No comments about Inorganic and Organometallic Macromolecules: Design and Applications.

1 comments about Methods of X-ray and Neutron Scattering in Polymer Science (Topics in Polymer Science).

1. Ryoung-Joon Roe presents a handy reference and introduction to x-ray and neutron scattering, where emphasis is placed on using a terminology that helps the reader learn about both the techniques simultaenously. Scattering has served as one of the most important characterization tools for polymer community. This book outlines the basic mathematics and experimental details required to understand the structure and properties as revealed by these scattering methods in: crystalline and amorphous polymers, polymer solutions and blends, polymer dynamics and block copolymers. While emphasis is placed on demonstrating how all scattering shares similar theories and philosophy, the choice of several examples and applications of either techniques is used to remark on aspects peculiar to either X-ray studies or Neutron Scattering.
   
   Since most serious students of polymer science are familiar with light scattering, the book would appeal them as perfect guide to familiarize themselves with limits and use of neutron and X-ray scattering. A more detailed discussion on Polymers and Neutron Scattering is found in the classic text by Julia S. Higgins and Henry C. Beno^it, while for Light Scatttering texts by Pecora & Berne and by Wyn Brown are essential references. Compared to those classic references, Roe's text will appear as more accessible to people seeking introduction to scattering methods. By the same token, it contains only the essence, the flavor of aspects of polymer behavior, say crystallization, surface studies or dynamics, and one will need to delve into the other texts if he seeks exhaustive discussion.

2 comments about Principles of Bioinorganic Chemistry.

1. Overall, this book is a useful reference for anyone engaging in a Bioinorganic course at the upper undergraduate or early postgraduate level. This book is sufficiently informative and can be used as a recommemded text for the upper undergraduate level in a course in Bioinorganic Chemistry.



2. Principles of Bioinorganic Chemistry is a very useful introductory textbook for chemists who are interested in such field.

5 comments about Chemistry of the Elements, Second Edition.

1. I bought this book as a recommended text to accompany a senior/graduate two semester inorganic chemistry of the elements course. One of the few "texts" I would have had no problems buying outside of school. The information is extensive, but well organized and useful.



2. Did you know that the ending ON in silicon was chosen (by Thomas Thomson) to stress the analogy of this element with both carbon and boron? I didn't. Along with such kind of historical details, Greenwood and Earnshaw's book contains a great deal of information (data, tables, graphs, etc.) about the elements of the Periodic Table and their corresponding compounds. The material is logically organized in 31 chapters, which are followed by 7 appendices (1341 pages!). This chemistry bible should stay on the desk of every chemist and scientist alike.



3. Before I got a copy of this book I was always intrigued by the references to it in other texts. It does indeed have many interesting things in it. Some of the material it covers I have not seen in any other text.
   
   With that said however, this book is not really all that suitable as a standalone text for a course. It is missing too much descriptive chemistry and coordination theory to support an inorganic course. It is written at too high a level for a general chemistry course. It just doesn't seem to fit well anywhere.
   
   It has a great deal of information, arranged based on periodicity, especially in the areas of terrestrial abundance and industrial chemistry. Chemistry of the Elements repeats very little of what is covered in Cotton & Wilkinson's Advanced Inorganic and is well worth having to supplement that text.
   
   I enjoy reading this book, but I doubt I will ever use it exclusively for a course. Worth the money for the major and those interested but not for everyone!



4. For anyone in need of a general reference on the chemical elements and their compounds (anyone majoring or working in chemistry), this book is indeed the bible. It has the advantage of being a well-written reference, but make no mistake, it is a reference - in the same way that a book on grammar, even if it is well-written, is still a book on grammar. Which means that if you are looking for an interesting and pleasantly readable popular science book about the chemical elements, and unless you have a serious technical interest in chemistry, this is probably not the best choice. The author doesn't make any claims that it was written for a popular audience, but some of the reviews seem to hint that it might be.



5. Very interesting and useful book. So specific for the study of the Inorganic chemistry. I recommend it for University or Ph. D. levels.

No comments about NMR Spectroscopy in Inorganic Chemistry (Oxford Chemistry Primers).

No comments about Bioinorganic Chemistry: A Short Course.

No comments about Introduction to Glass Science and Technology (Rcs Paperbacks Series).

5 comments about Name Reactions: A Collection of Detailed Reaction Mechanisms.

1. This book is fantastic! It has a complete set of every important named reaction with its respective mechanism and literature references. The simple layout makes this book very user friendly. The mechanisms are easy to follow and the references are very useful making this book excellent for use at any level from undergraduate to graduate and beyond. This book is a definite must have for anyone studying advanced organic chemistry, as it is the named reactions bible.



2. this book is a really great resource for organic chemists. it has all the main name reactions in alphabetical order, and does a good job showing not only the overall reaction, but also the step-by-step mechanism as well. it also has references listed for each reaction, for further clarification. i recommend it for any organic chemist as part of their library.



