I would recommend this hook as a fine reference for any high school general or science library. It would also serve as a good supplemental text for a course in enviarnmental chemistry or for a unit on that topic in a general chemistry course. The hook would he mare interesting if it had photographic illustrations of the effects of the various pollutants, but that, undoubtedly, would also make it more expensive. The bibliography a t the end of each chapter makes i t particularly valuable as a resource hook, and this alone would justify its purchase.
to Mars and Saturn fly by. Complicated material is presented in a simple, understandable farm and many excellent diagrams and models are included which help to explain difficult concepts. Chemistry teachers would he particularly interested in the author's skillful development of the concepts of astrodynamics. The history of rocketry from Chinese fire arrows to Robert Goddard's liquid rocketry including the problems of developing suitahle propellants for launch vehicles. and the account of the unusual properties of
JUDITH DARWEESH Greece Arcadia High School
Rochester. NY 14612
Plant Health Handbook Louis L. Pyenson, AVi Publishing Co., Inc., Westport, CT, 1981, 241 pp.. $19.50. The "Plant HealthHandbook"is a guide for anyone wishingto keep healthy plants free of diseases and pests. Topics discussed include: pest cantrul, care ofhouse plants as well as the care of deciduous trees, shrubs, evergreens, garden flowers, vegetable and fruit gardens. Though the book is not intended for use as a chemistry text, those teachers interested in a description of pesticide prescriptions might find the book useful when their students study environmental chemistry and related social issues. Also for the biology teacher or for the student interested in entomology,the author includes a fascinating and detailed section on plant diseases and their control. RONALD I. WALDMAN University Preparatory Academy Seattle. WA 98115
Knowledge and Wonder: The Natural Wonder as Man Knows It Victor F. Weiskopf, M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, MA, 2nd ed., 1979, $15.90 (hard cover); $5.95 (Soft cover).
particle; the quantum mechanical model; Avogadro's number; atomic particles; the quantum "ladder"; the chemistry of bonding; amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids, and DNA and RNA; and radioactive dating to determine the age of earth and its matter. All of the topics serve as a foundation for the final chapter of evolution, which is an attempt to explain how everything that is matter originated. The author states many times that there is much conjecture and that the facts of origin are not known. He then gives a lengthy proposal of the actual happenings since matter began with the "Big Bang." Hestates that every change has arisen from pure chance collisions over billions of yean resulting eventually in highly structured organisms and finally man. Most high school chemistry teachers have not been able to be as informed in the allied sciences as is desirable. Study of this text can fill some of the gaps. Science-talented high school seniors who have studied all science classes available would find it challenging to match their knowledge with the facts and proposals of this book.
obvious ties to chemistry. Space age math, re-entry problems and hio-astronautics provide much useful information; much of which was taken from the author's own ex~eriences.The book ends with the "Crystal Ball" which predicts some of our more recent space triumphs. There is an excellent glossary of space age terms; and the bibliography, given for each chapter, is sizeable. ELLENL. HEEREN Arapahoe High School LiRielon, CO 80122
New Parts for Old-age or Organ Transplants John G. Deaton, Franklin Publishing Co., Chicago, IL, 1978. This is an excellent supplemental science hook that every secondary school library should have. This book, which has been written by a physician, goes to great lengths to keep the reader interested and also entertained with a reading level quite suitable for the high school science student. The book begins with transplants performed from the Chimera and continues up through the more modern heart, liver, kidney, lung, and hone-marrow transplants. The author explains all of the facts related to transplants, including the experiments which failed and why certain procedures were successful. The numerous diagrams throughout the hook are excellent supplements to the descriptions presented. Although there is little direct chemistry in this book, it would he a good source of information for the teacher who is interested in creating ties between chemistry and this aspect of modern medicine. It would also be an excellent reference book for the high school stodent. It could also he used as a basis for assigning reports or term papers.
SUSAN L. GDDEZ Zanesviiie High School Zanesviile. OH 43701
Food, People, and Nutrition Eleanor F. Eckstein, AVI Publishing Co., Inc., Westport, CT., 1980, 624 pp., $19.50.
I highly recommend Eckstein's textbook to teachers and students of chemistry and nutrition, and to all whoare interested in this area. It i q n vohme well worth havine in a high school or college library as ...-..-- r.... ..-~.-~-, This work was written as a textbook to help develop afundamental understanding of nutrition. In the introduction, the author indicates that the style she uses attempts to deal with the problem of misinterpretatio". The reader is not left with the taskof analysis and synthesis of ex~erimentaldata, but is alerted deliberately by paragraph SCHULTZ structure designed to focus attention on a point. MARYJANE Douglas MacArthur High School Much concerning nutrition is unknown today, and may he un505 North Center Road knowable. The t o p m of food and nutrition need continual updating. Saginaw. Mi 48603 However, the basic content of this textbook consists ofthe more enduring knowledge. The Rush Toward the Stars-A Survey of Space This hook would prove useful in high school of supplemental Exploratlon reading, for making reports, and as a reference work, not only for the accelerated or eolleee-bound students, but also for those enrolled in Tom Logsdon, Franklin Publishing Company, inc., Palisade, NJ, 1970, an alternative course such as contemporary or environmental chem218 pp., $6.80 (no longer in print). istry. This hook. which summarizes the events and technolow that led MARY ANN LOUY 4138 Heathergreen Court Toledo. OH 43614 ~
Volume 60 Number 8
August 1983
687
