Academic: San Diego, 2000. 462 pp. ISBN 0-12-742356-7. $99.95.

If you wish to use capillary electrophoresis as a separation technique but have never done so, the first thing you should do is read a textbook summary of the technique. The second thing you should do is obtain a copy of Practical Capillary Electrophoresis by Robert Weinberger. Filled with references to successful CE designs, this book is a necessary addition to the bookshelves of both experienced and novice practitioners of capillary electrophoresis.

In Practical Capillary Electrophoresis Weinberger opens with an overview of how capillary electrophoresis (CE) is unique, a history of technique development, and a list of commercially available instruments. In the second chapter, he reviews the basic concepts that one must understand to design and understand a CE experiment. Although rich in useful particulars, this early chapter is but a harbinger of the information to follow.

With "Methods Development" in the title, the third chapter lives up to its promise. Included in this chapter are tables of buffer recipes (with references) for each of six categories of possible applications of CE. The text includes easy-to-follow descriptions of the considerations necessary for choosing the best buffer for a variety of applications.

Chapters 4 through 7 cover specific modifications of "pure" CE, and each chapter presents both the theory of the modification and special considerations in experimental design. Once again, the chapters are full of exactly the kind of information one needs when designing a new procedure. The topics of these chapters include micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MECC), isoelectric focusing, size separations in capillary gels, and capillary electrochromatography.

Chapter 8 focuses on injection techniques, and Chapter 9 describes detection techniques. The 10th and final chapter presents guidelines for selecting the most appropriate CE mode, reviews requirements for robust separations, and summarizes the variety of considerations that arise in experimental design.

Having not read the first edition, I cannot comment on the changes beyond summarizing the author's analysis. In the preface, Weinberger identifies the differences between this and the first edition as the organization and presentation of Chapters 3 through 10 and the removal of a special topics chapter. That this edition has been updated is apparent from the number of references dated 1999.

Parts of the text are unnecessarily confusing. The confusion arises because the author assumes the reader knows some aspect of CE in detail, although the detail is not presented until a later chapter. The "Master Symbol List" in the early pages is complete for individuals who are fluent in the language of CE, but not necessarily for folks new to the field. When faced with a new abbreviation, I found it necessary to check for its presence in the master list; if the abbreviation wasn't there, I added it. For example, every CE practitioner knows that BGE stands for "background electrolyte". Although the abbreviation was clearly defined in Chapter 1, I had forgotten it by the time I got to Chapter 3. Nevertheless, the wealth of detailed information, the abundance of useful references, and the well-organized tables outweigh the few editorial problems I found.