book reviews Editor: W. F. KIEFFER College of Wooster W w t e r , Ohio
Introductory Chemistry
Edmund J. Leddy and Don Roach, Miami-Dade Jr. College. Rinehart Press, San Francisco, 1972. xv + 478 pp. Figs. and tables. 24 X 19 cm. $10.95. "Introductory Chemistry" is a text written primarily for use by students who enter college and have had little or no background in chemistry. It is designed with a list of behavioral objectives a t the end of each chapter to let the student know what he should he able to do after he has thoroughly studied the material. Each objective directs the student to designated exercises and problems which he can a t tempt to answer as a means of testing himself to see whether he understands the material. A brief summary of the chapter precedes each list of objectives. The book includes many topics normally encountered in traditional texts: atomic and electronic structure, periodicity, bonding, ionization, kinetics, equilibrium, oxidatian-reduction and some descriptive chemistry. Although this large number of topics may give the instructor the freedom to choose the material to be taught, some of the topics would normally be taught in a sequential general chemistry course. The text does not seem appropriate for a terminal student who would perhaps benefit more from a text which included more practical significance of chemistry and some discussion of the interactions of chemistry and society. The authors assume no prerequisite beyond basic algebra. Significant figures and scientific notation are dealt with briefly in the appendix. A detailed discussion early in the text explains the use of dimensional unity terms in solving problems. This method is applied consistently throughout the text. Although the concept of p H is introduced, no effort is made to familiarize the student with logarithms. One of the noteworthy features of the book is the presence of numerous solved examples within the text. The examples
are explained in step by step detail. There are many questions and problems given a t the close of each chapter with answers to some of the odd-numbered questions being provided in the appendix. The variety of questions is good and many of them stimulate interest by attempting to relate chemistry t o problems encountered in everyday life. Exercises and many simple, clear diagrams are placed throughout each chapter in the broad left-hand margin of the pages. The exercises should help the student to immediately check his comprehension of the material. This reviewer feels it is unfortunate that no answers are given for these exercises t o reassure the student when he is answering them correctly. The physical format of the book is pleasant. The wide margins with their many diagrams spare one from being faced with solid pages of print containing no variety. The few typographical errors were not of major significance. The periodic chart an the inside front cover is bewildering though, since it is not clear why ionic charges are shown for only a selected few elements. It appears that the authors have tried with much sincerity to prepare an intraductory chemistry text which by listing behavioral objectives and including example problems should be of much assistance to guide the serious beginning student to success in his first encounter with the study of chemistry. Katherine E. Weissrnann Genesee Cornmuoily College Flint. Michigan 48503
Environmental Pollution
Lourent Hodges, Iowa State University. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Ine., New York, 1973. xii 370 pp. Figs. and tables. 24 x 16.5 cm. $7.95.
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This book is intended for a one semester course in the "Physics and Chemistry of
. . .A461 Edmund J. Leddy and Don Roach, Introductory Chemistry . . .A461 Lourent Hodges, Environmental Pollution Jack G. Caluert, James N. Pitts, Jr., and George H. Dorion, Graduate . . A462 School in the Sciences, Entrance, Survival, and Careers . . . A462 Lloyd N. Fergusan, Organic Chemistry: A Science and a n Art . . . A464 Jerry March, Problems in Advanced Organic Chemistry Clifford J. Creswell, Olaf A. Runquist, and Malcolm M. Cambell, . . . A464 Spectral Analysis of Organic Compounds, 2nd Edition Manufacturing Chemists Association, Guide for Safety in the Chemical . . A466 Laboratory . .A466 Louis F. Martin, New Fire Extinguishing Compounds . . .A466 Publications of the National Bureau of Standards, 1971 Catalog . . . A466 New Volumes in Continuing Series
Pollution." Presumably this course is for undergraduate non-science majors, or a n introductory course for science students. At any rate, the physics and chemistry used is either rudimentary or not important t o the arguments presented. The book, (in my opinion), would make a n excellent second semester text for a nonscience majors course. Since i t gives a nice overview of the total pollution picture i t can also be profitably used for workers in the environmental field (lawyers, economists, and administrators, etc.) who need a quick acquaintance with the science of pollution. Two of my colleagues in this category who looked through selected sections of the book were favorably impressed. Any author who undertakes a book on "Environmental Pollution" which comprises only 329 pages has set himself a formidable task. Professor Hodges succeeds remarkably well, due largely to his facility as a writer. The book is excellent from this standpoint. It reads easily, the writing is clear and remarkably "tight" and is free of typographical and spelling errors. A reasonably complete job is done; after an introductory chapter, there is a chapter on population, four chapters on air pollution, one on noise, three on water pollution followed by single chapters on agriculture pollution, pesticides (which includes herhieides), solid wastes, thermal pollution, radiation, electric power generation, food, drugs and cosmetics, pollution in foreign countries, economic and legal questions and legislation. Each chapter is preceded by a paragraph appropriate to its content. Generally, this quote is from times long gone; it points up to the reader that pollution is nothing new. The quotes are well chosen. At the end are appendices giving units, journals, texts and treatises, and names and addresses of environmental organizations and agencies. The referencing is up to date through 1972. Most of the references are scientific, ie; they have been taken from the reviewed literature, but a fair amount of the material is from editorial writers, especially for "Science," some is from the news media, and a few are from unreviewed books which are, frankly, polemical. Of course the student and the scientist should distinguish between these three sorts of references but they seldom do. Hence a caveat for those who would use this book (or most of the similar texts). The author seems to steer a middle course in most matters of environmental controversy. He does especially well with the population problem presenting both Ehrlich's and Commoners' points of view without taking sides. The principle fault of the book is a n understandable tendency to over-simplify. (After all, how complete a discussion of thermal pollution can be put into 15 pages?) Data and facts are presented without much regard t o where the information comes from or how i t is obtained. 1 a m alwavs disturbed hv the lack of information on monitoring or data treatment in these books; even if it requires a separate treatment, i t should still be mentioned as a separate problem. The author glosses over the tangled web of ecological interdependence but there are also flagrant ex(Continued on page A462)
Volume 50, Number 9. September 1973
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