book reviews hut are somewhat spotty in their coverage. About half the references are to government documents, which should prohahly he ordered in advance of the course, since many libraries will not he able to supply them when a student really needs them. Four criticisms and one misprint were noted: (1) There is practically no discussion of air- and water-monitoring. The data somehow just appear in the graphs and tables. (2) pH is not defined before it is used. (3) Figure 5-1 is a confusing onedimensional graph. The data would he clearer in tabular form. (4) While no such bwk can he made completely current, this one predicts a 4.25-C temperature rise with a doubling of atmospheric C 0 2 levels. This is in spite of Rasoal and Schneider's calculations (published in Science one year before this hook) which predict a maximum rise of just 2°C. Future printings might be made t o reflect such improved forecasts. The authors tried to remain factual and unemotional in their treatment of the environmental crisis. Not only did they succeed a t that difficult task, hut they wrote a text that nicely fills one void which our changing curricula have created. My students and I were impressed. Barry J . Hueberl The Cobredo College Colorado Springs, Colorado 80903
courses are often exposed. The author presents the highlights and he does it well; his chronological approach for each topic reads easily. Constant mention of the seientists involved in the studies should make the facts seem less cold, even though the names may have no meaning to the reader and may even he of little significance for the science. Although the book is well documented with specific references through 1969, the general references for each chapter will be of mare use for the readers of a book a t this level. The major fault of "The Life Process" is the obvious neglect of accuracy in many details; it is inexcusable t o present a completely erroneous mechanism for such a well-studied enzyme as chymotrypsin. Many chemical structural formulas including those of most of the vitamins, are either incorrect or misleading. The author was also injudicious with his choice of terms to he clarified in the glossary; e.g., it seems incangruous to include the definition of an acid as a hydrogen-donor, but to avoid explaining the nature of the hydrogen bond. This latter omission is of great importance, since the structures of guanine and cytosine are presented in the incorrect tautomerie forms for hydrogen-bonding. Nevertheless, "The Life Process" may be useful for beginning biology students to read on their own, or for more advanced students to use as a review. In particular, beginning graduate students with a more classical foundation in biology may find this hook an acceptable way to keep abreast of the undergraduates, who frequently have a mare molecular outlook toward biology. John N. Aronson
S U N Y at Albany Albany. New York 12222
The Life Process
J. A. V. Butler Basic Books, h e . , New Yark, 1971. xiii + 256 pp. Figs. and tables. 21.5 X 14.5cm. $6.95. The author,. a competent biochemist, makes an acceptable contention that an "important and fundamental property of the life process" is the possession by living organisms of '!mechanisms which enable them to assemble proteins with amino acids arranged in chains in a precisely determined order." However, he is a bit presumptious to entitle a hook "The Life Process," especially since his definition of the process is bidden in the chapter on protein structure. Although occasional references t o this major point are also made in later chapters, the theme is not convincingly carried through. It is a bit of a let-down far the expectant reader to find that this h w k is simply a general biochemistry h w k written a t a level that would be suitable for those beginning U S . college students who have had a strong, modern hiology course in high schwl. The book is not suitable as a text in a traditional beginning biochemistry course because of the lack of depth on most topics, and also hecause of the inaccuracies in many details throughout the hook. The biochemistry in "The Life Process" is concisely presented a t a level well above that to which students in U.S. biology A50 /Journal of Chemical Education
Introduction to Molecular Energies and Spectra
Marlin D. Harmony, The University of Kansas. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., New Yark, 1972. x i + 563 pp. Figs. and tables. 23.5 X 15.5 cm. $12.50. The author states in the preface of this book that the impetus for its writing was his ". . . feeling that no single text has adequately covered the areas of molecular spectroscopy in a uniform and systematic fashion." To the extent that the author is referring to a treatment suitable for physical chemistry and not analytical chemistry, most people would probably agree. Although this text falls short of the aim implied, it probably comes a gwd deal closer to it than any comparable hook available. The only widely used teats which are similar are Barrow's "Introduction to Molecular Spectroscopy," Bauman's "Ahsorption Spectroscopy" and King's "Speetroscopy and Molecular Structure." The last of the three is the most similar, hut this text is considerably more rigorous (Continued on pageA52)
