BOOK REVIEWS
J. Chem. Inf. Comput. Sci., Vol. 38, No. 6, 1998 1255
is a chapter on peer review, consisting of brief essays on reviewing policy by several journal and book editors as well as distinguished scientists. Chapters on copyright and on effective oral presentation have been retained and updated. Appendices on ethical guidelines and on ACS publications have been retained, and appendices on ACS Divisions, proofreading marks, and the Chemists Code of Conduct have been added. The SG1 chapter, “The Literature: Becoming Part of It and Using It,” has unfortunately been eliminated, but a section on CAS Registry Numbers has been added to the new chapter, “Names and Numbers for Chemical Compounds”. This chapter and the following one, “Conventions in Chemistry,” are invaluable in expressing chemical names, reactions, chirality, etc. The discussion of citing references, in addition to journals, books, magazine, newspapers, patents, etc., also includes citing information from e-mail, lists, and newsgroups. The chapters on style cover gender neutral language, including encouraging the effective use of “they” and “theirs” instead of the cumbersome “him/her” and “his/hers”. Editorial style also includes lists of abbreviations, acronyms, and symbols. A discussion of hyphens and both kinds of dashes is included as well as a list of abbreviations, acronyms, and symbols, spelling for technical terms not in most dictionaries, plus computer and Internet terms. Chemists, like other scientists, are becoming more involved in the publishing process, not just as passive authors. My recommendation for this book is simple: do not let any item of technical writing or publication leave your desk and/or computer without (using) it. If you are also a publisher, do not publish without it.
Visual Explanations. Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative. By Edward R. Tufte. Graphics Press: Cheshire, Connecticut. 1997. 156 pp. $45.00. ISBN 0-9613921-2-6. Visual Explanations is Edward Tufte’s third book on the illustration of information. The first book, The Visual Display of QuantitatiVe Information, deals with the depiction of numbers, data, and statistics. The second, EnVisioning Information, describes mapping and design strategy. This volume treats another level of complexity: pictures of action, motion, and dynamic events. The author considers the problems of representing three-dimensional objects and especially moving objects on a two-dimensional piece of paper. Almost every page shows examples, both good and bad. Tufte has chosen an eclectic set of examples, including the movement of storm clouds, the reproductive behavior of stickleback fish, and the execution of magic tricks. The book is extensively illustrated and carefully laid out so as to be easy to read. Descriptive text appears on the same page as the illustration, so that there is no paging back and forth to see what is being described. This book, like his previous efforts, gives excellent insight for the scientist attempting to illustrate complex material on two-dimensional surfaces such as the printed page or the video screen.
D. Eric Walters
Robert E. Buntrock Buntrock Associates, Inc.
Finch UniVersity of Health Sciences/The Chicago Medical School
CI980430X
CI9804286
10.1021/ci980430x
10.1021/ci9804286
