Sclence Matters: Achlevlng Sclentlflc Llteracy. Robert M. Hazen and James Trefll. xxl 294 pp. 15.4 X 23.2 cm. Figs. Doubleday: New Y n k , 1991. $19.95.
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This is not your ordinary run-of-the-mill popular science book. How many such hwks have articles (Pwl, R. Science 1990. 248, 158) written concerning the course on which the book is based? How many such hooks receive advance prepublication praise from scientific authorities such as Isaac Asimov, the doyen of science popularizers; Richard E. Heckert, former chairman of Du Pont; Eric D. Hirsch, Jr., author of Cultural Literacy; and 1990 Nobel physics laureate and AAAS president Leon M. Ledeman? How many authors write an article about their hook for the New York Times Sunday Magazine four dew before its nublication date (Jan. 10, iggi).! For how many surh books does the Carnegie Institution of Washington purchase 15,WO copies for distribution to primary and secondary school science teachers throughout the United States? For how many surh hooks do thp authors make publicity tours of such cities as Wa~hington. New Yolk. .Seattle. San I.?and.wo. San IXeeo. Los A&es. .. . Boston. ~ e t r o i t :Chicago. and ~ / n n e a p d i within a 10 days "f publi&: tion? How many surh books are chosen as Literary Guild and l)oubledsy Book Club Alternate Selection? Indeed, Science Matters is a highly publicized-and highly controversial-hook. Its award-winning authors, are science literacy mavens Robert M. Hazen and James Trefil, who are Rohinson Professor of Earth Science and Robinson Professor of Physics, respectively, a t George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, where they teach a popular undergraduate science course, for which the book serves as a curriculum guide. Trefil once told the editors of Contemporary Authors, "I feel that science has come to play such a laree role in our lives that it is ahsolutely r r u h that the general public know what is happening." The book's goal, like that ofthecourse, is toprovide theinforma-
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tion required to become scientifiealls liter. ate. Hazen and Trefil define scientific liter. acy as "the knowledge you need to understand public issues.. .a mix of facts, vocabulary, concepts, history, and pbilosophy.. .not the specialized stuff of the experts, hut the more general, less precise knowledge used in political discourse" (p xii). In their view, "if you can treat news about science in the same way that you treat everything else that comes over your horizon,. .you are scientifically literate" (p xii). The authors make the point made earlier bv others. such as James B. Conant (On Understondm8 Sctence (1947)) or Jacques Barzun (Snenee The Clorzous Entertommenr (1964J), that "those who lnslst that everyone must understand science a t a deep level are confusing two important but separate aspects of scientific knowledge.. . .doinascience is dearly distinct from usinascience; scientific lit&acy concerns onl; the latter" (oxii). In ah&, what they are seeking to convey is science appreciation, somewhat akin to music appreciation as opposed to musical composition. And, despite the fact that many scientists decry the poor state of American science education, they alsomaintain. as have Barzun and others before them..that "workinescientists are often Is& entifically) illiterate outside their own freld of professimal expertise" (p xiii). a state. ment that will hardly endear them to their colleagues. In their Introduction Hazen and Trefil reveal what they consider "one of academe's hest-kept secrets: The basic ideas underlying all science are simple" (p xvii). They devote each of the 18 chapters of their book to one of these 18 "general principles, .. .laws of nature, great ideas, or core concepts" that "account for everything we see in the world around us" (p xviii). Among these are: "The universe is regular and predictable." "Energy is conserved and always eoes - from more useful to less useful forms." "Electricitg and magnetism are two aspects of the same force." "Everything is made of atoms." "Everythingromes in discrete units
