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Want a quick definition of “nanotechnology”? Curious about what researchers
mean when they speak of “self-assembly”? And just how does a “nanotube” relate
to a buckyball? Sadly, none of those three words—hot off the presses of
cutting-edge chemistry—appear in The Cassell Dictionary of Chemistry by
Gillian Waites and Percy Harrison. The book does have its pluses: concise
definitions of standard chemical terms such as reaction types, spectroscopic
methods and important compounds. But there’s no attempt to name chemistry’s key
figures, nor does it offer much help with acronyms. £16.99, ISBN
0304250389.