MARCH 2006 | VOLUME 9 | NUMBER 3 53

BOOKS & MEDIA UPDATE

Mechanics and Strengthof Materials

Vitor Dias da Silva

Springer • 2006 • 529 pp

ISBN: 3-540-25131-6

$89.95 / £54 / �69.95

This textbook gives a clear and thorough

presentation of the fundamental

principles of mechanics and strength of

materials. It provides both the theory and

applications of mechanics of materials on

an intermediate theoretical level, from

the mechanical properties through the

effects of axial load, torsion, bending, and

transverse shear to stresses and strains in

bars and continuum mechanics.

Computational Chemistryof Solid State Materials

Richard V. Dronskowski

John Wiley & Sons • 2006 • 300 pp

ISBN: 3-527-31410-5

$125 / £70 / �105

This book presents both classical and

quantum-chemical approaches to

computational methods, incorporating

many developments of the last few years.

Subtitled A Guide for Materials Scientists,

Chemists, Physicists and others, it is

written for ‘non’-theoretical readers in a

readily comprehensible style and includes

practical examples of varying difficulty.

Use of equations is minimized, focusing

on those important for experimentalists.

Materials for energyconversion devices

Charles C. Sorrell et al.

Taylor & Francis CRC Press • 2005 • 416 pp

ISBN: 0849334489

$239.95

Starting with chapters on

photoelectrochemical devices, the

properties and uses of photosensitive

materials and solar cells, this book then

focuses on thermoelectricity. It goes on

to explore chemical and nuclear energy

conversion and monitoring, including

chapters on: fast ionic conductors;

oxygen ionic conductors; high-level

radioactive waste and electrochemical

gas sensors for emission control.

It is only right that the Royal Society of Chemistry, the

instigators of this book, should seek to propagate the

sense of beauty in its subject, and Philip Ball, elegant

writer that he is, is an ideal protagonist. There is a

variety of analogous lists: some (embracing the whole

of science) have appeared prominently in national

papers; others have included the most beautiful

experiments in biology and in physics. Significantly,

perhaps, the subtitle is not ‘the most beautiful’ but the

more cautious and plain ‘beautiful’.

Ball’s criteria are set out on page 8.

He notes that other lists have

sometimes conflated ‘experiment’ with

‘discovery’, and that ‘beauty’ has been

conflated with ‘simplicity’. He accepts

that elegance and simplicity are

important, but says that there are

broader issues, such as the significance

for chemistry or for science generally.

In Ball’s view, beautiful experiments

are ‘shaped by human attributes:

invention, elegance, perseverance,

imagination, ingenuity’. By implication,

he is disinclined to favor serendipity,

finding, rather severely, little beauty in

luck alone.

Ball has a little trouble with the role of the distribution

of effort. Thus, he considers the inclusion of Lavoisier’s

series of experiments that led to his formulation of the

theory of combustion as inappropriate, for it is not a

single experiment. Yet, he is content to include the

synthesis of vitamin B12, which could hardly be more

distributed in space as well as time.

As can be suspected from the wholly personal flavor of

these criteria, Ball has allowed himself considerable

latitude in his choice, and readers will find much to carp

about over the inclusion of this experiment or that, and

the omission of another. Yet books such as these (I am

myself guilty of contributing to the genre, so my view is

biased) are fascinating when viewed as the reflections

of a thoughtful author, which Ball most certainly is.

So, what are his ten beautiful experiments? They are:

1. van Helmont’s analysis of the willow tree;

2. Cavendish’s analysis of water;

3. Curie’s isolation of radium;

4. Rutherford’s identification of the nucleus (chemistry?);

5. Seaborg’s creation of seaborgium (chemistry?);

6. Pasteur’s identification of chirality;

7. Urey and Miller’s exploration of prebiotic chemistry;

8. Bartlett’s synthesis of noble-gas compounds;

9. Woodward’s synthesis of vitamin B12;

10. Paquette’s synthesis of dodecahedrane.

I have raised my eyebrows in two cases, as can be seen.

There is a little more to each experiment than my

succinct allusion conveys, but the list will convey the

flavor – and the idiosyncrasy – of the choice. I will leave

it to others to judge the appropriateness of omissions

and inclusions: as remarked above, that

is not really the point, for we are here

to share another’s vision and insight. It

will be noticed that not everyone who

figures here has received a Nobel Prize

– even those who are eligible.

Ball writes all his books with an

engaging, erudite, and urbane style. He

is conscious, though, of the problem of

conveying chemistry to the general

public (at whom this volume is

somewhat hopefully directed). That is

especially the case with the exposition

of the synthesis of vitamin B12, for

what general reader can be expected to work through

even a dramatically abbreviated account of a total

synthesis? As such, the book will be hard going for the

general reader, but it will be a delight for any chemist.

While reading the book, I was driven to reflect on the

sheer difficulty of finding the appropriate voice to

convey chemistry to the general public. Perhaps it

simply cannot be done. This book is a brave attempt,

but I cannot think that it will be on everyone’s bedside

table. Perhaps words are not the medium of

communication in chemistry. Perhaps we should

acknowledge that, with computer graphics, we have the

ideal medium, and that, to reach the soul of others with

our passion for the subject, we should give up writing

and go for graphical images to convey our

understanding of the underworld.

TThhoouugghh hhaarrdd ggooiinngg ffoorr tthhee ggeenneerraall rreeaaddeerr aanndd hhiigghhllyy ppeerrssoonnaall iinn iittsssseelleeccttiivviittyy,, Elegant Solutions: Ten Beautiful Experiments in Chemistrypprroovviiddeess rreefflleeccttiioonnss ooff aa tthhoouugghhttffuull aauutthhoorr tthhaatt wwiillll ddeelliigghhtt cchheemmiissttss Peter Atkins | University of Oxford, UK | peter.atkins@lincoln.oxford.ac.uk

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Expert

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Philip Ball

Elegant Solutions: Ten Beautiful Experiments in Chemistry

Springer • 2005 • 208 pp • ISBN: 0-85404-674-7

$39.95 / £19.95 (Royal Society of Chemistry)