Although I find this textbook to be a very well-written and conscientious effort, I am somewhnr anry of rrcummcnding i t fi>revery school ofttriny urgdnir r h c m i ~ t r y Thii . is a stereochemistry. However, nmr spectroscopy relatively sophisticatrd book h i w wndmp. including C-13 nmr is introduced as early as it, I must co&ude that a student will proh; ably need to have had a strong course in Chapter 10. Other spectroscopic techniques general chemistry which includes a good are covered later in separate chapters. The remainder of the first half of the hook is coverage of elementary thermodynamics and mnrernrd aith aryrlicnl~phnt~cnrmpounds kinetics before effectively understanding the rxrluiirt. c.i arnincz. Aromatir chemistry is Streitwieser and Heathcock text. However, small classes of able students and those innot even introducrd until Chapter 21. Cyclic compounds, including a discussion of ring terested in chemistry a3 a career will find this conformations are covered in Chapter 23. book a challenging and valuable educational Among the last few chapters are detailed tool. treatments of aromatic chemistry, amines Gary 0.Spessard and heterocyclic molecules. There is a special St. Olaf College topics chapter whieh considers such areas as Noflhfield. Minnesots 55057 photochemistry, the Woodward-Hoffmann rules and biosynthesis of natural products. The book ends with a view of the chemical literature. There is much commendable about Streitwieser and Heathcack's hook. Not onlv is it well written, but it is an interesting hook to Analysls and Presentation of Experlmental read. Although the organization of topics is Results somewhat different from most other comparable textbooks, I find it a workable apR. H. Leaoer and T. R. Thomas, Teesside proach. Many of the reactions presented have Polytechnic. John Wiley & Sons, New percent yields associated with them. MoreYork, 1975, xiii + 127 pp. Figs. and tables. over, experimental details are often given for 15 X 23.5 cm. $7.75. important transformations enabling students t o gain some armchair appreciation for how This brief text in statistical methods is organic reactions are carried out. Useful taintended for students in engineering and bles of spectral data, bond energies and pK.'s science curricula, to be used in conjunction with a laboratory course early in their unias well as a summary of functional group preparations are included in the appendices. versity or college programs. It has some apMany will appreciate the fact that pK, is pealing features, including a set of flow charts used throughout in comparing strengths of for error analvsis and the inclusion of chaoboth acids and bases. Computer graphical ters on dimensional analysis and time-series reoresentations of wave functions and the analysis. A chapter on report writing includes some helpful side-by-side examples of good and had writing, hut would have to he supplemented with an explanation of the styles to picturing these concepts. and formats commonly used in chemical My copy contained virtually no typopublications. A chapter on "Graphicsl Presentation" deals only with regression and graphical errors. I must, however, quarrel with a couple of statements in the text. On correlation and says nothing about the proper ways to draw graphs, a topic implied by the pp. 76-77 catalytic cracking and reforming title and toooften slighted in the training of are seemingly combined when they are aechemists. The simultaneous use of regression tually two distinctly different processes. In and eorrelation in this chapter is unfortutheir discussion of carbohydrates the authors nate. state on p. 696 that erythrose may be reduced On the whole, the book cannot be recomto a meso polyol withR,R or S , S configuramended. It does not adequately explain imtion, whereas threose is converted upon reportant concepts (some, such as confidence duction to chiral forms having R, S or S , R limits, simply appear without definition). configuration. These stereochemical assignExtensive use of calculus, including partial ments should he reversed. Molecules which differentials, will pose a serious harrier t o are meso have theR, S or S , R configuration, comprehension. The line of reasoning is often while optically active compounds such as the hard to follow, partly due to the placement of reduced forms of threose have theR,R or S , topics out of sequence. The procedures for S configuration. Also, with regard t o stereodata analysis are on the whole not clearly set ehemistrv. i t should be noted that the words off in the text, which will limit its usefulness as a reference. No single book would serve as an ideal alternative to this one, using the criteria of rently favored usage. clarity of exposition, brevity appropriate to There are many excellent problems a t the a supplementary textbook, and adequate end of each chapter although I would have breadth of coverage of modern topics and liked to have seen some of the exercises intechniques. Several can be recommended for terspersed within the text. I believe exercises consideration, however, including: E. B. whieh occur a t various points before the end Wilson, Jr., "An Introduction to Scientific of aehapter are useful in helping thestudent Research" (McGraw-Hill), W. J. Youden, to think about the material heor she has just "Statistical Methods for Chemists" (Wiley), read. A solutions manual is available and P. D. Lark, B. R. Craven, and R. C. L. Boscontains rather complete answers to the exworth, "The Handling of Chemical Data" ercises. Because chapter designations are not (Pergamon), H. L. Youmans, "Statistics for given on most pages, it is quite difficult to Chemistry" (Merrill), and, on a higher level, locate specific solutions. Perhaps this is by 0.L. Davies and P. L. Goldsmith, "Statistid design.
