At $40, the text is affordable for most dedicated graduate students, though a cheaper paperback edition would also be welcome. Any research group in this field ought to have a copy as well. Any group leader or graduate student in this field should be familiar with the entire contents of the text. The book provides an excellent summary of what one ought to know as a practicing carbonyl chemist.

There are ten chapters, which can be read sequentially or dipped into as needed for particular information. There is nice overlap between the chapters so that a novice can really learn by studying the same molecules from many different angles. Chapter 1 is a concise introduction and definition of the book's scope. Chapter 2 introduces electron counting for transition metal clusters by introducing the 18-electron concept and metal-metal bonding. No knowledge is assumed beyond the octet rule and basic valence counting. Wade's rules and PSEPT are introduced and the most common polyhedra are clearly described. Throughout the text, most of the clusters described have 4-6 metal centers, though larger species are mentioned occasionally. Chapter 3 builds on the structure descriptions begun in Chapter 2 and all are clearly drawn in ball-and-stick representations or ChemDraw-esque pictures.

Chapter 4 introduces a basic set of the most common ligands in cluster chemistry and clarifies how they fit into the electron counting schemes and structures already described. Chapter 5 is a brief introduction to characterization of transition-metal carbonyl clusters. The types of information provided by each technique are described, but no theoretical background for spectroscopy is given or much in the way of sample preparation.

Chapters 6, 7, and 8 cover a great deal of reactivity from the synthesis, reactivity, and reactions with organic ligands points of view, respectively. Reading this material will be of immense benefit to the new researcher in this area. The types of reactions most commonly encountered become obvious and the valuable industrial reactions described in Chapter 10 are nicely foreshadowed. In these chapters, however, the absence of literature references is most frustrating for the reader who would like to know more about a particular transformation.

Chapter 9 describes heteronuclear clusters by contrasting them with the homonuclear species already covered. It explains the increased difficulty of synthesizing such complexes, while making their inherent interest and potential reactivity clear. Chapter 10 covers a few of the most famous catalytic reactions in carbonyl cluster chemistry and explains the ideas behind clusters as models for surface reactivity. This connection is foreshadowed earlier in the text, and nicely filled out here.

The style is lucid and easy to follow, if occasionally terse. The segues between chapters are abrupt; the end of each chapter would benefit from a summary of the chief points. Throughout the text are gray boxes about one page in length that contain short diversions from the main narrative. I found these welcome additions that inspired my curiosity and led me to more creative thinking than other sections of the text.

A cluster formula index is a very welcome addition to the book. The biggest deficiency is the lack of references to the primary literature. Because the text is aimed at a relatively young chemist, there will be a natural desire to learn more about the molecules described. The text does a good job of making the reader aware of the challenges of cluster chemistry and the difficulty of rational syntheses. In such a discipline, learning from the literature is essential, and in the absence of leading references, extra detective work will be required to follow up. Overall, this book will be a welcome find for any beginning researcher in transition-metal cluster chemistry.