Bunce's book is almost a general chemistry text with integrated environmental applications and examples. I use the word "almost" because even the author admits in the preface that bonding and other topics have been left out to accommodate the applied environmental topics. (A comprehensive supplemental chapter on atomic theory and bonding by Bunce is available from the publisher to adopters.) Actually, many basic chemistry topics are included, but some of them are not particularly complete. Polar molecules are not mentioned until page 248, in a chapter on water. Until then, compounds are either ionic and soluble or covalent and not. In an early discussion of acids he avoids mentioning the partial ionization of weak acids. In fact he avoids the use of the equilibrium arrow until page 127, in a discussion of equilibrium vapor pressure. Equilibrium is not defined, however, until Chapter 8 (page 187), in a discussion of gas-phase equilibria. complete solution equilibria discussions appear even later (Chapters 11 and 12).

There are a number of small errors which will, no doubt, be corrected upon revision. An osmotic pressure apparatus diagram has the higher level on the wrong side. Line-art figures in some chapters are not numbered and not referenced. Terms are sometimes used before they are defined, and no glossary is provided as a secondary reference. Hydrate and aggregate "dots" are rendered, idiosyncratically, as decimal points throughout. On the positive side, Bunce writes with a clear style, setting off definitions and rules from the text with globe icon markers. His environmental topics are well-selected and interesting, and the problems associated with them are challenging, although the discussion of the environmental chemistry of iron would have benefitted from the use of Pourbaix ("Eh-pH") diagrams. Chapters on topics not usually found in a general chemistry text are strategically placed through it, including Industrial Processes, Photochemical Smog and Ground Level Ozone, Stratospheric Ozone Depletion, and Metals and Mining. In addition there are unusually complete chapters on Water and Acid Rain. Illustrative exercises are set off from the body of the text with a gray shading, and the many chapter problems are grouped according to chapter section.

This text should appeal to those favoring an applied approach to teaching general chemistry at a level well beyond that of liberal arts "consumer chemistry" texts. It may have limited appeal to many potential adopters because of its "engineering flavor". This is unfortunate because an applied approach to chemistry was very well received by students in Australia, at the high school level. A text as this might be exactly what is needed to engage reluctant students.