BOOK REVIEWS tion compounds, and a discussion of reaction rates and electronic configuration. I n eeneral the book is ouite well written
GILBERTGORDON University of Maryland College Park Science of Materials
T . J . Lewis, University of London, England, and P. E. Seeker, University College of North Wales. Reinhold Publishing Carp., New York, 1965. 256 pp. Figs. and tables. 15 X 22 cm. $7.50. This slim volume, written for first-year engineering students a t the University of London, attempts". . to provide a largely descriptive but detailed account of the nature of atoms and molecules, and the manner in which they interact to form everyday materials. Such a treatment sllows us to analyze, in terms of simple physical concepts, the behavior of these materials when subject to environment of technological importance." The book does not achieve these objectives prinoipally hecause the authors chose to cover too much p u n d for readers with too little background. The treatment becomes not only "largely deseriptive" but often merely superficial. Approximately 70% of the hook covers standard topics of physical chemistry
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with emphasis on the theory although numerous references are made to practical xpplicatmns. The level of presentation is about that of the more rigorous introductory chemistry texts but it is curiously uneven. For example, previous courses in chemistry and physics are obviously s. prerequisite, as are the concepts of calculus, but several pages are devoted to a trivial discussion of the simplest hydrocarbons, structural isomerism, and aromatic compounds. Of the latter we are told that the "simplest of these is benzene, having a puckered hexagonal structure" and that . .both [KekulB structures] are equally probable and in fact a resonance condition is set up, with the double bond appearing alternatively first in one position and then the ot,her!' The last chapter of the book, Real Materials and their Predicted Behaviour (68 describes the properties of metals, organic materials (polymers), ceramics, and fuels, the latter topic including both fission and fusion reactions. This is ostensibly the meat of the book, the previous chapters having been in the way of a. preparation. Again, the severe condensation and oversimplification required by the authors' decision to cover such a. wide variety of topics precludes a significant discussion of any one of them. Each chapter concludes with a few problems which are generally either of the "discuss" type or require little more than a simple numerical substitution into formulas given in the text. Answers to the numerical problem are provided.
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The specific shortcomings of the book aside, one may question the authon' basic premise that a course of this type should be given a t the first year level. Once that decision and a realistic assesment of the average freshman's background has been made, the format of a text is pretty well determined. But the science of technological materials is, after all, extraordinarily complex. Are the drastic simplifications, the "hand waving" derivations which are required to present the material a t this level, really satisfactory for a modern engineering curriculum? I n summary, the general suitability of this text for a first course in the Science of Materials is doubtful. The average freshman will probably find the book frustrating; the superior student or one who has had PSSC physies and Chem Study, or similar courses, should be introduced to the physical chemical basis of material science without any apology. WALTERDANNAAUSER State Uniuersity of New Yolk
Buffdo Chemical, Medical, and Pharmaceutical Books Printed before 1800: In the Collections of the University of Wisconsin Libraries
Edited by John Nm, University of Wisconsin. Universitv of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1965. 280 pp. 17 X 25 cm. $6. This book contains a, listing of the (Continued on page Al76)