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and you can't measure anything without changing it." "Everything on earth operates in cycles." "All life is based on the same genetic code." and "All life is connected." Hazen and Trefil use these basic ideas to explain a vast number of socially significant, fundamental, or environmentally crucial topics, including acid rain, the big hang, hlaek holes, chemical bonding, chemical evolution, dark matter, DNA, dominant and recessive genes, the Doppler effect, earthquakes, ecosystems, electric motors and generators, electromagnetic radiation, energy, entropy, fission, fusion, genetic engineering, general and special relativity, the genome project, the greenhouse effect, immunology, lasers, the Miller-Urey experiment, Newton's laws of motion, nuclear energy, the ozone hole, the periodic table, plate tectonics, quantum mechanics, radiation, radioactive tracers, radiometric data, respiration,RNA, semiconductors, the SSC, subatomic particles, supercanduetors, supernovas, the uncertainty principle, unified field theories, viruses, and X-rays. Throughout their book the authors not only deal with the products and results of seience but also emphasize science as a process-a way of observing, forming bypotheses, and testing theories so as to learn about and understand the world. In their treatment of science as a human activity, they present a collection of facts, history, logic, and questions of political and social policy as well as a consideration of scientists as living persons. Finally, they effectively communicate what they consider "another little-known fact about science: that it is just plain fun-not just 'good for you"' (p xix). This thoughtful, clear, coherent, and concise overview of the simple science underlying our complex, modern world is printed in large easy-to-read type with extensive but judicious use of hold-faced type, italics, and figuresand illustrations, 23 in all.It is free of unnecessary jargon (unfamiliar terms are defined and illustrated with examples) and mathematics (nary amathematicalor cbemical equation appears on its pages). A threepage list of additional up-to-date readings (68 books, including seven of their own,
in This Issue Revlewer George B. Kauffman
Robert M. Hazm and James Trefil, Science Matters: Achieving Scientific Literacy &n F. Msrce Crystals Trevor J. Wllllams, Robert Robinson: Chemist Extrodinary Titles of Interest Monographs New Volumes in Continuing Series Textbook Announcements
George B. Kauffman Jack C. Norman
Volume 68
Number 8
August 1991
A213 A214 A214 A214 A215 A215 A215
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through 1990) and a 12-page, two-column index add to its utility and reference value. Although marred by mcasional minor errors, e.g., Mendeleev predicted the existence and properties of gallium in addition to those of germanium and scandium (p 621, and Rom Harre's name lacks the acute accent (p 279), the hook is generally accurate. Eight days after the book's publication Hazen and Trefil were courageous enough to publish their list of the most important scientific ideas (Science 1991 (Jan. IS), 251, 266), and readers were asked to fax their opinions to the journal. While readers generally applauded the authors' goal of advancing science literacy, many objected to the vague language, informal style, and complete absence of mathematics (Culotta, E. Science 1991 (Mar. 15), 251,1308). AU of the great ideas were attacked with idea no. 1 ("The universe is regular and unpredictable") being the hardest hit. Science has forwarded all the readers' comments to the authors. who intend to incor~oratethem into version of the bodk. Undaunt. .....thinext . ed by the criticism, ~ r e f i lstates, "We're gratified. Part of our purpose is toget people thinking ahout these things." At any rate personi concerned with the widespread problem of science literacy-and t h a t should include virtually all of us-would do well to read the hook. Perhans John Sununu,anengineer himself, who has boasted of not knowing who Leon Lederman is, might slro benefit from at least perusing its contents. George B. Kauffman Callfornla State Unlverslty, Fresno Fresno, CA 83740
They Grow-crystal growth, natural and synthetic, from solid, liquid, and vapor (12 pp), and (3) Crystals & You-looking at, measuring, and collecting crystals; imperfections; uses; and fads and figures, including history (23 pp). Directions for constructing a ganiometer, dichroscope, and polariscope as well as an index and list of other hooks add to the utility of this volume, which consistently uses British spelling. A perfect complement to Alan Holden and Phylis Singer Morrison's near classic Crystalsond Crystal Growing (MITPress: Cambridge, MA, 1982), this handy introductory reference book makes an ideal gift for student and science instructor alike. Georoe B. Kauffman Calltornla State University, Fresno Fresno, CA 93740
