ABCs of FT–NMR is a basic book on NMR written by Professor J. D. Roberts, one of the pioneers in NMR spectroscopy. As described in the preface, this book has been used for several years in an NMR course taught at the California Institute of Technology. It has undergone numerous revisions, with the goal of providing a clear and concise description of FT-NMR without relying too heavily on mathematical equations. This book is structured as a textbook with end-of-chapter exercises and numerous references to the literature. Topics include basic NMR theory, the NMR Fourier transform, relaxation and the nuclear Overhauser effect, one- and two-dimensional NMR spectra, spin–spin splitting, chemical shifts, and measurements of rates by NMR. Advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students will benefit the most from this book.

The book begins with a qualitative summary of the NMR experiment and Fourier transforms. Noteworthy from the very beginning is Roberts' informal writing style and his ability to describe NMR topics such as spin–lattice and spin–spin relaxation in a manner that maximizes concepts and minimizes mathematics. The introductory chapter on Fourier transforms is brief and to the point.

The Bloch equations, discussed in chapter 4, are derived without introducing the vector cross product. Relaxation due to precession of the magnetization about the axis parallel to the magnetic field, B_o, and a second oscillating field, B₁, is described. As is typical in many introductory NMR books, a vector representation of the magnetization is used to illustrate the relaxation process.

In chapter 5, important acquisition parameters are discussed that are relevant to obtaining good spectra. Somewhat confusingly, the term sampling period is used to describe two different quantities (pp 82–83). At one point, it represents the change in time that is found in the formula for the Nyquist frequency, and later, it is also identified as the acquisition time. More commonly, the time in the Nyquist frequency is referred to as the dwell time, and the acquisition time is the dwell time multiplied by the number of data points taken over the acquisition time. Quadrature detection is presented with a block diagram illustrating the two-detector scheme for quadrature detection. A figure showing a collection of FIDs representing two resonances illustrates how quadrature detection results in different FIDs depending on the signs of the frequencies. This is an excellent way of showing the effects of quadrature detection without delving into detailed mathematics.

In chapter 6, there is a description of relaxation and the nuclear Overhauser effect. Rather than deriving the results of the contributions of different mechanisms to relaxation using equations, Roberts gives descriptions of the mechanisms by focusing on the effect each mechanism has on the quantum energy levels, and then showing that the quantum levels now produce the expected results.

In chapter 7, one-dimensional NMR spectroscopy is dealt with. In a very breezy style, Roberts focuses on the INEPT experiment, which is a way to enhance the signal strength of insensitive nuclei when coupled to a more sensitive nucleus such as proton. Again, equations are kept to a minimum and the pulse sequence is justified by looking at the populations of the energy levels and the vector diagram of the magnetizations in the rotating frame. Multiple quantum coherences are briefly mentioned.

Because of the focus on concepts rather than equations, two-dimensional NMR is treated in a very elementary fashion. A description of J-modulated 2D spectra is presented in detail in order to give the reader a flavor of 2D spectra. Unfortunately, many of the now common 2D methods such as COSY and NOESY are presented too superficially; very little is learned about these important methods. Other books are likely to be much better sources for a discussion of 2D NMR.

The last three chapters on spin–spin splitting, chemical shifts, and kinetics measurements by NMR rely more heavily on mathematics, in contrast to the rest of the book. Despite numerous revisions, there are still a few typographical errors present in the kinetics chapter that are disruptive to this reader's concentration.

One aspect of the book that is apparent at the outset is that it includes dated references and topics. There are references to items such as the Amiga computer, BASIC programming code, and programming code for numerical integration. Although these topics provide a historical background to modern FT-NMR data analysis, the audience of this book will likely not be well versed in BASIC programming or programming in general. Furthermore, software programs such as Mathematica™ and Maple™ have in many cases supplanted writing programming code to do mathematical operations such as numerical integration. Although there is a good discussion on continuous wave NMR, which is not readily available in other modern books on NMR, there are few students who will actually perform continuous wave experiments. Indeed, even Roberts describes kinetic analyses by comparing experimental and calculated line shapes as "ancient history," yet several pages are devoted to this method.

In summary, there are several good books on NMR that I have read and used in preparing lectures on NMR, and in comparison to these books, this would not be the first book that I would take from my bookshelf to learn NMR. It is an elementary book that does have explanations that may help clarify some topics. For that reason, it may be useful to have in a chemistry library collection. I could envision an NMR course based on this book, but not without using other books to supplement the course. To this end, this book has a very useful appendix that describes several excellent NMR books and journals.