book reviews braie, partial equations, and valence change. This account follows the general pattern of thoroughness t o exhaustiveness. Descriptive chemistry, another "makerbreaker" chapter or sequence of chapters continues t o maintain a strong physical chemistry flavor. There are chapters on non-metals, representative metals, and transition metals (with coordination chemistry and organometallics). A strong plus is the use of the so-called potential systematics (Latimer diagrams). A brief brush with the Ligand theory winds up this descriptive (?) section. The final and usual major section entitled, "Other Aspects of Chemistry" includes subject matter on macromolecules, synthetic fibers, hiosystems (proteins, fats, carbohydrates) and, of course, a little DNA and RNA. A rather elegant treatment of light and its absorption by molecules to provide structural information and finally a chapter on nuclear phenomena complete the treatise. In summary, King has produced a "nononsense" 1100-page text. The simple title fits-"Chemistry," since we note with some relief that there are no modifiers. Even a color ignorant (blind !)reviewer is aware of the lack of multi-tints, colors, and rainbow hues. There are ample illustrations and an incredibly heavy emphasis on prohlem solving within the chapters. There is not, as a matter of fact, very mueh that one will not find in the text. The level of sophistication is high, so mueh so that only the best prepared, as was suggested earlier, on both sides of the lecture table, will feel comfortable with it. Perhaps we should weep a bit that relatively few (in t h e reviewer's opinion) will be equipped to use this text.
to organic chemistry: structure, reaction mechanisms, properties of all important classes of organic derivatives. A strong emphasis is placed on reaction mechanisms: the topic is introduced as early as the second chapter. At such a n early stage the reader probably knows so little about organic compounds that one may wonder whether the student will actually be able to assimilate the material. The beginning student will undoubtedly need constant help from the instructor to work hisher way through the book. The author seems t o be reluctant t o leave aside advanced topies, and these are very often introduced in such a concise way that some passages will be obscure for the inexperienced reader. For instance, in the section alluding t o the interactions between molecules, the beginner can only be baffled by the description which the author gives of the interaction involving induced dipoles. In several other instances, notions are introduced with toomueh brevity for the student to be able t o grasp them fully. These criticisms should not obscure the basic qualities of the book, however. The point is that the book is written in a clear, lively style on the whole, hut a few passages are written so succinctly that they may cause difficulty for the beginning student. Spangler's book represents a good effort in the right direction. -
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New York Unmersity New Ywk. NY 10003
An lntroductlon to Human Blochemlrtry C. A. Posternock, Oxford University Press, New York, 1979. xi 271 pp. Figs and tables. 24.5 X 19 cm. $15.95.
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Organlc Chemlltry-A
Brlef Contemporary
Perspective
C h o r l e ~W. S p o n ~ l r rPrenrire-Hall. , Inc., Enrlewoud Clrffs, N.1, 1980. iii 432 pp. Figs. and tahles. 24 X 1Rrm.
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The teaching of organic chemistry t o nonchemistry majors is most often a thankless task, especially in view of the limited number of eood textbooks dealine with the suhiect. ~ o i t h ireason, s a new book appearing inthat field should he viewed with interest. The hook under review rovers ovrr a relatively short space all ot the erwntial aspects uf organic chemrstry. It rs divided into two convenient parts, namely a ''core" section and a ''core enrichment" section. The former is the major one and contains the basic material which by necessity must be covered in s modern course of oreanic chemistrv. Th= latter covers s numhei of additional.tooies. ~~. discussed ton vnrinhle degrer ot depth. The flexib~l~ty provided by this arrangement is certainly non-negligible, for i t simplifies the problem of the choice between the various classes of material which can be included in a course. The mre section gives a presentation of the major topics required for a sound initiation ~
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A320 1 Journal of Chemical Education
In the author's own words, this book attempts "to present in one volume the biochemistry and cell biology necessary for an understanding of the molecular basis of medicine." This feat is carried out in 260 pages. The text material is divided into two major sections of roughly the same page count, each section containing six chapter headings. Part One, entitled Cellular Potentiality, contains a brief descri~tionof the essential hiomolecules, metabolism, bioenergetics, molecular genetics, protein hiosynthesis, as well as membrane structure and function. These topics are considered in terms of a progression from one subcellular area t o another using the membrane presentation in part to put the previous material into cellular perspective. Cellular Specialization is the general heading for Part Two. The six chapters under this division are the vascular, alimentary, endocrine, musculoskeletal, immune, and nervous systems. All of these chapters contain a portion entitled "Disease" wherein system diseases and deficiencies are summarized. An outline begins each chapter with a short overview Dreparatorv t o the text discussion. . . A chapter summary approximately m e page in lengthclrsea each chapter with a fpu rpfrrencei for the reader's further inquiries.
Diagrams and short tables abound throughout the book with a moderate sprinkling of photographs. An eleven page index seems thorough for the text material. A synopsis of the book contained on the hack cover specifies that the intended audience be first year medical students who are taking or presumably have taken courses in biochemistry. Definitely one would have t o have more than a nodding acquaintance with the subjects covered before attempting to use this book. I t is not meant t o be a teaching source. Rather i t tries t o coalesce the topics which are traditionally taught as independent units into a cellular context (Part I) or on the level of interrelated systems (Part 11). Therefore, the fundamental biomolecules are presented very briefly with little in-depth discussion of structure or structure/funetion relationships. Metabolism is covered in terns of cellular compartments, and i t sometimes proves difficult to follow a pathway of complete degradation or biosymthesis. The major difficulty in using this book arises from its admirable attempt a t brevity. References to succeeding chapters and figures in those chapters are numerous. This organization can be frustrating to the reader who will spend a great deal of time leafimg pages attempting to get a complete picture of the topic a t hand. Much of the presentation is dependent upon the almost 300 diagrams and tables placed throughout the text. Most of these figures are lucidly illustrative of the reaction or system in question though some d o not adequately clarify the situation. Occasionally these illustrations are trivial in nature. The second half of the b w k fairs better than the first. I t seems better organized and more readable perhaps due t o the nature of the subjects. The topics are well integrated and well paced. There are some e m m and omissions in the text material although these usually occur in the areas of in-depth structure or function treatment. One wonders how a student will use this book if he or she is concurrently studying from a major reference biochemistry textbook for class work T h e Pastemack book is a fairly reliable hut brief source of varied biochemical information. Whether i t complements, or overcomes a deficiency in, eurrent medical school biochemistry texts is difficult to assess. Christina A. Bailey California PolytechnicState University San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 Synthetic Multldeniate Macrocycllc Compounds
Reed M. Izatt and James J. Christensen, (Editors), Academic Press, New York, 1978. v 324 pp. Figs. and tables. 23.7 x 16 cm. $24.50.
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"Crown ethers" were discovered in the 19M)'s, and exploitation of their unique metal cation binding properties for improvement of reaction rates or for modification of the courses of chemical transformations has been rapid. This multi-authored bwk is concerned with chemical and physical aspects of research with synthetic multidentate macrocvclic com~ounds-both crown ethers and cryptates. It rontains man) usetul compilations of data and some interrsting instghts wltn respect to the diiruvery, properties and (Continued on page A322)
