O'Neill has written an environmental handbook of the elements with chemical principles integrated into the topics, which, he states, is appropriate for first-year British college students. His presumed competence in virtually all aspects of chemistry will challenge most U.S. students at this level despite the informative asides. O'Neill uses cycle diagrams for elements and their compounds in nearly every chapter, which clearly summarize their chemical relationships with the environment. He includes a 10-page glossarygenerous in such a small bookand an appendix on chemical bond formation that is a model of brevity and conciseness.

The body of the book is divided into four parts: The Oxygen Rich Planet, Major Elements Found in Living Matter, Major Elements in the Earth's Crust, and Minor Elements and Environmental Problems. Within these sections O'Neill includes discussions of atmospheric chemistry, biochemistry, electrochemistry, electromagnetic radiation, geochemistry, geology, mineralogy, nuclear chemistry, and toxicology. Environmental concerns addressed include expected topics like the greenhouse effect and ozone depletion and unexpected topics like the effect of hard water on heart disease and aluminum uptake by Alzheimer's patients. His discussion of iron solution chemistry includes several Pourbaix ("Eh-pH") diagrams rarely seen in elementary texts but excellent for summarizing a profusion of data succinctly. On the down side, there are no problems or exercises, few source references, and no use of photos or color.

This book will probably find the greatest use in the U.S. as the text for a one-semester, special topics course in environmental chemistry at the sophomore or junior level. For such a course it is pretty much perfect. With access to its built-in reference materials, students will have to leave the text only for instructor-supplied problem sets.