reviews Chemistry: An Environmental
Perspective
Phyllis Buelland James Girard. Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1994. xxix + 698 pp. Figs., tables, and photos. 20.9 x 26.1 cm.
The target audience for this text is the nonscienee major who has little or no previous knowledge of chemistry. The authors use the vehicle of environmental chemistm to motivate and keeo the student interested in the subieet. ~ b m ~ a r ewith d other texts nimrd nr n similar audience w t h a rmnlar theme, e g , \lnnnhnn $ 1 ,prrw,urily remewed in / h i s Jvurtzul, the prrsrnt rrvr 8s nimcd at a lower level. For examplc, rhe first three ohaplers rtad much more like a general science text than a chemistry text with discussion of general topics such as plate tectonics and ecosystems. Probably the most interesting aspect of the text is the "explarations" sections. One takes a look a t the electric car, another a t the "ice age man" found in Italy, and another a t Marie Curie. There are many more and all are written for a general audience with little technical content. These add a nice richness to the text and round out the human interest side of chemistry that many texts lack. The aim of the text as disclosed in the preface is to have students "see that without some understanding of chemistry, it is impassible to fully understand environmental issues such as ozone depletion, global warming, air and water pollution, and the hazards of radioactivity." It is a tall order to infuse a sufficient basis in ehemistry to understand fully the complex environmental issues cited when t h e student begins with absolutely no prior knowledge of chemistry Thus, choices need to be made and the authors of this text have clearly aimed a t those students with no prior knowledge of chemistry. The treatment of the cited environmental issues is rather superficial with a low level of verbal sophistication and much of the rich complexity of these issues is glassed aver. The text would have profited from a more balanced presentation of both sides of controversial issues such as global warming. There are many fewer cnd-of-chnptcr rxrrcwe* tapprnxrmatdy 3 U O per rhapier, rhnn students at thls level need. Many of the excrciws rrflcrt rh? &mmtdr). level uf Illis lrxr In wmmary, a s o lower Icwl high schmd text or an upper level jumor high tvxt, the mwronmental emphasis of rhr text could make thli a gmd choice. There err rhr tmua1 ser of .+uppiement31 materials available ~~~~~~
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Literature Cited 1. Msnshan,S. Fundom~ntolsofEnuimnmn~ol Chernkt~,Lewis Publishers:BoeaRatan, n.1993.
Mary Jane S h u l t z Tuns University Medford, MA 02155
T h e World of Physical Chemistry Keith J. Laidler. Oxford University Press: New York, NY, 1993 xii + 476 pp. Figs., tables, and photographs. 16.5 x 24.2 cm. $85.00.
Where was this book for the last 10 years? The World ofPhysica1 Chemistry by Keith J. Laidler was a n absolute joy to read, and I made great use of numerous excerpts from this book in teaching my undergraduate physical chemistry course. It's not that the material in this book can't he found in other books, but I am not aware of this material being available in any other single work. It is particularly significant because it traces the history of developments and discoveries fundamental to physical chemistry, instead of covering developments and discoveries in physics and chemistry separately, which I found to he the usual ease. The book is divided into 10 chapters. Each chapter covers a different topic in physical chemistry. This is a feature I found particularly helpful because I was able to bring into my lectures relevant historical material for each chapter I was covering in class. There were three other features t h a t particularly impressed me about this hook. The first was the hiographieal sections, each inclusive of a picture of each scientist, which are scattered throughout this work. These biographies added a human element to each chapter. A second feature of use to me as I taught my physical chemistly class was the appendix. The first part of the appendix lists scientific periodicals, where they were founded, and the year the first issue appeared. Another useful part of the appendix is called "Biagraphical Notes". In this section is contained an alphabetical list of the various scientists featured throughout the book, with a brief biography of that person. This section makes i t very easy to lookup a particular scientist of importance to physical chemistry with information useful for a thumbnail sketch of that person. I often used this information in my lectures. If I needed more information, I simply referred to this person's biography located within the text and/or supplied in the references. Another useful feature of this hook is the "Table of Highlights" that appear usually toward the beginning of each chapter. These tables list the names of the persons who contributed significantly to physical chemistry, the year they made their contributions, the nature of their contribution, and in what section or sections you can find discussion of their contributions. Physical chemistry is viewed by most students of the chemical sciences a s one of the hardest and driest fields to study Keith Laidler, however, has written a book that shows the beauty of this field of study and the wealth of human talent that went into t h e progressive development of physical chemistry. I would highly recommend this work for anyone who teaches physical chemistry and to anyone else who wishes to understand how physical chemistry developed as a separate distinct field of study and haw physical chemistry made significant contributions to all the other areas of ehemistry. This work, unlike most physical (Continued on pageA93)
Reviewed in This Issue Reviewer Phyllis BueNand
Keith J . Laidler, T h e World of Physical Chemistry
:i i ,
James Girard, Chemistry: An Environmental Perspective
,
Mary Jane Schultz
A89
Jerry A. Darsey
A89
Monographs
A93
New Volumes In Contlnumg Series
A93
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