book reviews expertise, but that reproduction of electron micrographs was unsatisfrtctory. There has been no improvement in the presentation of the electron micrographs. The format of the book has been improved by bold titles for tables and figures and the use of dark lines to separate these from the textual material. The increased use of bold type subject headings in the wide margin facilitates searches within the various chapters. In their preface to the 2nd ed., the' authors state ". .what we had to do was not to restrict ourselves to a mere updating and revising, but instead to write what amounts to a new book." While it is true that there are numerous changes, additions, and deletions, the reorgsnization in reality amounts to a lot of cutting and pasting of paragraph, diagram, structures, and equations that were in the first edition. However, there are numerous new items, disgvams, and structures in the second rditiun. 'Thi. pntrhmg dops not dptrart from the wlue of the .wcmd edition. All of the effort seem to be a legitimate way to approach the problem of updating the material. The first edition comprised 872 numbered pages including the index. The second edition reached 1009 pages. However, in the second edition, there are approximrttely 6 lines more per page. The revised volume is equivalent to a book containing a half-million words. Considering the authoritativeness of the presentation, this is no mean achievement. As for the student who makes use of this text, it
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Puts to him all the learnings that his time Could make him the receiver of. Shakespeare, Cymbeline We recommend this text for a twosemester biochemistry course for students with a strong science background. Serious students of biochemistry who are using other texts in their courses will wish possibly to add this authoritative book to their libraries.
College of Fisheries Univwsit?, of Washington Seattle, Washington 98195
are employed in industries connected with polymers but even introductory senior and first year graduate level courses in polymer science are not common. For this reason, the well organized presentation of the important facets of polymer science in this hook is especially important. Those who have not been trained in polymer science but must work in the field can start here to get the general background they will need to work intelligently. Faculty who wish to add special topics in polymer chemistry to existing courses will find this one of the best primary sources of text and references. Workers in various parts of biochemistry and medicine who deal with natural polymers will also profit from starting with this book to build the background of physical chemistry of nonmolecules which will aid their own specialized interests. The material covered is similar to that of the first edition-with many intelligent additions and revisions. Since the field that it covers is very broad, this book is essentially an outline-although a very inclusive one. Most topics of interest %re found in the book, with a hrief discussion followed by references ta more complete general discussions found in more advanced textbooks of polymer science and in the "Encyclopedia of Polymer Science 61 Technology" and the "Modern Plastics Encyclopedia." In the case of fields which are changing rapidly there are well chosen references to the original literature. The organization of the book is, as before, first, the "scientific" aspects: Physics, physical chemistry, and organic chemistry of polymers, then the technological properties of commercial polymers and polymer processing. I recommend the book highly to the wide spectrum of readers mentioned in this review.
Radioactive Wastes and Thermal Pollution. Nowhere is a. profile of either power needs or energy resources given nor is the concept of a breeder rertctor introduced. Chemistry professors may find this book useful as supplementary reading for students. In these days, "ecosystem" is a. good ward to hear in a chemistry class. However, the real chemistry, even the background essential to understanding how man is endangering his ecosystem, will have to be made available to the students from other sources. WFK
Chemicd Thermodyn~mics
D. J. G. Ives, Birkbeok College, University of London. Macdoneld and Co., Ltd., London, 1971. viii 211 pp. Figs. and tables. 22.8 X 15.2 em. E2. ( ~ $ 5 . ) .
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Professor Ives states that he intends this book for final year undergraduates with some prior exposure to thermodynamic principles. But since the author is of the opinion that the prior exposure rarely leads to any useful mastery of the subject he hopes his writing will prove helpful to first and second year students, "who may welcome a short text somewhat unconventional in approach, emphasis, and illustration." There is presented a rather helpful mixture of classical and statistical thermodynamics. The opening chapters are presented more as a review of elementary thermodynamics than a. thoroughgoing exposition. A number of topics are presented without constructing them logically from first principles but with the intention of using thermodynamic language from the beginning. Thus entropy E. FERINOTON and enthalpy are used early in the text THOMAS W . R. Grace but only developed further along. Research Division Under the general topic of ThermoClarkmille, Md. BlOZ9 chemistry there are good discussions of Hess's law, Kirchhaff's theorem, thermochemical bond energies, electronegativities, Born-Haber cycles, and a variety of applications to chemical behavior. The Ecology, Pollution, Environmanl discussions are critical and the rtndysis of bond energies is especially clear. Amos Turk, City University of New Entropy and free energy are discussed in York, Jonathan Turk and Janet T. fair detail in a relatively elementary Wittes, University of Pittsburgh. W. fashion. There is a careful treatment of B. Saonden Co., Philadelphia, 1972. equilibrium constants with special atten217 pp. Figs. and tables. 22.5 ix tion given to the question of dimensions X 14.5 cm. $3.95. and standard states for equilibrium wnstsnts. The author briefly describes free The title correctly describes the content energy functions as used in many tables of this book. Perhaps its size (200 pages, but makes it clear that in his a ~ i n i o n many of which contain photographs such "their fornmnlism~,whwh add norlai~lgi l l as a full-page view of a half-cleaned office ahstance or principle, inns I>P8.f H ~ V H ~ building) suggests the level of treatment. tngr to thr f p a h*hlttmlly bnnd1il.g da?a, It is a. well done and reasonably balanced but otherwise they are an embarrasspopular level treatment of its subjects. ment." I t is hardly a, textbook, even for s n introSolutions are discussed' in terms of duetorv coune in environmental science. chemical potentials and partial molar quantities. For most readers this will prove to be the most complex mathecontemporary technology. However, a. matics of the book slthough the compotential danger is that students may form plexity is more one of numerous details answers based on the relatively superficial than of principle. Although earlier the information these pages For author was quite careful about dimensions example, the multifaceted problem of nufor equilibrium constants, he is much less clear energy is treated in chapters entitled
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Textbook of Polymer Science, Second Edition
F ~ e d W . Billmeyer, JT., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York. Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1971. 598 pp. Figs. and tables. 23.5 xiv X 16 em. $15.95.
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This third generation book which has grown from BiUmeyer's earlier "Textbook of Polymer Chemistry" is still the best general source for a survey of the polymer field. I t is still true that this very important area of science and applied science is greatly neglected in college and graduate school. About 40% of industrial chemists
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Journal of Chemical Educafion
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