This book presents a very thorough overview of the literature on the chemistry of combustion. Chapter 4 alone contains 848 references. The approach followed is an historical-systematic one. Thus there are extensive discussions of published reaction schemes, followed by an equally thorough description of the subsequent critique of those schemes. Chapter 1 reviews the literature through the mid-1950s, leaving the later publications to the bulk of the book. Chapter 2, "Analytical-phenomenological studies of overall hydrocarbon combustion," deals essentially only with lowtemperature combustion (T < l l00K) and the complex product chemistry of cool flames. The author appears to justify this by pointing out that the similarities and connections with high-temperature combustion tend in general to be overlooked, however he does not show such relations. Chapter 3 gives brief reviews of the experimental methods used to obtain information on elementary hydrocarbon combustion reactions, with some examples of results. Chapters 4 and 5 discuss production, measurement, and elementary reactions of OH, HO2, O, H, and carbon-containing radicals, respectively. These chapters contain both thermochemical tables and extensive rate-coefficient information in the form of tables and Arrhenius-type plots. Much of the published data on selected reactions are represented, but one misses the type of critique and recommendations of other reviews, such as the Leeds tables and several chapters in W.
C. Gardiner Jr. (Ed) Combustion Chemistry.
Chapter 6, "Pyrolytic reactions of hydrocarbons," also has an extensive discussion of coke and carbon formation as well as the mechanisms of soot formation not involving pyrolysis. The short Chapter 7, "Prediction of the behaviour of combustion systems: Modelling," might well be read first, as only here is a glimpse of the field provided for guidance.