THIS large book is a compilation of selected topics in flame emission, atomic absorption and atomic fluorescence spectroscopy. Each section has been written by a well-known expert in that field. Each chapter constitutes a well-defined subject which can be read individually. Psrticular attention has been paid to such subjects as sensitivity, precision and accuracy, optical design, electronic instrumentation and verious special applications such as agriculture and biology. The book concludes with a bibliography of approximately 2000 references to the subjects covered. Although the book will certainly serve as an excellent reference, it is unlikely to be used s,s a textbook, both because of the enormous price and because the coverage of subject matter is not balanced. This is particularly true in the case of geochemists because there is no section directed toward the analysis of rocks and natural waters by either flame photometry or atomic absorption. This statement should not be taken to be an indication that the book is not of interest to geochemists because it certainly is. A chapter on experimental design and problems has been written by C. T. J. Alkemade. This is an important chapter since it deals with the instrumental parameters which actually affect the analysis. A thorough understanding of such parameters is necessary to maximize such factors of sensitivity and precision and to minimize unexpected interferences. It is likely that the deterA very useful chapter on the analysis for non-metals is presented. mination of non-metals by flame spectroscopy will increase. The chapter on agricultural applications of flame photometry will be very useful to geochemists because it does consider in part the analysis of rocks and soils. However, this is offset by the lack of a comparative chapter on agricultural analysis by atomic absorption. The same lack is apparent in the applications to biology and medicine since there is only a chapter on the application of flame photometry. A chapter on atomic fluorescence spectrometry has been written by J. D. Winefordner. It is good to see in one book that atomic absorption and atomic fluorescence are both covered because for too long there has been disagreement as to the relative capability of the two. However, some instrumentation has now been developed so that the analyst can use either method depending on the analysis being done. The combination of these two methods in the same laboratory would be expected to increase in the future since atomic fluorescence spectrometry is a very complimentary tool to atomic absorption. The chapters on optical design and electronic instrumentation will be very useful for the analyst who is attempting to modify a commercial system or to build his own system for maximum analytical capability. The chapter on atomic absorption spectrometry has been written by J. B. Willis. It serves as an excellent introduction to the general characteristics of atomic absorption analysis and has Probably due to limitations on size a large section devoted to analysis of individual elements. of an already large book, the sections on each individual element are very brief, consequently they cannot be used as a primary reference, however each section is referenced to other published materials so that the analyist can continue in his literature search. In my opinion it would have been well for Willis to have expanded these individual element sections and contribute some points of his opinion based on his extensive experience. The bibliographic sections are extensive, however, they suffer from a number of typographical errors. More serious than this, although the book was published in 1970, apparently no references later than 1967 are used. In summary, the book will certainly serve as a reference and as an introduction into the literature prior to 1968. Most geochemists should have access to it. GALE K. New Mexico Institute Socomo, New Mexico