1 comments about J. D. Bernal: The Sage of Science.

1. .D.Bernal(1901-1972) was a genius level crystallographer who made original contributions to the study of protein structures in the early days of X-ray crystallography.The author portrays him as the first molecular biologist, although he was trained as a physicist. He worked at Birkbeck College and at the Royal Institution. He helped plan the D-Day landings in Normandy, and helped train proteges such as Dorothy Hodgkins and Helen McGaw.He served as an advisor to Lord Mountbatten in the far east. Unfortunately he was also an ardent communist and seemed to feel that scientific research was better organized in the USSR than in the west. He failed to condemn the Soviet liquidation of its geneticists or the biology of Lysenko.
   This in-depth biography contains many quotes from Bernal's extensive writings on subjects at the interface of science and politics.
   Not omitted are Bernal's many love affairs and open marriage.
   Many of the great figures of 20th century science come into this book, including Lord Rutherford(Bernal was one of two people Rutherford loathed),Francis Crick, Max Perutz( who was Bernal's student), John Kendrew ,"Solly" Zuckerman, William and Lawrence Bragg and Lord Cherwell
   ( the other person Rutherford loathed).
   The book will appeal most to the scientifically inclined, although there
   is nothing really technical to understand. Bernal came close to understanding the helical structure of DNA. Ironically Francis Crick wanted to work with Bernal, but was sent away by his secretary.
   The book started slowly, but became really interesting in the part about WW II as Bernal's career accelerated toward what seemed to be a crash
   over his communist ideas.We learn about the British plan(never realized) to construct a huge aircraft carrier out of ice reinforceed with wood pulp.
   Bernal was a true polymath, able to discuss diverse subjects such as art and architecure as well as science, and had the sort of mind that could comprehend and organize vast masses of data, making him valuable in tasks like assessing bomb damage during the Blitz.
   Overall, an absorbing interesting book.

2 comments about Inorganic Chemistry.

1. Wulfsberg's Inorganic Chemistry manages to escape the obvious pitfalls of a first-edition text: it is not similar to other texts already on the market, and it is fairly error-free. Being error-free is no mean feat, especially when you consider that Shriver and Atkin's 3rd (!) edition of their text is rife with mistakes. In fact, in many ways this Wulfsberg offering is better than any other inorganic text on the market. There are also some serious drawbacks, however.

   First the positive. I've already mentioned the fact that there are few errors. Another BIG adavantage is the scope of the text: it covers the entire periodic table. The introductory chapters (11 of 17) cover general trends, including symmetry, redox, crystal field theory, etc. Only 4 chapters are devoted to that insidious practice of qualitative description of compounds and their physical properties. Finally, the text is arranged so that chapters are roughly independent - it is not a detriment to skip over a chapter here and there if your course content so requires.

   Unfortunately, these positives are almost evenly balanced by some serious (in my opinion) negatives. For starters, the text is boring! Even I, the professor, find it difficult to read. Part of the problem is that the author seems to think that 2 pages of text is better at explaining something than a half-page picture. This makes for heavy reading when trying to study! Secondly: there is too much hand-waving description relative to hard chemical theory. This may be fine for a 2nd-year level course, but most professors will want a text that has enough depth that they can use it in a 3rd- or 4th-year course as well, and I'm afraid this is a little superficial in places. Finally, I have to question the fact that crystal-field theory has an entire chapter devoted to it, while ligand-field theory (and consquently, symmetry-adapted orbitals) is essentially ignored. In my experience, both as a student and as a prof, anyone who learns LFT finds it much easier and more satisfying than the gross simplifications (and outright errors!) of CFT.

   I have used this text and Shriver and Atkins's text as assigned books for my 3rd-year inorganic courses. For my money, Shriver and Atkins, in spite of its overemphasis on physical chemistry and numerous errors, is still a better text. However, I'm anxiously looking forward to a second edition of Wulfsberg, as it wouldn't take too much effort to make it a superior product.




2. Although I already despised my inorganic chemistry course, I have not found this book very helpful. It is written in hard to follow language, has very long blocks of text, and not enough diagrams, pictures, or explanations for being a course textbook. Plus, it only has a few, select, answers to the problem questions included in the text.

1 comments about International Tables for Crystallography, Brief Teaching Edition of Volume A: Space Group Symmetry (International Tables for Crystallography).

1. essential for any lab involved with x-ray crystallography. good reference source.

No comments about Dana's Minerals and How to Study Them (After Edward Salisbury Dana), 4th Edition.

No comments about Crystals (Geology Rocks!; Raintree Freestyle).

2 comments about Fundamentals of Crystallography.

1. This is the only advanced general survey of topics in xray crystallography. Chapters are written by different authors, and the book feels pasted together. It is now seriously out of date.



2. This is the ideal book to deepen the knowledge one has gained from a beginner's book like Werner Massa's "Crystal Structure Determination" or Jenny Glusker's "Crystal Structure Analysis -- A Primer". Most important aspects of crystallography are explained in an understandable fashion and every serious crystallographer should read this book. It should be pointed out that the second edition (2002) is significantly better then the first, which was already very good.

No comments about Protein Crystallography: A Concise Guide.

No comments about Descriptive Inorganic Chemistry Student's Solutions Manual.

2 comments about Physical Properties of Crystals: Their Representation by Tensors and Matrices.

1. The book by Nye is considered by many people in the relevant scientific societies as the "bible" of crystal physics. In scientific terms, it is a rigorously written book on tensor algedra which which is the mathematical formalism essential to describe the physical properties of crystals. The mathematical complexity of the book is rather elementary and hence could be used for a senior level advanced undergraduate course as well (typically it is used as a first your graduate course text). The first half of the book discusses equilibrium properties of crystals (permittivity, piezoelectricity, elasticity etc.), therefore a rather modest background in physics is needed. The second half of the book that is devoted to transport properties may require some "general" background on the basic principles of transport phenomena and irreversible thermodynamics. This book, in my opinion, is a very well written book that places the physical properties of crystals in an "easy to comprehend" mathematical framework eloquently. It is an excellent text book. I highly recommend it.



2. This is a book easy to read and to follow from the beginning until the end. It is worth to get it if you are interested in the relationship between symmetry and properties of any crystalline material.
   It is broadly explained the derivation of the 32 point groups and they relation with the piezoelectricity, strain, thermal conductivity, etc.
   It's an essential book for both, Materials scientists and students.

2 comments about Crystallography.

1. I am a geology major and I usually tend to avoid poetry, however, this book is quite an exception. This book took the science of geology and the art of poetry and combined them into a masterpiece. This analysis of these two fields of study is incredible and is a definite must read.



2. This is a fascinating book exploring language through crystallography that fits nicely into the Oupilo experiments. In general the book is accessible - word squares, concrete poems, charts and, yes, some poetry as "commonly understood." The most personal poems are under "Diamonds" which explores the relationship with his father, a diamond cutter. The layout of the poems in this section remains a puzzle to me. As I do Merrill's "The Changing Light at Sandover", I found myself wanting a crib sheet to point out what I felt I was missing of the author's intent.
   
   The linguistic "games" that I found most interesting were the classification of letters by their axis of symmetry and the "dripping line" (think of water dripping from a cave ceiling). (Unfortunately the web removes multiple spaces so it is not easy to give an illustration - just think of fewer and fewer letters falling into the next line, always spelling out meaningful clauses, phrases, words.)
   
   This book is a major tour-de-force of experimental writing. It will get under your skin. You'll read and reread digging deep to find the underlying principles. You may even become obsessed. Or you may read through it quickly dismissing it as a mere experiment.