Undaunted by the challenge of tracing such a lengthy history, de Laeter takes the reader on a journey through nearly nine decades of research and development in the field. This trip includes forays into instrumentation and meanderings through applications. The majority of the discussion relates to the era of modern mass spectrometry, which began with A. O. Nier's introduction of the 60° sector field instrument in 1947. However, de Laeter aptly makes the connection between the modern era and the early history without minimizing the significance of either.

Part I of the book comprises 102 pages describing instrumentation and techniques relevant to the applications described in Part II. Separate chapters devoted to sector field (magnetic and electric), secondary ion, accelerator, and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) mass spectrometric techniques describe inlet systems, ionization methods, mass analyzers, and detectors relevant to the respective instruments. Descriptions of spark source, glow discharge, and resonance ionization techniques get lumped into a catch-all "other" chapter along with Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance. This approach allows de Laeter to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of instrument systems and to illustrate clearly the relationship between technological advances and scientific discovery. Readers previously unfamiliar with these topics gain important knowledge, while those already familiar gain appreciation for the numerous difficulties overcome by pioneers to make significant advances in the field. The author's respect and admiration for the contributions of A. O. Nier shine especially brightly throughout.

Justification of the book's title emerges in Part II, which illustrates relevant applications in the inorganic realm. The topics of metrology, reference materials, and cosmochemistry each receive separate chapters as do nuclear, environmental, material, planetary, and geosciences. Brief discussions of biomedical, biological, forensic science, archaeometry, and meteorology and oceanography applications find their way into another catchall "other" chapter. The role of mass spectrometry in establishing accurate atomic masses and reliable isotopic distributions of the elements receives proper attention, and de Laeter shrewdly demonstrates the impact of these measurements on the values of Avogadro's number, the Faraday constant, and the universal gas constant. Likewise, he cleverly exposes the hidden impact of mass spectrometry on international commerce, which requires accurate and precise analyses of raw materials and products to ensure equitable economic exchange. Similarly intriguing tales of the role of mass spectrometry in establishing the age of the universe and of the Shroud of Turin, developing the atomic bomb, and monitoring global climate change emerge throughout this section.

The majority of the discussion in Part II relates to applications of chronochemistry, which is the science related to age dating materials. Because radioactive elements undergo well-defined decay to more stable species, mass spectrometric analysis of the abundances of relevant isotopes helps to determine the age of material containing the elements of interest. Several decay systems receive mention, including U/Th–Pb, Rb–Sr, and K–Ar among others. de Laeter highlights the application of this general approach for the study of corals, minerals, ores, meteors, comets, and many, many more. Given the amount of attention devoted to this area, one gets the unmistakable impression that the author relishes a career spent in this field and delights in sharing his fondest reflections with others.

Discussions of the techniques and applications given full chapters in the text seemed generally thorough. Unfortunately, the brief descriptions of topics relegated to the book's two "other" chapters fail to provide adequate coverage; the use of such catchall headings should be avoided. The lack of mention of more modern topics proves even more disappointing. The exclusion of a discussion of fullerenes, which represent an area of intense research interest, represents a particularly egregious omission. Including this topic opens the opportunity to mention the ionization techniques of field desorption, electrospray ionization, and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization, the latter two being especially prominent in many modern mass spectrometers. In addition to these changes, this text could be further "modernized" by dropping the archaic designation m/q for the favored term m/z to represent mass-to-charge ratio.

With his book, Applications of Inorganic Mass Spectrometry, John R. de Laeter provides a reliable vehicle for a fascinating journey through nearly nine decades of progress in the field of inorganic mass spectrometry. Together with the remaining entries in the Wiley-Interscience series on mass spectrometry, an impressive record of the topic emerges.