There are plenty of good inorganic chemistry books on the market, from venerable reference works (e.g., Cotton and Wilkinson's Advanced Inorganic Chemistry, Greenwood and Earnshaw's Chemistry of the Elements) to "comprehensive" two-semester textbooks (e.g., Huheey, Keiter, and Keiter's Inorganic Chemistry: Principles of Structure and Reactivity, Douglas, McDaniel, and Alexander's Concepts and Models of Inorganic Chemistry). Undergraduate students, especially those new to inorganic chemistry, frequently find these books overwhelming in depth and length (not to mention weight!). Alternatively, some shorter books with less ambitious goals present an oversimplified view of the field or sacrifice conceptual material on behalf of sections on environmental, industrial, or biological chemistry. Rayner-Canham's Descriptive Inorganic Chemistry, a one-semester book aimed specifically at the introductory (sophomore) level, provides an excellent balance of theory and descriptive material, with a fresh look at traditional and current areas of interest in inorganic chemistry.

The first nine chapters (of a total of 21) concisely present the fundamental concepts in inorganic chemistry with unusually clear text, examples, and illustrations. Included are chapters on covalent, metallic, and ionic bonding, thermodynamics, acids and bases, and redox reactions. The rest of the book deals separately with each group or block of the periodic table. Interesting historic notes and anecdotes and important biological aspects of the elements discussed are included in each of these chapters. Most entertaining, a number of current topics in inorganic chemistry, from "bond-stretch isomers" and platinum anticancer drugs to the chemistry of book preservation, are included in a few "boxed" paragraphs throughout the book. Each chapter concludes with a number of exercises, typically between 20 and 30, for which the inclusion of solutions would have been desirable despite the necessary increase in page count.

After using the textbook for a semester, I have found very few factual errors in it; for example, the density of air is given as 2.8 g L^-1 instead of 1.293 g L^-1 (p 375). Even minor typographical errors, almost unavoidable in any first edition, are also scarce: anthoquinone for anthraquinone (p 321), Moisson in lieu of Moissan (p 351), or Hindenberg instead of Hindenburg (p 376). The display of a modern periodic table on one of the inside covers, featured in many (if not most) modern inorganic chemistry textbooks, would have been a plus. Nevertheless, Rayner-Canham's is, overall, one of the most readable inorganic chemistry textbooks I have ever seen and I enthusiastically recommend it, especially as an introductory book to the field.