book reviews
Introduction to Chemical Principles
Edward I. Peters and Susan A. Weiner. West Valley College, Saratoga, California. W. B. Saunders Company, West Washington Square, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19105, 1974. xi + 551 + VII pages. Figs. and tables. 19 X 27 cm. $12.50 This book is written for a one semester preparatory course in chemistxy for students entering college with insufficient background to take the usual college level general chemistry course. The topics covered in the hook include the usual survey of chemical principles and mathematics. Calculations are approached from a dimensional analysis solving procedure. Problems are described in a semi-programmed format. Many excellent diagrams are included in the chapters and mesh well with the discussion. At the end of the book the appendix contains a glossary, which should prove very helpful to students, and a mathematics review. The text is well written and easy t o read and follow. As a textbook designed to prepare students for the full year general chemistry eourse, the hook contains much more detail and in-depth treatment of many topics than would usually be necessary for a one semester course. The chapter on atomic structure is one example. This chapter includes the same information that most full year textbooks include. An instructor using this book for remedial courses or for a preparatory sequence for students planning to take a two semester general chemistry course would probably delete certain sections which are covered in the usual full year course. For a book designed to prepare students for a full year general chemistry course, it would have been better to include more items of a practical nature and those
which are normally more familiar t o the beginning student. Too, the level of mathematical treatment is rather high for most students who would take a eourse of this type. Overall, this hook appears to he more suitable for a full year course in general chemistry than for a one semester sequence. A laboratory book is available for use with the textbook and it, too, is more sophisticated than one would consider necessary for a preparatory eourse. The experiments included in the manual are much the same as those normally done in a one year eourse. Both the textbook and the laboratory manual have instructor's guides available. The hook should be considered for a full year general chemistry eourse rather than for a o n e semester sequence. Although no biochemistry is included, organic chemistry is introduced t o about the same extent as most of the popular general chemistry textbooks. The laboratory manual would work well with the textbooks for a one year course. Roger D . Barry Northern Michigan University Marqoetfe. Michigan 49855
Contemporary Chemistry
Edward A . Walters, The University of New Mexico and Eugene M. Wewerka, University of California, Los Alamos. Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co., Columbus, Ohio, 1974. x + 500 pp. Figs. and tables. 16.5 X 25cm. $8.95. This text of 18 chapters could be used in a one-semester course t o acquaint the nonscience majors with some applications of
-Reviewed in this Issue Edward I Peters and Susan A . Weiner, Introduction to Chemical Princi. ples . . A119 . . A119 Edword A. Welters and Eugene M. Wewerko, Contemporary Chemistry . . A132 R. P Bell, The Proton in Chemistry, Second Edition . . .A132 Donold H. Andrew*, Chemistry: A Humanistic Approach Barry A. Korger, Lloyd R. Snyder, and Csaba Horuath, An Introduction . . A132 to Separation Science Hobart H. Willard, Lynne L. Merritt, Jr., and John A. Dean, I ~ s ~ N . . A136 mental Methods of Analysis, Fifth Edition . . A140 Jozsef Mikn and Tibor Torok, Analytical Emission Spectroscopy . . .A140 Gordon M Barrow, Physical Chemistry for the Life Sciences . . .A140 D.B. Cook, Ah Initia Valence Calculations in Chemistry Robert C. Weast, editor-in-chief. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Phys. . .A142 ics, 54th Edition . . A142 Specialist Periodical Reports . . .A144 New Volumes in Continuing Series
chemistry, hut there would be little emphasison chemical theory. Following a n introductory chapter which includes a discussion of the metric system and scientific notation, there are seven chapters listed under the heading "Chemical Concepts." These include such topics as atomic structure, bonding, and periodicity, plus a quite thorough consideration of energy and the energetics of chemical reactions. The second part of the hook is called "Chemistry-Society Interface," and it contains ten chapters on topics of contemporary interest such a s nuclear chemistry, organic compounds, polymers, drugs, biochemistry, energy sources, and the environment. The authors have stated in the Preface that the important thread throughout the book is the role of energy in determining the caurse of change. Consequently a t least five of the chapters are mainly concerned with concepts related to energy and thermodynamics, but one wishes that the concept of matter had been covered as systematically and thoroughly. The development of many of the basic ideas of chemistry in the early chapters is weak, and some important concepts such as acidity-basicity, neutralization, oxidationreduction, valence, etc., are neither discussed nor even listed in the glossary. Even for the non-science majors there should be more correlation of the descriptive chemistry with chemical concepts and theory than is found in this book. Thus, in a section on pollution, sulfuric acid is mentioned a s a stable, corrosive compound formed when SO3 reacts with atmospheric water. However, there is no discussion of the chemical behavior of acids or the reasons why strong acids like sulfuric are corrosive. It could also have been useful and pertinent if the authors had noted that millions of tons of sulfuric acid are produced and used in industry each year; i.e., that despite the harmful effects that may result when chemicals are misused, they often may be beneficial and even necessary for mankind. The chapters are ~rovidedwith exercises and supplemental reading suggestions, hut no answers to the study questions and problems are in the book. Considering the emphasis placed on energy concepts in the text, Appendix 3, entitled "Units of Energy and Conversion Factors," is astonishingly incomplete. The other two appendices are a Table of Atomic Weights and a discussion of the Boltzmann equa, tion. The Table would he more convenient to use if placed inside one of the iovers. This hook would he best suited as a text for a course which admitted only students who had previously taken a t least a high school chemistry eourse. They could then concentrate on the material in the last ten chapters. The instructor would probably want to supplement those chapters with more reaction chemistry and with a review of appropriate chemical concepts and theories a s needed to explain the descriptive ehemistry. Carl W . Moeller University of Connecticut Storrs, ConnecfiCut 06268
(Continued onpogeA132J Volume 52, Number 2, February 1975
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