BOOK REVIEWS goes fut.lher, to hybrid orhitals and covalent hurling it, simple molecnler, with an ex~witicmo n the ?hams of thrsr molecnles anil ds. Each of these vdumes is laeR11 tu hei n . Pmfersors who do ,rot wirh to require t,he we of programmed supplements in a formal way for. theit. firs1 year ehemist,ry studen1.s should at least inform their student.- of the existelire of these kinds of works nurl see t,hat I hey are available in the cdloge 1ihrar)i or bookstore. Good programmed iustruction i t ) chemistry rannot be ill conscience ignored in chemieal education today: without doubt these five volumes are well qualified t o he rerioosly and carefully considered for a d o p t i o ~or ~ fur or1 Libilztm w e , whichever seems xpproprinte.
Principles of Chemistry C. Stuart Patterson, Harrg 8. Kwper, and T . R a y Nanney, all of Furman ITniversity, Greenville, South Carolina. xvii 808 pp. Figs. and tables. I f i X 24 om. $8.95,
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Teachers of fixst-year college chemistry seem to separate into two groups, those who emphasize theoretical principles and those who strefis the experimental facts of chemistry. That this schism is not rmique to chemistry is illnstr.zter1 by the lettew in the March l i , l!)Iii, issue of Saiace (biology) and the letters and feature articles in the March, 1967, issue of Physics Torlay. Without nl.guing the merits of the t.wo diverging approaches, it is obvious that, this tell will appeal to the first glmlp. The aut,hol.s state in their preface that this book is designed fol. st~ldentawho are generally no1 familiar with chemistry from the viewpoint of a CBA-tgpe program. Further, they justify a n exclusion of descriptive material as such since their studends will take intensive courses in inorganic and organic chemist,ry s t the second-year level. A generous amount of f a c t i d material does, however, appear in examo!rs and oroblems. The eenerd thmogh at,omic, to molecular structure by means of physical phenomenology and subsequent explbrratory theories. Following these sections, mecroscapie physieal-chemical topic9 are developed. There are slightly less than 800 pages, then, of physical chemistry wit,h a subslsntinl admixture of modern physics. Much of the material ou thermodymrnics and eqnilibris, is plessautly remindful of the p1,esentation of Farringtan Daniels. There are a. number of goad, originel diaglams (especially in the sections on
change of phase) n l ~ d tlle~.tradynamic cycles are liberally employed to illuminate energetic relationships. I3xeellenl seetions are included on the naming of compounds and eomplener. An il~bereslin~ feature, nn epilogue, is included which attempts briefly to rnmma~.iae an operatiunal uvervieh- of chemistry. There is a great deal oi' information in this hook. The typography is pleesiug, the romposition certainly iudirates much thought,, and the prose aspects have hew rnrefttlly prepared. ,I h e reviewel. has some i t r o ~ greservations, however, about lecomme~rdirigthis book for general w e . (Indeed, a number of the e u r l w t inbmdttctory tents should also he examined flvm this same critical viewpoint.) This hook is essentially a t the level of a jul~iot.-ye~r course in physical cllemistlly (without the junior-year maturity and mastery of mathematics and physics). Teaching out of this hook at the freshman level wodd seem to he either inefficient: requiring extended digressions an mathematics and physics (what is the merit, for instance, in introducing a non-rigorow ditferential definition of heat caprtrity: or intmduciug vector notation n d not using it to describe angi~lat.mame~rtnm?); ar superficial: presenting the students with correlation diagrams, intermolecular potential functions, the Boltamam distribntion fnnetiao. the Schroedingel. equatkm, etc., without a sufficient erplauation or discnssion. A strong pedagogical argument can he
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(Continrrrrf on pap A 7 6 J )
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 book a ~ l d a good introductory text is that the student can he held accoimtable for the type of information ht the good text! Perhaps t,his principal objection may be restated: I t is not ohviow whethe]. the itnthola have distinguished between a text on modern chemical prinriples and a book which simply contains harder material and m ~ w hmore of it !
E. h l r ~ LIYTOK, ~ ~ n JR. Montana Slate liniveraily Boreman, Monlana 59711, 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 tshlea. 14 X 21 cm. Papep hound, S2.45; cloth, 84.95.
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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
ist~.y,is uot overlouked; rather, the two appear as what they redly are, parts of the whole which must be taught. The selected non-metals are hydrogen, boron, nitrogen, and the halogens. The author has decided to cover bhe 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 inferences are excellenl. A short., but very usable, set of qnestiorrs follows each chapter. The chapters on hydrogen, nitmgen, and the halogens are very complete in their coverage. The rhaptel. on boron is es~pntiallvon boron hvdrides. For the
ment to s. mot* general int~mduetory text. I t is possible to find only two small quarrels with t,he text. A very simple mistake has beeu made in the legend of the Periodic Table on page 2. The color scheme interchanges t,he poaitions of the metals 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 latter's
system of A :and B suhgroupa deaignaliuu was not adopted.
S. Y. TYREE, JR. W l r g e of William and Mar!, Williamsburg, Virginin
Modern Organic Chemistry
John D.l
