This book is a translation of the German edition published in 1990. Compared with the original, the new format is larger, leading to spectra which can be interpreted more easily.The text seems to be unchanged, but it is now nicely set compared with the
German word processor version. Thus the already well produced German version has considerably gained under the new English cover. In the first chapter (12 pp.), the reader
is given a short summary of the basic principles of NMR, where the aim of the chapter is not the physics of NMR but the question, 'What can I read from the spectra?. The second chapter (56 pp.) gives practical and detailed advice on how to extract structural information using various NMR techniques. The chemical shift ranges for 1H, 13C and 15N, and H,H, C,H and N,H-spin-spin coupling constants are discussed in considerable detail. Studies with chiral shift reagents, titration experiments and dynamic NMR investigations are described. a-Pinene is the test molecule, for which the usefulness of modern NMR methods such as DEPT, J-resolved 2D spectra, H,H and H,C-
COSY and NOE difference spectra is shown. This chapter is well done and gives the graduate student a direct entry into structural elucidation. In chapter 3 (100 pp.), 50 problems are given starting from relatively easy assignment tasks and ending with fairly demanding structural questions from natural product chemistry. The problems include many examples with 2D INADEQUATE spectra and also H,C correlations and COLOC spectra. Unfortunately, no examples of the currently more often used HMQC and HMBC techniques are shown. The final chapter (82 pp.) discusses in detail the solutions to the problems in chapter 3, explains the chemical background and gives hints and strategies as to how a particular problem should have been solved by the reader. This chapter makes the book very worthwhile, both for individual study and as a textbook usable in a problem-oriented seminar. Thus, overall, I consider this text to be a very good bargain for graduate students in organic chemistry.