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We have been gratified by the warm reception of our book, by reviewers, colleagues, and students alike. Our interest in the subject matter of this book has not decreased since its first appearance; on the contrary. The first and second editions envelop eight other symmetry-related books in the creation of which we have participated: I. Hargittai (ed.), Symmetry: Unifying Human Understanding, Pergamon Press, New York, 1986. I. Hargittai and B. K. Vainshtein (eds.), Crystal Symmetries. Shubnikov Centennial Papers, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1988. M. Hargittai and I. Hargittai, Fedezziikf6l a szimmetri6t! (Discover Sym- try, in Hungarian), Tank6nyvkiad6, Budapest, 1989. I. Hargittai (ed.), Symmetry 2: Unifying Human Understanding, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1989. I. Hargittai (ed.), Quasicrystals, Networks, and Molecules of Fivefold Sym- try, VCH, New York, 1990. I. Hargittai (ed.), Fivefold Symmetry, World Scientific, Singapore, 1992. I. Hargittai and C. A. Pickover (eds.), Spiral Symmetry, World Scientific, Singapore, 1992. I. Hargittai and M. Hargittai, Symmetry: A Unifying Concept, Shelter Publi- tions, Bolinas, California, 1994. We have also pursued our molecular structure research, and some books have appeared related to these activities: vi Preface to the Second Edition I. Hargittai and M. Hargittai (eds.), Stereochemical Applications of Gas-Phase Electron Diffraction, Parts A and B, VCH, New York, 1988. R. Gillespie and I. Hargittai, VSEPR Model of Molecular Geometry, Allyn and Bacon, Boston, 1991. A. Domenicano and I. Hargittai (eds.), Accurate Molecular Structures, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1992.

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CHOICE Review

This book (1st ed., 1987) is a veritable Baedeker, both metaphorically and in actuality, of symmetry. The authors include examples of symmetry of human invention and natural origin found in travels throughout the world, and in literature both ancient and modern. This is coupled with a comprehensive treatment of the uses of symmetry in modern chemistry. The book's strengths include the many photographs of objects with distinctive symmetry, the nonmathematical presentation of point group symmetry and its applications to inorganic chemistry and organic reaction mechanisms, and the extensive chapter bibliographies. At the same time, the photographs are detrimental when their numbers approach tedium and threaten to obscure the point at hand. Additionally, the sections on space group and crystal symmetries do not approach the same level of clarity found in the rest of the book. The authors convey a genuine excitement for the many areas where nature displays symmetry, which at times seems to impress an air of mysticism onto the subject. It is not clear if all chemists see symmetry with the same eyes as do the Hargittais, but their view is fascinating and their journey well taken. Upper-division undergraduate through professional. M. D. Marshall; Amherst College