Chemical Thermodynamics is not a textbook, but a collection of 27 essays on topics within the field of thermodynamics written by 45 authors from the international chemical thermodynamics community. These topics were chosen to demonstrate the importance of chemical thermodynamics in current areas of scientific research and industrial processes of great economic impact, and in providing basic scientific knowledge in terms of decision making on future problems such as population growth, environmental pollution, and environmental change.

The topics chosen include separation technology, colloids and microemulsions, electrolytes, adsorption phenomena, nuclear applications, theoretical and quantum chemistry, polymer science, microgravity, amorphous materials and glasses, enzyme-catalyzed reactions, biological applications, medicine, food science, and petroleum chemistry. The general format of each of the 27 chapters consists of an introduction to the topic followed by a general development of the thermodynamic method employed, some applications or perspectives, and a short list of references. Classical topics such as the measurement of bond enthalpies and other thermochemical properties are not included. The individual chapters, with a few exceptions, are concise and to the point and appear to have been extensively edited to provide a common writing style. An undergraduate student with a good course in chemical thermodynamics should have little difficulty in reading most of the text.

Initially, when surveying the various chapters, I was excited to read about the many applications of chemical thermodynamics to the above listed areas. I enjoyed, in particular, learning about topics that might not normally be associated with chemical thermodynamics, such as environmental pollution, relative stabilities of hyperthermophilic enzymes, protein folding, and calorimetry on living organisms. However, upon more thorough examination, it seems that the monograph, while excellent in scientific content, serves more as a justification for the field of chemical thermodynamics and a compilation of thermodynamic applications in the 20th century than as a discussion of exciting new applications in emerging technologies and the solving of societal problems in the 21st century. My other main criticism is that although the monograph could possibly be used in a student seminar or readings course format, the lists of references at the end of the chapters are not extensive and seem to be dated. For student use, there should be four or five key references, designated as such, to provide an entry into the literature. On a more whimsical note, anyone teaching undergraduate physical chemistry might wish to have a copy of the book readily available so that when students ask "why do I have to take chemical thermodynamics, or what good is chemical thermodynamics anyway?", 27 reasons can be given.