BOOK REVIEWS Editor: W. F. KIEFFER

College of Woorter Woarter, Ohio

Chemistry

B. Richard Siebrino. Univer~it,v of 0 , ~ ~~~-~ " -- Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Macmillan Co., New York, 1967. viii + 743 pp. Figs. and tables. 16 X 24 cm. 88.95.

This text is intended to provide an up to date, broad treatment of chemistry suit- able for the firsbyear college student in s two semester or three quarter course. The author states in the preface that he feels equations, stoichiometry, and chemical equilibrium as well as descriptive and h% torical aspects of chemistry are an impor- tant part of the introductory chemistry course. The hook wnsists of 32 chapters divided into seven sections.

Section one is a 216page coverage of principles. Electronio properties are re- lated to the periodic table and to bond types, a brief wverage of chemical no- menclature is included, and one chapter is devoted to chemicd equations. Worked examples of problems are in the text ma- terial, including reasons far eachstep in the solution of the problem.

Section two presents the descriptive chemistry of the non-metals. This eight- chapter, 148 page unit, starts with the chemistry of oxygen. Other chapters cover hydrogen, water, sulfur and its compounds, phosphorus and its com- pounds, the halogens and their compounds, and inorganic carbon, silicon, and boron. In general, non-metals are presented in terms of occurrence, history, laboratory preparation, physical properties, chemical properties, and wmpounds. The brief hist,ory is interesting and the study ques-

tions at the end of each chapter should prove extremely useful.

The chapter on the inorganic chemistry of carbon leads into section three, a two-chapter organic chemistry unit. In this 56 page unit, the chemistry of hydro- carbons and their derivetives is discussed. Optical and cis-trans isomerism are in- cluded. The sigma and r bonding for benzene is presented. Eleven classes of monofunctional derivatives are presented and a very brief presentation of protein and carbohydrate chemistry is included.

Solution chemistry is covered in section four. This unit includes an introductory chapter about properties of solutions, a chapter to develop acid-base chemistry and ionimtion equilibris, and a. chapter for the presentation of the solubility prod- uct concepts.

Chemistry of metals and metal ions is presented in the six-chapter unit five. This unit is organized according to analyti- cal groups of qualitative analysis to aid in the presentation of qualitative analysis in the first year chemistry course.

Industrial processes are discussed in the four-chapter unit six. Unit seven is s separate chapter on nuclear transforms- tions.

This book places more emphasis and concern for the historical aspects of chemistry and for descriptive chemistry while emphasizing equations, stoichiom- etry and equilibria. It should prove to he a welwme addition to the available freshman college chemistry texts.

ALFRED T. ERICSON Kansas State Teachers College

Emporia

-Reviewed in this Issue

B. Il'iehard SSiebrzng, Chemistry

Jerry A . Bell, editor, Chemical Principles in Practice

C. B. Anderson and J . I,. Hawes, Baiie Experimental Chemistry: A Laboratory Alanual for Beginning Students

Stanlelj W . Angrist and Loren G. Hepler, Order and ChaaeLaws of Energy and Entropy

S. B. Hannau, Solid-state Chemistry

. I . K . Galz~.ey, Chemistry of Solids

V. Theilbeirner, Synthetic Methods of Organic Chemistry

Chemical Pvinciples in Practice

Edited by Jewy A. Bell. Addison- Wesley Publishing Co., Reading, Mass., July, 1967. xi + 273 pp. Figs. and tables. 21.5 X 28 em. $4.50. Paper- bound.

I suppose that if you were to choose two ehemistrv ~rofessors at random and ask .. . fw their idens wn~vnting tlte appmpriute content of a fim year colleye lnlmratury rmrir, yuu m ~ l d pnhably tina von.iider- able disagreement. I t seems rather sur- prising therefore that most primary college laboratory texts in the lsst decade or so, have had s certain "sameness" about them. "Chemioal Principles in Practice," edited by Jerry A. Bell of the University of California, Riverside, is most decidedly not in the preceding category; in fact this text offers a radical and refreshing depar- ture from the "classical" approach.

For several years now colleges offering advanced freshman chemistry lecture courses have been faced with the problem of providing suitably challenging labor* tory experiments. In many cases ex- periments have been oustom-made for the individual courses because of the lack of a suitable text. For instructors in such courses, and for those wishing to upgrade and update more conventional oourses, "Chemical Principles in Practice" de- serves thorough contemplation.

This well written and readable manual contains some 33 experiments under eleven different headings ranging from somewhat conventional gravimetrio analysis to sim- ple yet sophisticated. experimentation with nuclear magnetic resonance. Seem- ingly routine experiments such as pre- cipitation, are given an interesting twist, in this oase by use of radioactive isotopes. Qualitative inorganic snslysis is com- pletely absent, thus continuing the trend of recent years. Experiments are outlined which should go well with courses stressing structure and bonding, kinetics and/or thermodynamics. Some of the experi- ments have been published previously in THIS JOURNAL and others have been culled from various unpublished sources, several in both categories were devised hy the editor and Leonard Nash of Harvard Uni- versity.

The editor (Bell) states that his own classes complete about one half of the ex- periments in a. full year general chemistry course with two 3-hour laboratory sessions per week. I t can be deduced from this that most of the experiments last for more than one lab session giving an unstruc- tured pattern which seems desirable in culturing student creativity. At the same time a large amount of background material is required which demands a great deal of the instruotor(s). Probably the text is most germane for an integrated lecture-lab format.

The textual msterial is hard to find fault with; the following are just s few minor personal grievances. Several of the kinetic experiments involve organic m e terials, e.g., ethyl diszoscetate, cyclo- hexanone, eto., implying some organic chemistry background. I t seems to the reviewer that an introductory experiment

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276 / Journal of Chemical Education