Models in Chemical Science: An Introduction to General Chemistry

Books MODELS IN CHEMICAL SCIENCE An Introduction to General Chemistry By George S. Hammond, Janet Osteryoung, Thomas H. Crawford, and Harry B. Gray* W. A. Benjamin, Inc. .. $10.95 eviewed by David H. Whi raduate fellow in chemist Models in Chemical Science is a successful attempt to present chemistry at the introductory level as a human intellectual process instead of the authoritative every-question-has-a-right-answer approach common to undergraduate textbooks. The thesis of the authors is that "everyone in science uses models in thinking ahout experimental data. We scientists tend to focus not on the real thing but on the behavior of our own mental constructs." Hammond, Osteryoung, Crawford, and Gray believe that reality is always more complex than we can visualize or even fully understand. Thus, we use models, or theories, which are always approximate and tentative, and may have to be revised or discarded as new evidence is found This is a concept that few students encounter until they reach advanced studies (if, indeed, they ever encounter it at all) when it comes as a shock to realize that science doesn't provide any sure answers. So this book is welcome, as is any presentation which shows science as a fallible, open ended, human enterprise instead of a superhuman certainty. Such an orientation encourages a healthy questioning of established ideas and established experts, and is necessary to understand the basic nature of science. The only mathematical background required for understanding this book is algebra, and mathematical derivations are minimized but not avoided altogether. Difficult topics such as thermodynamics and reaction dynamics are clear and understandable. Organic and inorganic examples are combined to illustrate many concepts in a way that makes them both seem integral parts of the whole of One especially colorful example is used to illustrate a number of concepts in reaction dynamics. Two tennis players, George and Eileen, take 1,000 tennis balls to the court but forget their rackets, 36 so they make up a game. Starting with sicking to the ther sig as talls on his istry is and to begin to cope with the increasing numbers of chemical problems appearing in the newspapers every day. Regrettably, the discussion of "relevant" topics, such as air pollution and drugs, is rather sketchy and undetailed. However, the authors do a fairly thorough job of presenting the theories that chemists actually use in their work. Perhaps the book would also be useful as a high school text. Those students bound for scientific majors in college would be well prepared by it to handle the concepts and the more rigorous techniques of a college chemistry course. *George S. Hammond is Arthur Amos Noyes Professor of Chemistry and chairman of the division of chemistry and chemical engineering at Caltech; Janet Jones Osteryoung (Caltech chemistry PhD 67) is now assistant professor in the department of civil engineering al Colorado State University; Thomas H. Crawford is professor of chemistry at the University of Louisville; and Harry B. Gray is professor of chemistry at Caltech. OSCAR MANDEL'S COLLECTED PLAYS, Volume 1 Unicorn Press .......Clothbound $7.50 Paperbound 2.95 Reviewed by J. Kent Clark Protessor of English In some ways, the drama of Oscar Mandel (Caltech professor of English) seems too intelligent, witty, polished, and literate to be contemporary. Its crisp, tight organization, its clear definition of dramatic issues and characters, and its cool satirical edge sometimes secm closer to the world of Molière than to the worlds of Miller, Albee, Beckett, Ionesco, and Pinter—to say nothing of the murky worlds of the now theater. It is not neu-rotic, psychotic, confessional, guilt-ridden, sex-ridden, or absurd; it avoids merely topical "relevance" as it would adolescent acne. Furthermore, the setting of the plays is often remote from the contemporary scene: Homeric Greece, Saxon England, Roman Spain. And even settings that are ostensibly modern have been removed by at least one level of abstraction from naturalistic realism. Finally, Mandel's plays show a sense of style--the incisive word, the deceptively "inevitable" phrase, and the subtly poetic speech-that is almost unknown in contemporary American drama. This stylistic artistry, it should be added, not only makes the plays delightful to read or hear but also serves in classical fashion to keep the proper dramatic distance between the audience and the characters. But if the style, the angle of approach, the restraint, the finish, and the organization of Mandel's plays derive from the classical European tradition, the subject matter and the psychological concerns of his drama are the preoccupations of twentieth century humanity: loneliness (cosmic and personal), war, death, moral responsibility, idealism, and general human cussedness. Paradoxically enough, Mandel, with his ironic detachment and his scorn for passionately topical drama, writes plays of wider relevance and more genuinely modern substance than do many relentlessly contemporary play-wrights. His General Audax, for example, though set in Spain about 140 B.C., has more to say about the issues raised by twentieth century existentialism than Sartre's Dirty Hands, which has already