Environmental Chemistry

There is no need in the 1970s to explain the writing of a book on "Environmen- tal Chemistry. " The despoliation of the environment by mans activities has long been clear to chemists. However, it has been the subject of public debate for a short time-since the late 1960s. Curiously, there has been little reaction in the textbook literature to reflect this concern. Apart from some brief and sketchy paperbacks for schools, there has not yet been published a substantial review of environmental chemistry. One reason for this is the breadth of the chemistry involved: it could scarcely be covered by one or two authors, for it is as wide as chemistry itself. The ideal way to write such a book would be to gather a couple of dozen authors in one place and keep them together for 6 months of discussions and writing. This not being very practical, it was decided to do the next best thing and to attempt to network a number of men together in mutual correspondence and interaction, which would lead to a book that had the advantages of the expertise of a large number of persons, and lacked many of the usual disadvan- tages of the multi author book. Thus, synopses of the various articles were sent to each author, and they were encouraged to interact with each other in attempting to avoid repetition and in keeping their symbols uniform and their presentation style coordinated.