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CHOICE Review

An engaging little volume intended to introduce the general reader to the world of the molecule. Salem succeeds admirably in his effort to ``demistify modern chemistry'' by substituting ``equivalent expressions from ordinary language'' for esoteric scientific terms in a survey of current theoretical concepts governing the architecture of molecules, both structural and dynamic, their bonding characteristics, and the manifestations of these in a variety of practical applications. Thus, in a series of brief presentations accompanied by clear and simple illustrations, Salem manages a quick tour of molecular orbital mechanics, reaction dynamics, and molecular geometry. In the process, he provides rudimentary but engagingly revealed explanations for the nature of diamond, glass, water, liquid crystals, soaps, polymers, molecules that smell, and others. The translation from the original French is very smooth and surprisingly idiomatic. Although readers are required to concentrate, they are rewarded by a delightful reading experience that is logically organized and provides rapid insight into this forbidding theoretical realm.-F.V. Scalzi, Hiram College