ROOK REVIEWf practice for future work hut is strictly a learning technique. A few typographical errors were noted. The more serious ones include: (1) Example 3.3, p. 74, (2) problems 1and 2 of Exercises, p. 21, and (3) the conversion factor between inches and centimeters, p. 51. The latter should have been 2.540005 cm, or 0.0254 meters in S.I. units (by definition). The printing and formatting is of excellent quality and yields maximum clarity t o the user. Many appropriate diagrams and graphs are shown in two colors to help illustrate the material. This is a text that is well worth considering for adoption.
Milton E. Fuller California State University. Hayward Hayward. CA 94542
General Chemistry, Principles and Modern Applications, Third Edltion Ralph H. Petrucci. MacMillan Publishing Co., New York, NY. 1982. v 764 pp. Figs. and tables. 20.5 X 26 cm.
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Student Study Guide (to accompany Petrucci's General Chemistry, Third Edition) Robert K. Wismer, MacMillan Publishing Co.. New York, NY. 1982. i Figs. and tables. 21 X 28 cm.
+ 400 pp.
Solutions Manual (to accompany Petrucci's General Chemistry, Thlrd Edition) Ralph H. Petrucci. MacMiflan Publishing Co., New York, NY. 1982. iii 326 pp. Figs. and tables. 21.5 X 28 cm.
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Instructor's Manual, Experiments In General Chemistry (a Laboratory Program to accompany Petrucci's General Chemistry, Third Edition) Gerald S. Weiss, Robert K. Wismer, and Thomas G. Greco. MacMillan Publishing Co., New York. NY, 1982. iii 36 pp. 21.5 X 27.5 cm.
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A368
Journal of Chemical Education
Experiments in General Chemistry (a Laboratory Program to accompany Petrucci's General Chemistry, Third Edition) Gerald S. Weiss, Robert K. Wismer, and Thomas G. Greco, MacMillan Publishing Co.. New York. NY, 1982. v 350 pp. Figs. and tables. 21 X 28 cm.
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This atttactive third edition of Petrucci's text has much to recommend it and stands in sharp contrast t o the other three members of this "teaching package." The skillful organization of the textual material allows the chapters t o he used in numbered order by instructors who are "text followers," or used in altered order hy those who are "syllabus followers." Moreover, the presentation of large topics in judiciously arranged multiole-chanter format enhances the adoution of the lwok fur use in cuur3t.s d i t r r w in h t h level of instruction and inilructimal gusli. There are, for example, two chapters on bonding, the first dealing with elementary concepts and VSEPR theory; the second presenting valence bond and molecular orhital theory. There are also two chapters on bonding, two on acids and bases, and several in which chemical equilibrium is treated. The book is lucidly written, with analogies often used brilliantly to convey abstract concepts. The graphics are pleasing and are kept sufficiently subdued t o avoid overwhelming the written material. Extensive use is made of marginal comments, examples, tables, and figures. The initial end-of-chapter problems are grouped helpfully by topic, with brief answers given in the back of the hook, and are followed by a shorter set with neither headings nor answers. Finally, there is a self-test with answers. A feature which will weaken the text for some is that of encouraging problem solving by the conversion factor method, an approach which reinforces student tendencies to assume that all natural relatimihip5 are direct pruportimalities. while diiwuraging analytical thinking. Espwisily in it&himwtry. cunversion lacturs divert the student from the chem~strypinl: on and fail to drvtlup his ahilrtv 1%)derive avvnwrinte mathematical .. . relationships from fundamental chemical relationships. Instructors who stress understanding over memorization will prefer to teach their own brand of problem solving. The author introduces stoichiometry early in the text, following a useful trend which others have discovered assists in catching students' interest and preparing them for laboratory. Strangely, however, the inherently dull (to most students) topic of gases has been moved uo to an unneeessarilv, earl". point and is separated by six chapters frum a trratment uf liquidsand ididr. Equilibrium runsiderations d w slighted in ~xidutiow reduction and complex ion treatment. Descriptive chemistry fits so logically with periodic trends that it seems a mistake not to connect these topics proximately. Indeed, descriptive chemistry is given short shrift, desoite current renewed emohasis in introenergy would help also The supplementary solutions manual gives a thorough explication of problems from the text, but i t suffers aesthetically from using typed and hand-drawn manuscript in photo
offsrt. The rtudy guide giws practirr quines that ran he gmd learning tools hut mivrs w n w svund rtudy suggestions with pour ndvice on preparation for and use of lecture time, and its admonitions concerning how to accomplish objectives from the text seem inappropriate for students in whom one hopes to inculcate intellectual independence. The aceomoanvine , ,.unimoressive laboratow manual takes s tot, typwal fill.m.the-blank appwach and is r p a r 4 y illustrated. The pro~nisinginclusion ui a prrlsb report turns out t o require no more than responding t o a few questions and problems, while many items in the final lab report belong in the prelab report, if the intent is to assist the student in comprehending the experiment to he undertaken. Petrucci's versatile text is, then, commendable for courses not requiring a deep penetration of the theoretical underpinnings of introductory chemistry. The "package" appears, however, to have been unfortunately completed with material far less carefully crafted.
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Gerald W. Gibson College of Charleston Charleston. SC 29401
Basic Chemistry, Third Edition William S. Seese and Guido H. Daub. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs. NJ. 1981. 596 pp. Figs. and tables. 19 X 24 cm. The first two editions of this textbook in 1973 and were reviewed in THIS JOURNAL 1978. Those who liked either of those will doubtless like this edition, because the chanees are not extensive. The chaoter on organic chemistry ~n the wrond editivn has been expanded to twu chaptrrs, and the chapter on nuclear chemistry that was deleted from the second edition has been restored, for a total of twenty chapters. S.I. units are mentioned in a footnote and treated in more depth in an appendix. The hook was written t o be used in non-maiors chemistn, courser whose students haw had little or no preparation in sciencp or mathematics heymd rnultiplirati~nand division.'l'hus, a f k r an introductory chapter it appropriately spends most of the second chapter on basic mathematical calculations, including measurements. The other chapters come in the expected order: concepts of matter, atomic and molecular structure, and inorganic nomenclature. Then follow three chapters on chemical calculations, two on states of matter and one devoted almost entirely to water. The next four cover solutions, acids and bases, redox, and kinetics. Last are the two chapters on organic chemistry and the one on nuclear chemistry. There nre eight appendices including answers to most of the problems, and a glossary. The greatest strengths continue to be the extensive use of the factor-unit method of calculations, the relaxed writing style, and the large number of example problems worked out in detail. Overall, both the quantity and variety of the problems a t the ends of the chapters are excellent and seem exceptionally ~
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