become a preachy period piece of the 1940's. Similarly, Mandel's Island, though it never mentions the word "scientist," examines the human problem of the scientist and the military in more philosophical and emotional depth than does In the Matter of J. Robert Oppen- In such plays, of course, Mandel is obliged to pay the price for removing his drama from the naturalistic contemporary scene. He must devote more time and ingenuity to exposition-to setting up situation and character; he must get along without stock audience responses, topical references, and local color; and he must trust his audience to make the connections between timeless dramatic action and current dilemmas. The fact that he can pay this price and still produce effective, moving drama testifies to his skill as a writer and his sensitivity to central modern problems. Whether comic or serious, or both, Mandel's plays are characterized by a lively energy. Occasionally, in fact, Mandel is too lively and inventive for his own good. His comedies are sometimes so loaded with wit and paradox that they are hard to assimilate at a comfortable speed. The audience is apt to find itself panting behind the turns of phrase, situ-ation, and character motivation. This is particularly true of A Splitting Headache and The Virgin and the Unicorn. Occa-sionally, too, his invention lures him into overdeveloped speeches which impede the action for the sake of an elegant or subtle thought. In general, however, he controls his wit, invention, and rhetoric remarkably well, with an instinctive appreciation for dramatic values. The publication of the first volume of Oscar Mandell's plays reveals a first-rate, mature talent. The second volume, which will be published shortly, should be equally exciting to devotees of modern drama. THE NAME ABOVE THE TITLE An Autobiography by Frank Capra The Macmillan Company .......$12.50 Reading Frank Capra's autobiography is just as good as seeing a Capra movie— and that's still pretty good. Like a Capra movie script, it's got everything-action, suspense, spunk, sentiment, honesty, patriotism, vitality, gags, guts, good guys to root for, and bad ones to hope that they get their just deserts. The book is, naturally, mainly concerned with Capra's 40-year career in motion pictures. (He made about 60 of them.) From the day he bluffed his way into the business in San Francisco and made a one-reel film of Kipling's "Ballad of Fultah Fisher's Boarding House," the story moves at a breakneck pace through Frank's days as gag man for Hal Roach's Our Gang comedies, then for Mack Sennett, into directing with Harry Langdon, on to Columbia Pictures and the great days of Lady for a Day, It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Lost Horizon, You Can't Take It with You, Mr. Smith Goes to Wash-ington. There was Meet John Doe after that, and Arsenic and Old Lace, before World War Il, when Frank volunteered his services, was commissioned a lieutenant colonel by the Signal Corps, and against constant opposition-made the classic series of troop information films, Why We Fight. Then came It's A Wonderful Life (Capra's favorite of all his pictures) and State of the Union, before a couple of Bing Crosby pictures, a Sinatra one, a catastrophic remake of Lady for a Day, and Frank's retirement from the New Hollywood. Capra is 74 now, living in La Quinta. His family emigrated to Los Angeles from Sicily when Frank was 6. Everyone else in the family went to work, but Frank wanted to go to school. He was allowed to do this as long as he paid his own way. So he sold papers, worked as a janitor, played guitar in a bar, got through high school, saved $700—and entered Caltech in February 1915. (It was Throop Polytechnic Institute then.) The family had a lemon grove in Sierra Madre by this time, and Frank rode back and forth to school on a second-hand motorcycle. He was a waiter in the campus dorm, ran the dormitory laundry agency, and worked (for 25¢ an hour) for the night engineer at the Pasadena Light & Power plant. His daily routine should make thoughtful reading for Caltech undergraduates "This was my twenty-four-hour day: up at 3:00 A.M. at ranchhouse, lit small bonfire under motorcycle crankcase to heat up cold oil. Lit acetylene headlight (about as much light as a modern flashlight), then pushed the Flanders down dirt road until single cylinder sputtered into action; leaped on the seat and noisily raced eighteen miles in the dark to the Pasadena Light plant. On rainy nights, the rides were half-drowned ordeals of slips, slides, and muddy spills. "3:30 to 7:30 A.M.: checked boiler fires, polished miles of metal at the Light plant. Then raced three miles to school to help other four waiters wash breakfast dishes for sixty-five dorm students. Ate breakfast while "8:00 A.M.: ran to my first class. 11:55: ran with four other waiters to serve lunch at dorm; washed dishes, ate lunch while working. 1:00 P.M.: ran back to class. "5:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M.: glee-club or football. Then set tables, served dinner, washed dishes, ate dinner. "7:00 P.M.: jumped on motorcycle, raced fifteen miles to Sierra Madre. Last quarter mile of dirt road was so steep had to jump off and push the Flanders. On a rainy night, it was a wrestling match with a wild steer. "7:30 P.M.: backed motorcycle into shed, put paper and sticks under crankcase for "7:30 P.M. to 10:00 P.M.: study and homework. 