Choice Review

A dramatic improvement over a generally successful and important first edition (CH, Feb'85) , this expanded second edition is a must for all professional libraries, practicing polymer chemists, and advanced undergraduate and graduate students entering the field. The five original chapters have been carefully and thoughtfully edited and, most notably, the artwork has been reconceived and redrawn to the great improvement of the entire work. Two additional chapters have been added. Edward Samulski (Univ. of North Carolina) has written what is probably the best short statement about "The Mesomorphic State" in print (although this reviewer objects to relegating fundamental definitions to afterthought status by placing them in parentheses). It is a wonderful chapter: he should be encouraged to continue to write about his field of research. The second chapter, by George Wignall (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), although not as smoothly written, covers "Scattering Techniques," methods of growing importance for measuring and understanding the physical properties of polymers, at a perfectly professional level. The division of the chapters into physical states and characterization techniques seems arbitrary and artificial--an unnecessary and disruptive separation. No matter, though, for this is one of the strongest efforts in this series of ACS professional reference books. Go for it! Even the price seems reasonable. Upper-division undergraduate through professional.