BOOK REVIEWS framed, relating to good study habit*. against a saturation preaentabion of material without a responsible demand for understanding, leanling, and retaining! The difference between this hook and a good introductory text is that the s t w dent can he held accountable for the type of information in the good text! Perhaps t,his principal objection may be restated: I t is not ~ h v i o u s whethe]. the rtnthola have distinguished between a text on modern chemical prinriples and a hook which simply contains harder material and m ~ w hmore of it !
E. h l r ~ LIYTOK, ~ ~ n JR. Montana Slate liniveraily Boreman, Monlana 55711, Introductory Descriptive Chemistry: Selected Nonmetals, Their Propertier and Behavior
Ronald C . Johnson, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. W. A. Benjamin, Inc., New Yark, 1966. x 144 pp. Figs. and tsblea. 14 X 21 cm. Papep
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hound, $2.45; cloth, 84.95. I t is a real pleasure to read a new textmonograph which is outstanding for two important attributes. Firstly this little hook is very well written. Secondly the nothor incorporates recent chemistry in such a way that its basis, classical chem-
A754 / journal of Chemical Education
i s t ~ . ~is, uot overlouked; rather, the two appear as what they really are, parts of the whole which must be taught. The selected "on-metals are hydrogen, horon, nitrogen, and the halogens. The author has decided to cover the descriptive chemistry of these elements a t length for beginning students. The only coverage of the other non-metals is incidental to explaining periodic relationships. A familiarity on the part of the st.udent with "the electronic theory of atoms, elementary bonding theory, and the use of half-cell electrode potentials" is presumed. Thus, throughout, structures are present,ed and rationalized in terms of elementary bonding t,heory. Illustrat,ions of structures and stereochemical inierenees are excellent. A short., hut very usable, set of qnestioos follows each chapter. The chapters on hydrogen, nitrogen, and the halogens are very complete in their coverage. The chapter on boron is essentiallv on boron hvdrides. For the
ment to s. mom general int~mduetory text. I t is possible to find only two m a l l quarrels with the text. A very simple mistake has beeu made in the legend of the Periodic Table on page 2. The color scheme interchanges t,he positions of the met,als and the non-met,als. The second item is almost trivia. However for an author who appears t,o think so highly of L. Pauling, one wonders why the laller'8
system of A :and B suhgroupa designaliuu was not adopted.
S. Y. TYREE, JR. W l r g e of William and Mar!, Williamsburg, Virginin
Modern Organic Chemistry
John D ,lioherts, California. Institute of Technology, Psnadedene, and Marjorie C. Caserio, Ilniversity of California, Irvine. W. A. Benjamin, Inc., New York, 196i. xxi 844 pp. Fim. and tables. 18.5 X 26.5 cm. 510.75.
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This book is a shortened version of Roberts slid Cawrio'r well-known texl. "Basic Principles of Organic Chemistry." The change in the title of the book and the reduction firm 1315 tu 844 pages might lead one to expect major revisions, hut, such is imt the case. The titles of the 31 chapters are idelltical in both hooks with the exceptiau of a miuor change in the title oiChapte1.28 ("Dyes and Photochemistry" in the rhol.tened version and "Dyes, Color Photography, and Photochemistry" in the o~.iginslversion). I n fact, the books seemeddrnostidentical on casual inspection so that a suspicion occurred to the reviewer that the rednetion in pages might have been effected h?using smaller type. 9 careful mearurement of ~everalidentically worded parag r a p h ~dispelled this dark thought,. The reduction has been effected by reIContimreii on page
d7.58)