10:00 P.M.: to bed. 3:00 A.M.: up and lit bonfire under crankcase. "What did this schedule do to my studies? Nothing. I won the Freshman Scholarship Prize: $250.00 and a trip around the country, and the sincere congratulations of my proud teachers: Dr. Bates (chemistry), Dr. Van Buskirk (mathematics), Dr. Beckman (German), Professor Sorensen (electrical engineering), Professor Clapp (geology), and proudest of all, Professor Jud: (English).' 37 We pay half. You pay the other. Special Half Price Rate for Faculty and Students Please send me the Monitor for • 1 year $15 • 9 mos. $11.25 6 mos. $7.50 I am •faculty • student • Check/money order enclosed • Bill me later Name. Address_ City_ _State Zip. THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, Box 125, Astor Station Boston, Massachusetts 02123 Statement of ownership, management and circulation (Act of August 12, 1970: Section 3685. Title 39. United States Code). 1. Title of publication: Engineering and Sciencc. 2. Date of filing: September 29, 1971. 3. Frequency of issue: 7 times a Catitoria Fidasaten, Cal: 9109. 201 T. 4. California Blvd. Location of the hcadquarters or general business publishers: 1201 A. California Blvd., Pasadena, Calif. 91109. 6. Names and addresses ol publisher, editor, and managing editor: Publisher: California Institute of Technology Aluinni Association. Managing Editor: Jacquelyn Ilershey, California Blvd., Pasadena, Calif. 91109, California Institute of Technology, Blvd., Pasadena, nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status for Ecderal income tax purposes have not changed during the preceding 12 and nature of circulation: A. Total no. of copies printed: average during preceding 12 months, actual number of latest issue, 8700. lation: 1. Sales through dealers and carriers, street vendors and counter sales: average during last months, 20; actual number of latest issue, subscriptions: average during last 12 months, 5803; actual number of latest issue, 5720. C. irculation: average during preceding 12 months 5823; actual number of latest issue, distribution by mail, carrier, or other means: 1. samples, complimentary, and other tree copies: average during preceding 12 months, 2951; number of latest issue, 1ct 4201/. but not sold. none. 2760. 2. copies distributed to bution: average during preceding 12 months, 8774; actual number of latest issue, 8500. F. Office use, left-over, unaccounted, spoiled after printing: average during preceding 12 months, number latest issuc. 200. G. Total: average during preceding 12 months, 9074; actual number of latest issue, 8700. I certify that the statements made by me are correct and complete. Edward Hutchings Jr. 38 Books • • continued EINSTEIN: THE LIFE AND TIMES By Ronald W. Clark World Publishing Company .....$15.00 The special distinction of this new biography of Einstein seems to be its bulk. There have been plenty of books about Einstein the scientist, Einstein the public figure, or Einstein the man, but this one deals with all three. The result is a massive book of more than 700 pages. Obviously, the book involved an enormous amount of research, and in trying to crowd it all in the author often creates considerable confusion. Mr. Clark is a British writer who has produced a number of books on scientific subjects-including The Birth of the Bomb, and biographies of such British scientists as J. B. S. Haldane, the Hux-leys, and Sir Henry Tizard. As a non-scientist, Mr. Clark makes Einstein's scientific contributions fairly omprehensible to an interested layma and his accounts should not undul outrage any physicist readers. n dealing with Einstein the man, Mr Clark has to deal with the fact that Einstein always went to great pains to keep his private life just that. ("When a man after long years of searching chances upon a thought which discloses something of the beauty of this mysterious universe," Einstein once said, not therefore be personally celebrated. He is already sufficiently paid by his experience of seeking and finding." And again: "Personally I consider it indecent to delve into people's private affairs and the world would certainly fare better if newspapers cared more for things that really matter instead of dealing with trifles.") Mr. Clark, then, has to rely pretty much on the printed record, and his comprehensive research uncovers the trifles along with the important events in Einstein's life (including the familiar, and possibly apocryphal, trifle concerning the Einsteins' visit to Mt. Wilson, where Mrs. Einstein was told how the big 100-inch telescope was needed for establishing the structure of the universe. she replied, "my husband does that on the back of an old envelope."). A considerable portion of this biography is devoted to the public Einstein and his attempts to deal with such social and political problems as pacifism, Zion-ism, and the atom bomb. But the particular interest for Caltech readers will probably be in the accounts of Ein-stein's two visits to the Institute in 1930 and 1932. Even though he does refer to Caltech's predecessor as "Troop College of Technology," and locates the Mt. Wilson Observatory "high in the Sierra above Pasadena," Mr. Clark provides some interesting glimpses of life at