Molecular Modeling from Virtual Tools to Real Problems . Edited by Thomas F. Kumosinski and Michael N. Liebman. ACS Symposium Series 576, American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1994, 516 pp, ISBN 0-8412-3042-0

Computational chemistry can be performed on a PC. With such an ambitious title, this book promises more than it delivers. The author sent this reviewer corrections in the mail. Some of the exercises had been published before, in American Laboratory , as mentioned in the foreword to the book. The first chapter concerns physical chemistry calculations and exercises. The answers to the exercises were most helpful in understanding the role of the PC in computing desired output values from estimated input values. Manual submission of new estimated values for several iterations of calculations was recommended by the author so that the correct value could be approached. Later exercises followed the same pattern. How to translate equations into computer language was not part of the text. The resulting example equations appeared in the accompanying calculation source code files and on disk. The author continued to use examples from physical chemistry in later chapters and did not branch out into areas involving chemical formulas, molecular weights, chemical composition, chemical structure, graph theory, molecular modeling, or quantum mechanics, all of which can be performed on a PC. Charles E. Gragg Inter Nuts & Bolts, Inc.