Quantitative spectroscopy: theory and practice
Brian Smith
San Diego: Academic Press 2004 | Pp 200 | ?49.95 | ISBN 0126503583
Reviewed by Jason Day
This book is aimed at anyone using spectroscopic absorbance measurements (UV-Vis, IR, near-IR) to determine concentrations in unknown samples.
The central idea of the book is to encourage readers without a spectroscopic background to consider the critical aspects of calibrations in order to achieve high quality analysis results. To achieve this, the author successfully strikes a careful balance between the theoretical and the practical aspects of the subject. The book is not written from a purely academic perspective; instead the author, who works in industry and is responsible for training employees, writes from the point of view of a practitioner.
The writing starts at an introductory level in the hope that the book will be helpful to those without any spectroscopic background. Examples of this are the simply worded ’Fundamentals’ section and an easy to follow derivation of Beer’s law. In fact, the author points out that an ever increasing number of spectroscopic calibrations are used by people without mathematics degrees, and this book addresses a need in those situations by covering linear regression, multicomponent systems and chemometrics.
Perhaps the most attractive feature of this book is its thoroughness, without being overbearingly long. It contains everything needed for a fundamental understanding of quantitative spectroscopy in a nice 200-page book with a clear index and glossary.
Most graduate level classes in spectroscopy would find this a valuable resource, perhaps as a supplement to more general text books, or it should even be suitable as a course text book on its own.
The layout is clear with elegant black and white printing and simple, concise figures that include tables, absorbance spectra, and diagrams.
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