BOOK REVIEWS
students. On the other hxud, s u m aeetions (e.g., the ones nn individtml molecules) can he followed with n minimnm of backgrotmd, so the book willhe n, valuable referenre a t nl,y level. b e of the most i~sef\dieatwer id the hook is the bibliography. Refetences t o the original literatwe m e intmernw throughout t h text, ~ and the lirt of refel; ences contains avev 1400 entries. Although there aye significant omissions, the book will serve as an excellent guide to the literature up through about 1964, with afew reierenres fat. 196.5 and 1966. There are c e r t ~ i n l ysome topics of illterest to chemists which receive little or no ment,ian, for example optical rotator? dispenian, radiationless transitions, and spect,ra of aromatir molecules larger than benzene. This reviewer noted only one statement that he rol~sideredto he a significant error; that concerned the selee tion rules for t,ran.;itions whet, the two elect,ronic states itnmlved belong tc, different point groups. The a u t h w stater that in such A case one rhotlld w e the selection rules f w the less symmetric confignration, whereas i l l fact one should ~ w ~ ~ aml leythe print group i w the initial stale. Thew fxrtws do I W I seriously detract from the excellence of the book. It can be wholeheartedly vecornrnended as a vnhahle refwenw wwk ~ I I I .all rhem-
A762
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Journal o f Chemicol Education
ists, and an essential one fur anyone doiug research in spertrosropy and molerulat. strnctwe.
rlassir viewpoint aud appvoaches not]eqnilib~.ium phenomena in a strictly rlnssical, thermodynamic spirit. His di+ ros-ions are interestine and logical and are aided by many exa&bles and problems. The application of his theory is consistent with the steady-state approach, for exnmple, the thermomolecular pressure difierence eRect and thermoelectricit)- arc Thermodynamics of Steady States discwsed in detail. Ralph J. Tgkodi, Southeastern RlawxThe book is listed (by the publishers) ar chusetts Technological Institute, Korth nn original monograph and as a practical Dartmouth. Macmillan Co., New text, suitable iar the laboratory worker. York, 1967. xviii 21i pp. Figs. The hook is practical, but I s m not a w e and tables. 16.5 X 24 cm. $lO.Y.i. that it is entirely ~uitablefor the laboratory; eeveml uf the applications listed The nomenclature for theories assoare already familiar to physicists or chemciated with the thwmodynamics of noni t . I think, too, that t,he sometimeequilihriom systems is not always clear. n h ~ t r a r t lmgtiage and large number i l f footnotes wudd tend to discourage the use for this purpose. However this is more than compensated for by the stimtlfied wi!h the thermo&namic description lating and courageous p1,esentation: I did of rate processes; whereas "Thermodynot always agree with some minor point.. rmmies ni the Steady Slate" is resewed far lmt I was always interested. the description of a system in the special This refre~hing hook is reeomn~endrrl noueq\dibrium state in which bhe stat? $15 an origins1 text for graduate students parametem are independent of time. waearch workem with a good knowledg~ Clearly the two descriptions frequently of rlasical thermodynamics and, at overlap. The former description is relalennt, a working knowledge of the thermatively reoent and has at,traeted the at