3. This book is nice for writing the basics of mechanism. There are some other books available in market. But I will recommend this book because they are short and concise. This third edition is more or less similar to second edition.



4. i received the book in good condition.
   The book is very valuable for any org. chemist,be it Acadamic or Industrial.we have the old edition also. I use it to train the youngsters.
   worth to buy.



5. Dr. Li's Name Reactions is a very good but basic name reactions book. It covers the reaction mechanics but does not offer the background information and comprehensive literature references of Laszlo Kurti's and Barbara Czako's Strategic Applications of Named Reactions in Organic Synthesis.
   
   It is also much sparser and limited than Name Reactions and Reagents in Organic Synthesis, which includes examples of the use of the named reactions and also the use and mechanisms of named reagents.
   
   Li's book is very good but is limited in comparison to the competitors. It is not a bad book but does not offer the value and utility of the other books named in this review.

4 comments about Hydrogen: The Essential Element.

1. It makes sense, if you are going to try to understand something, to go to the simplest instance of it and get all the information you can from the subject unimpeded by complications. Hydrogen is the simplest of all atoms. It is all around us; though hydrogen gas floats out of our atmosphere to join the hydrogen atoms that are in the "vacuum" of space, hydrogen makes up a large proportion of stars, water, and ourselves. John S. Rigden has written an admiring tribute to the simplest atom, _Hydrogen: The Essential Element_ (Harvard University Press). It turns out that hydrogen has played an enormous role in our understanding of matter and energy, and that the simplest of atoms is so complicated and surprising that Rigden's book is a continual source of elemental wonder.

   Hydrogen is element number one, only a single electron orbiting a single proton. Repeatedly Rigden shows that this simplicity has been a boon to research. The lessons learned from this basic atom, in Rigden's story, form a history of physics in the twentieth century. The refinements to theory have largely been to explain the dark bands in the spectrum produce when hydrogen is made to glow. Niels Bohr produced the first modern picture of the atom, incorporating the experimental data from Rutherford and the hydrogen spectrum, but recklessly disregarding the historic laws of physics which he felt could not apply within the atom. He thus began the amazingly successful and fabulously strange quantum explanation for the behavior of matter. Rigden has not just included experimenters and theorizers, but also appealing stories about them, such as I. I. Rabi developing magnetic resonance in the 1930s to measure the nucleus, but then in 1988 being wheeled into a Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine. He said, "It was eerie... I would never have dreamed that my work would come to this." _Hydrogen_ is not just about understanding the inner workings of the atom, but also about hydrogen as the ticker of a clock, as anti-matter, and as a confirmer of big bang cosmology.

   There are plenty of challenging chapters here, meant for the non-scientist but not necessarily easy reading. Although the mathematics is not detailed, there are some equations shown that could be intimidating; Dirac's equation, predicting antiparticles and electron spin, Rigden assures us is a "little equation" that can be "written in one line," and while this is true, the line has twenty algebraic symbols in it. Also, surprisingly, there is little about the hydrogen bomb. Rigden decided that the bomb did not fit into the theme of how the hydrogen atom has led and will continue to lead to improved scientific knowledge. His charming and informative book shows how some mysteries have been solved but that we should never come to the conclusion that we are close to knowing all: "After all, H stands not only for hydrogen, but also for humility."




2. The author takes us on a history of 20th century physics by focusing on the signal element of Hydrogen. He does a good job of providing enough technical detail to make it clear why certain discoveries are important without overwhelming you. His choice of focusing on Hydrogen does limit him a little as to what he looks at though. A fairly short book so worth the investment in time for me.



3. John Rigden has achieved a remarkable synthesis here in humanizing what is normally a coldly inhuman subject. I have always been interested in the mechanics of subatomic processes, but have found it difficult to understand when presented as an end-product of research efforts. This book contextualizes the research effort in such a way as to relate the research findings to the real life people who struggled to obtain them. In the process, I ended up learning the details of the nature of hydrogen much better than in any other book.

   I think this kind of humanizing of physics is overdue and marks a welcome development for future efforts in physics writing. Physics is, in the end, a human endeavor and can only be understood in detail when presented as such.

   As an example of the difference, I will quote from page 216 in reference to David Schramm-- "David was a first-rate scientist, 'but,' as Margaret Geller has written, 'perhaps more important in this harsh world, he was an extraordinary person of great generosity and kindness.'"

   These words are apt for this effort by John Rigden... the book is a work of great generosity and kindness. I look forward to seeing this sentiment be taken up in future works in the field of physics.




4. An excellent description, not only of the Hydrogen atom, but the way that very simple structure informed scientists about more complex structures in the universe. Very well written and not mathematically intense.

No comments about Radioactivity: Introduction and History.