspects of inorganic chemistry. Finally, I can see it being helpful for those who need to brush up on inorganic chemistry before taking a standardized exam as most of the classic examples of inorganic chemistry are included in the book. Peter M Smith is in the Department of Chemistry, Westminster College, New Wilmington, PA 16172;
[email protected] Vol. 82 No. 2 February 2005
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Journal of Chemical Education
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