CHEMISTRY IMAGINED: Reflections on Science

by Roald Hoffmann
Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993

Reviewed by Dr. Jose Elguero

The book, CHEMISTRY IMAGINED: Reflections on Science, by Roald Hoffmann, deserves a referee as good in chemistry as Prof. Hoffmann, and as expert in art as Mrs. Torrence. That is not, by far, my case. And I doubt that there are many people with those attributes. I am an organic chemist with some sensitivity to beauty. And people like these are many. As a chemist I am used to plain statements: "I have enjoyed enormously the book" and I am sure it will be the same for many chemists and non-chemists. Chemistry is like a language and at the beginning of CHEMISTRY IMAGINED: Reflections on Science there is a short Chemistry/English dictionary. People don't need to be afraid of jargon and technicalities since Prof. Hoffmann has avoided these traps without losing an apex of rigor. The book can be read in the order in which it was written, as I myself have done, going forwards and backwards; but it is also worthwhile to read it following Torrences collages or one's own curiosity. For myself, I found two chapters, The Chemist and The Grail, particularly rewarding. Torrences collages are like puzzles: you need some effort to get all the information they hide. At first they are only pleasant, then, you discover more and more things as well as that they are finely attuned to Prof. Hoffmann's text. The comments by Lea Rosson Delong, at the end of the book, provide some clues. Try with a simple one like "A Hands-on Approach" on page 97 and "Pasteur Life and Discoveries".