book reviews
A298 / Journal of Chemical Education
Methods in Research and Productionn (Longmans). Roland F . Hirsch
Seton b l i University South Orange, New Jersey 07079 Math Skills for the Sciences J o h n G. Pearson, University of Alaska; Dennis M Stone, University of Michigan, and Richard F. Swindell, Mt. Growatt College, Australia. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1976. ia + 147 pp. Figs. and tables. 17 X 25.5 cm. paperback, $4.95. This text is a recent addition to the John Wiley Self-Teaching Guides. The hook is a revision of a text entitled "Math Skills for First Year Science" published under the auspices of the University of Idaho and the Idaho Research Foundation, Incorporated. The book is one of several appearing on the market in the past few years for students who are having difficulty in introductory science courses, not because they lack intelligence, hut because they lack the mathematical techniques required to understand and apply the theoretical concepts and principles being taught. As the authors admit in the introductorv rpmarki, the tamk i i not a irholarlv work. Hnther. ~t IS an infcmnal, practirnl. nnd ureahle s~pplcrnentaryrrxt nrirtrn ro help these students brush up, or even learn, the necessary math tools to successfully complete introductory science courses. Seven chapters with the titles "General Math Operations," "Math Ooerations on Fractions." "Aleehra." . " ~ x ~ o n e k s"Scientific ," ata at ion," "Logarithms," and "Problem Solving and Dimensional Anlaysis" are placed before the student in a traditionalself-study style. To help him locate his math deficiencies, a pretest is offered a t the first of each chapter. Behavioral objectives are specified in the pretest format. Once the student has located his problems in a given ehaoter. he is directed t o what the located. The information in the frames includes terminology, notation, rules, examples, and problems to work. Answers follow immediately after the problems. The information is stated simolv. it is comolete. and it mentions later chapters, are characteristic of those found in the basic science courses. A wide spectrum of disciplines and problem types is offered. While the text is relatively free of errors, it has a few weaknesses. I t does not discuss graphs, slide rules, significant figures, error analysis, error propagation, or hand calculators. The index is too brief. More importantly, some students who need the material in this text may experience difficulty. Unless the student is motivated t o overcame his math deficiencies, he may become discouraged a t the swift progression from simple examples and problems to those that are complex. The book has the advantage of being tested under controlled conditions. The authors claim in the introductory pages that "When the material in this text was studied by students with low math aptitudes, they averaged a whole letter grade higher in chemistry than
did their classmates with the samemath aptitude who did not study the material." This text should be a valuable asset to students of averaee who " or better intellirence " seriously want to remove their math deficiencies. They should be able to complete the work in the hook without outside assistance. Mast importantly, it is written in such a way that good students can learn how to work problems. Edmund C. Shearer Fort M y s Kansas State College Hays. Kansas 67601
Outlines of Biochemistry. Fourth Edition Eric E Conn and P. K. Stumpf, University of California, Davis. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1976. vii 629 pp. Figs. and tables. 18 X 26 cm. Hard cover, $15.95.
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This is the fourth edition of a well-known and widely utilized textbook originally designed to introduce students who are primarily not majors in biochemistry t o the diverse subject matter comprising modern biochemistry. The authors' emphasis is still, although to a somewhat lesser extent than in the earlier editions, on the use of intermediary metabolism as a major route for the transmission of information. As in the earlier editions, this approach is logical and this logic is evidenced by the sensible organization of the hook into three parts and 20 chapters. The two appendices containing a series of buffer a n d p H problems and a brief resume of modern methods in
biochemistry will probably be useful and can certainly serve to acquaint relatively unsophisticated students with the material. There is a eood selection of ~ r o b l e m sand a small but wrll choarn and remarkablv current ii-t of r r f e r r n r ~ nr s rhe end "if& h rhaprw. 'l'here is one major uifficuity inherent in texts of this type which are aimed a t eondensing large and rapidly developing areas of science and making them understandable by students of mixed backgrounds and levels of soohistication who need a soeakine ae-
were usually resolved on the side of increased size and complexity rather than shallow over-simplification. This probably was the correct choice to make but it has resulted in a hook that is large and a t times perhaps somewhat too detailed for its intended audience. Overall the hook is very readable and, as might he expected from a text which has gone through several editions and has been translated broadly, there are few typographical or other errors. The illustrations are remarkably clear and singularly well chosen and aoorooriate to the text. The oresentation of the ntce.mry phyaml ehrmwnl mnrwial is n i straighrfmward nnd undrrst;lndalrle as is possible. Drs. Conn and Stumpf have succeeded in the revision of a well-written, well-produced textbook which will serve its stated Dumose . . adrnirahly althmgh, a i n
