Scientific method: Optimizing applied research decisions (Ackoff

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BOOK REVIEWS atomic groups of rxganophosphorus eompounds. Part I 1 of the monograph (114 pages) deals with the chemistry of high polymers. Chapter IV descrihes carbon-chain and hetero-chain polymers containing phosphorus in the side chains. Examples of subjects dealt with in this chapter are polymers and copolymers of amides, amide esters and eth,vlenamides of phosphorus acids, and carbon-chain products of polyeandensat,ions of organophosphorus compounds. Chapter V is concerned with hetwochain high polymerseontaining phosphorus in t,he main chain. Examples here include polymers having phosphorus and carbon in the main chain or those cantaining phosphorus, oxygen and carbon orphusphorus, nitrogen and some other element in the main chnin. Polymers with apurely inorganic skeleton are also considered as, for example, those having phosphorus, oxygen, and horon in the main chain. Chapter VI deals with miscelleneous products of undetermined structure and considers products of telomerisation with p~rticipation of organnphmphorus compounds. Chapter VII considers applications of organophosphorus polymers. Topics discussed include uses in plastics and arr flame-resistant coatings, adhesives, oil additives, and catalysts. The hihliography contains 834 references, some of which are multiple listings. All h m e been carefully checked and verified with the exception of 22 references which could not he checked because journals or patents were not available. Very adequate indices of tahles and subjects are given. This reviewer feels t h a t the monograph is excellently done and represents a valuable addition t o tbe chemical literature. It should he welcomed particularly by those involved in specific prohlems relating t o t,he practical uses of polymer systems. I t is, however, a valuable source of collected information in t,he field of organophasphon~s compounds for those generally concerned with the theory and practire of polymer chemistry. E. CHARLES EVERS TJniuersily of Pennsylvania Philadel~hia

Scientiflc Method: Optimizing Applied Resetlrch Decisions

Russell I,. Aekoff, with the collabaration of Shiv K. Gupla and J . Sayer ATinas, Case Institute of Technolow, Clevo land, Ohio. aii 464 pp. Figs. and t,ahles. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 1962. 15.5 X 23.5 rm. 810.25.

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As the author states in his preface, this is IL "hook on planning or designing the useofsciencein the pursuit ofohjeetives.. . I t is essentially s. 'how to do it' hook rather than a. 'whet t o do i t for' book.. . . This book is intended t o improve the

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(Contintmi on page A234)

BOOK REVIEWS skill of the seicntist in the conduct of inquiry . . . and my objective will have been nccomplished if I succeed in att,raeting z few scientists to the study of seientifir inqniry in its own right and if a few more find ways of improving t,heir rcscarch procedures." nroause t,his review will appear in a journal quit,e far removed from the immediate intwost of the hook's author, it seems appropriate to c a n s i d ~ the r benefits it might afford a more casual reader, other then the student enrolled in n course in Opemtions Research for whom it ohviausly is intcnded. The key to the book is ront:~inedin the first sentence in Chapter

3: "In applied research, i t is necessary t o translate the decision maker's problem int,o a research problem." Chapter 13 reviews the techniques of testing and controlling the model and the solution t,o the problem, resulting from the research. I n between these chapters, the hulk of the hook is concerned with the techniques of this kind of research: formulating the nrohlnm. models. definine. measurement.

opt,imization. Each chapter has a n eaderisive bibliography. The last two chapters (14 and 15) are particularly provocative: Implementation and Organization of Research, and The Ideals of Science and Society. Even the

non-specialist will derive benefit from reading these, as they relate t o so mimy pressing current problems like "oonflict between science and other social institutions," "dissemins,tion of research findings," "the research team," and "the ideals of man," t o cite a few section headings. The concluding sentence t o Chapter 15 "is: T o be sure, responsibility for future morality is not the scientist's alone, hut perhaps from him can come leadership in the substitution of brain for brain settling conflicts between men and hetween their societies." LAURENCES. FOSTER Army Materials Research Agency Watertwn Amnal Watertwn, 11~asswkmetts

Lehrbveh der Band 2

Organischan

Chemie.

FI-iedrich Klages, University nf Munich, Germany. 3rd ed. Walter de Gruyter

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and Co., Berlin, 1962. xiv 639 pp. Figs. and tables. 18 X 24.5 em. 56 DM Klages' "Organic Chemistry" is a remarkable textbook. The entire set consists of three volumes arranged in four hooks containing more than 2500 pages. The first volume (THIS JOURNAL 37, 7, 379 [19601) deals systematically with organic compounds and reactions, the third volume (THIS JOURNAL 36, 2, 102 [1959]) concerns special ttupics (dyes, polymers, etc.), and the most recent second volume carries a subtitle "Theoretical and General Organic Chemist,ry." The titles of individual chapters will indicate the scope of this vohrme: History of Organic Chemistry (35 pp.); Physical Methods (67 pp.); Bonding and Bond Types (131 pp.); Reactions and Reaction Mechanisms (135 pp.); Tautornerism (35 pp.); Intermolecular Forces and Association (48 pp.); Stereochemistry (125 pp.). Although the treatment of individual topics is quite up-to-date, there are no more than some 30 m a t h e matical equations in the whole book and the clarity and conciseness of the style are outstanding. The separation of physico-chemical theor," in this volume from the purely chemical theory in the other volumes has advantages and disadvantages. Although the present hook is just a p a r t of a more extensive treatise, i t could be used separately in a similar manner t o Wheland's "Advanced Organic Chemistry" or Ingold's "Structure-and Mechanism in Organic Chemistry" in most graduate courses. The unique value of Klages' work, however, lies in his successful attempt t o treat the whole field of organic chemistry from one point of view. Because of the rapid growth and complexity of certain highly specialized fields (pol,mers, small ring cornpounds, heterocycles, organophosphorus compounds, etc.) the type of chemiste referred t o as "general organic" praeticslly disappeared and their place was taken by a variety of specialists and experts. This change, which in itself was unavoid-

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Journal of Chemicol Education