Review of: The Chemistry of Explosives – Jacqueline Akhavan

The Chemistry of Explosives – Jacqueline Akhavan

Reviewed by F. J. Feher

Authors of introductory-level books in technical fields face a formidable challenge: they must strike an appropriate compromise between the needs of relatively uninformed students and the expectations of experts in the field. For subject matter as broad and complex as chemistry or explosives, it is practically  impossible to satisfy both students and experts with a 170-page paperback book. This is the challenge facing Jacqueline Akhavan and the second edition of her book The Chemistry of Explosives, which is part of the RSC (i.e., Royal Society of Chemistry) Paperback series of inexpensive introductory level texts for selected topics in chemistry. It therefore is not surprising that Akhavan’s The Chemistry of Explosives fails to meet the challenge. What is surprising is that the author made only trivial changes in the second edition and that clear errors pointed out by reviewers of the book’s first edition were addressed superficially or not at all. Although I have to acknowledge that the book probably provides much of what the author and publisher intend to provide – i.e., a clear, readable introduction to a selected topic in chemistry that should appeal to the general chemist – the persistence of known errors is disturbing and I would not recommend this book to people who want a technically accurate introduction to the subject.

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Ref: JPyro, Issue 21, 2005, p 72
(J21_72)

© Journal of Pyrotechnics and CarnDu Ltd



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