The book is organized into six 'Parts': theoretical concepts and hydrogen; the s-block; the p-block; the d-block; the f-block; and other topics (the nucleus and spectra). To make sections easy to find, the text ids divided into a large number of chapters and includes a comprehensive index, a detailed table of contents and around 600 references classified according to complexity.

An important aspect of this book is its concentration on the commercial exploitation of inorganic chemicals, something noticeably missing among other texts at this level. In this new edition that strength has been built on and much of the coverage in this area has been extended and brought up to date. Interest in environmental chemistry has continued to escalate since the last edition and this is reflected in increased coverage of the inorganic aspects of the subject. Every chapter in the book has been revised and updated and it now follows the IUPAC recommendation that the main groups and the transition metals be numbered from 1 to 18.

The guiding principle of the numerous changes to this new volume has been to ensure that treatment of material is always simple, straightforward and relevant. The result is a book which can be used with confidence by those who require a thorough grounding in inorganic chemistry and its importance to the modern world.