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Crystals Ian F. Mercer. Haward Unlverslty Press: Cambridge, MA, 1990.61 pp. 19.9 X 20.8 cm. Flgs., tables, & plates. $9.95 PB. Whenever I discuss cry8tals in my General Chemistry class, students invariably display increased interest and ask numerous questions. This short paperback dealing with this perennially popular topic is not only a visual treat hut also a succinct compendium of the fundamentals of crystallography and crystal lore. Originally a part of the British Museum Natural History series and written by a British writer of books for young people on crystals and mineralogy, this attractive book features more than 150 strikingly beautiful pictures in full color. I t is divided into three seetions-(1) The Inside Story-minerals, crystal structure, systems, and classification (26 pp); (2) See How
A214
Journal of Chemical Education
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Robert Robinson: Chemld Extraordlnary Trevor I. Wllllams. Oxford Unlverslty Press: New York. NY. 1990. vlll+ 201 pp. photos. 14.5 X 22.2 cm. $49.95. Sir Rohert Robinson was a "Chemist Extraordinary" not just hecause he was a Nobel prize-winning natural produds chemist who published more than 700 papers, but because his long professional life was very diverse. His academic career started before the First World War and included 25 vears &~ay&lete Professor of Organic ~h;miatry at Oxford University until 1954 at which time he retired from academics to become an industrial chemist with Shell Oil for another 20 years. Trevor Williams' biography written for a general audience gives few details of Robinson's chemical work, but it does consider his complex personality. Robinson frequently had brilliant insights into problems of structure and mechanism, hut he also doggedly pursued incorrect or unacceptable ideas. For example, he continued to promote his electronic theory of organic reactions (which involved anionoids and cationoids) long after Ingold's nucleophilicelectrophilic concept was well established. Robinson often became very angry with anyone who challenged his ideas. He is reported to have thrown an ink bottle at a colleague who dared to suggest that a structure for penicillin proposed by Robinson might hewrong. About two years later Dorothy Hodgkin and Barbara Rogers-Low showed that a structure proposed by E. P. Abraham, not Robinson's, was correct. Of equal interest to Robinson's career, private life, and complex personality, is the description of British Universities, and particularly their chemistry departments, during the first half of this century. Many anecdotes and details of the way in which professors were appointed, how they interacted
with their students, the course of study for undergraduate chemistry students (much more laboratory work than is common in modern American universities), and university social life are interwoven with the story of Robinson's life. In the latter part of his life, Robinson was very involved with British scientific societiee and with chemical publishing. He served aa president of both the Chemical Society and the Roval Societv. He was instrumental in starting the international journal of organic chemistr).. Tetrahedron, and served as the first chairman of its editorial advisory hoard. This readable biography is worthwhile for anyone with even a mild interest in the history of chemistry. I t provides many interesting insights into the development of academic chemistry (including relationships with industry and government) in Britain over much of this century. Jack C. Norman Unlverdty of Wlsconaln4reen Bay Green Bay, WI 54311
Titles of Interest
Contemporary lnstrumentatlonand Analysis. Blosensors wlth Flberoptlcs Donald L. Wlse and Lemuel 8. Wlngard, Jr., Editors. Gary M. Hlettje, Series Editor. Humana Press: Clltton, NY, 1991. xlil 370 pp. Figs. and tables. 16 X 23.7 cm. $79.50 US1$89.50 F.
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Gemology, Second Edltlon Cornellus S. Hurlbut. Jr. and Robert C. Kammerllng. Wlley: New York. NY. 1991. xiv 336 pp. Figs., tables, 8. color plates. 19.5 X 24.1 cm. $55.00.
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This book, f i s t published in 1979, is a comprehensive view of the field of gemolow. I t beeins with the basics about eems and " -, assumes no prior experience or training by the reader in gemology. It provides dealers, lapidaries, jewelers, hobbyists, and St~dents with an overview of the current status of imitation, assembled, synthesized, and enhanced gemstonee
