BOOK REVIEWS
Technical Report Writing
Fred H . Rhodes, Cornell University, for optimizing control systems. It works not only for deterministic systems, but also for those with stationary random inputs. Non-st,ationary systems, being much more difficult to analyze, are treated by less satisfying methods in a separate ohapter., Without hesitat,ion we can endorse this book as a real advance in oontrol theory that should have as lasting an influence as is possihle in such a rapidly developing field of technology. I t s examples and illustrations complement the text nicely, and there are prohlems in the hack suitable for graduate level instruction. D o u c ~ ~J.s sWILDE University of Tezas
Austin
Ithaca, New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York, 1961. 2nd ed. vii 168 pp. 14.5 X 22 om. $5.50.
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Writing a Technical Paper
Donald H . M e n d and H o w a d Mumford Jones, both of Hanrard University, and Lyle G. Boyd, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Washington, D. C. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York, 1961. ix 132 pp. 14 X 21 cm. 83.25.
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Forty-seven hooks are in print in English on technical writing and reporting, one of my eolleltgues informed me several weeks ago. These two make 49-though by this time, the number is likely t o be 59. I t is a credit to the authors and the pub-
lishera t h a t these two are worth-while additions. I wish that being "modern" did not force these brief, meaningless titles. The 16th, 17th, 18th century had no qualms about long tit,les which truly reflected tho contents. Thus, "Writing A Technical Papcr," by Meneel, Jones, and Boyd would have been graced with a title something like "A Lighthearted, Well-Writben, Conscientious Little Book Directed toward Making Even Technical People Conscious of T h a t i t Means T o Be Literate and To Enable Them Suhsequently t o Impart Some of the Literary Quality t o Their Canbributions to the Technical Literature." I n their seven chapters the authors have made lively reading of the sections entitled: The Evolution of aPaper, Revision, Presenting the Data, Grammar, Style, Jargon, The Physierl Manuscript. For instance, in discussing how the author ran best get his material down on paper, they discuss the "trance method," the "relaxed method," the "method of total recall," and the "brute force method." Common hazards of phrasing and grammar discussed include not only the expected cliche8 and danglers, hut squinters, minor irritants, near-hits, and juvenile forms. The examples of "srienrh" xviil make even the m o ~ tn011-word-conscious technical man chuckle, ~ h i l ea t the ssme time needling him to he more careful of his diction, t o be aware of what his r o r d s say t o his reader not merely what he bhinks they say. Bravely the authors opt far the split infinitive when not t o split it fails to impart theexaet meaning. The long chapter on st,yie comes closest to giving the technical man a feel for this elusive aspect of writing of anything I have read. It. convinces the reader that technical papers and reports can he good reading-if the writers are literate. A fuller title of Rhodes "Technical Report Writing" might have been: "Analysis and Presentation of Data for and in a Report in Which i t is Wished t o Squeeze Out of Every Possible Datum the Quantitative Essence," because not until Chapter 8, The Graphical Presentation of Data, does Rhodes' book come alive. The first seven chapters such as The Characteristics of a Good Report and The Style of a, Report present the crochets of r. retired professor of chemical engineering who, over several decades, has corrected thousands of undergraduate laboratory reports in chemical engineering. But he writes with enthusiasm and firm lucidity of Arithmetical Graphs, Integration Graphs, Logarit,hmical Graphs, Graphics on Triangular Grids, Histogrsms, Cumulative Frequency Graphs. Succinctly he tells the reader how to arrive a t the data which are t o be presented in these graphs in sections entilted Method of Dispersion, Distribution of Sample Means, Combining Probabilities, Correlation Analysis, and Calculation of Correlation Coefficient. Briefly he tells the harassed writer not only how easily ta use these tools but how not t o use them. Within the last week I have
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Journal of Chemical Education.
found Rhades' "instant statistics" helpful and time-saving in two rocket development reports. I recommend the purchase of both: they complement one another. They are useful additions to the reference shelf of the h a d w o r k i n g undergraduate or graduate student. They are equally useful t o the haddriving recent or not-sorecent graduate who is conscious of the need for more precise expression.
JOAN WILSON Atlantic Research Corporatia Alezandria, V a .
The Optimal Design of Chemical Raactors: A Study in Dynamic Programming
Rutherfwd Aris, Univemity of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Academic Press, Inc., New York, 1961. 191 pp. Figs. and tables. 16 X 23 cm. li.
Dr. Aris summarizes his important work neatly in the opening paragraph of the preface: "This monograph, as its subtitle indicates, treats some of the significant problems of chemical reactor engineering from a unified point of view. The methods of dynamic programming have proved themselves both powerful and versatile in a number of branches of economies and engineering and it is remarkable how naturally they fit the needs of reactor design. The chemical cnginror will he interested in the method as a practical tool in the design process, and it is hoped that he will find here a sufficient variety of example to allom- him to treat any specific problem with as much realism ils he may desire. In the interest of clarity the simpler problems have been chosen for extended treatment, but in all cases the methods of solution of the more general have been shown. Mathematicians and those interested in the rapidly developing field of mathematical programming will find here an ecological study of the species whose anatomy, physiolog,y, and nattturd history have been opened up in Bellman's book ('Dynamic Programming,' Princeton 1957)." Dr. Aris shows how the chemical engineer can coordinate chemical kinetic information with ecouomio estimates in order to design chemical reactors which are optimum according to any one of the customary measures of effectivenessoperating cost, profit, yield, or reactor volume. The unifying concept of the hook is that a variety of problems intermingling rat,e processes with physical limitations can all he solved in the same way by using dynamic programming, a rather recent development in the analysis of mathematical functions. After summarieing the work of the past twenty years concerning design of chemical reactors for minimum volume or maximum yield, Dr. Aris develops the
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