Elements of General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry, Ninth Edition (Holum, John R.)

John R. Holum. Wiley: New York, NY, 1995. xvi + 605 pp. Figs., tables, and photos. 21.3 X 26.3 cm. $64.95.

The ninth edition of Holum's textbook continues to be a shortened version of his Fundamentals of General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry, Fifth edition (1994). It incorporates the changes and improvements made in that text. The audience for this text includes students in the health sciences (other than physicians) and nonscience students with an interest in the molecular nature of matter. The text can be used for a one-term course and does not have any chemistry prerequisites. The author has striven to create the most up-to-date kind of text possible particularly in environmental studies and the molecular basis of life.

Chapters are organized, as in the past editions, into general chemistry topics (1-8), the organic chemistry essential for biochemistry (9-13), and biochemistry (14-21). Radioactivity and nuclear chemistry are the topics of the final chapter. Changes made in this edition include a revision of the presentation of accuracy, error, uncertainty, and precision and a more cohesive treatment of acids and bases based on Bronsted concepts. The organic chemistry chapters have been enriched with special topics such as "Organic Fuels", "Ethyl Alcohol and Alcoholism", and others. The author has done considerable updating and some reorganization of the chapters on biochemistry. The chapter "Extracellular Fluids of the Body", the most important chapter in the text according to the author, remains about the same. It continues to provide important and relevant concepts and understanding both to science-oriented students and the liberal arts students alike.

Some topics, for example molarity, are introduced in abbreviated form early in the text to facilitate meaningful laboratory work but then are given detailed treatments later. The author continues to employ numerous learning aids such as highlighting of key terms, section "headlines" stating the major point of the section, chapter summaries, the factor-label method for calculations, a problem-solving methodology, and numerous practice exercises (most of which are new) with answers in an appendix. Icons are used to draw attention to skills or topics about health and the environment. The text is as colorful and as amply illustrated as the larger version. Computer-generated molecular models, both space-filling and ball-and-stick, are presented throughout the text.

Holum's text continues to provide a lucid and interesting survey of chemistry along with the stimulations for learning chemistry. It should be appealing to the intended audience and deserves consideration in the process of choosing a textbook.