At a time when there are many specialist reviews, monographs and reports available, there is still an important place for a book such as ``Rodd'' which gives a broader coverage of organic chemistry. One aspect of the value of this work is that it allows an expert in one field to find out quickly what is happening in other fields of chemistry. On the other hand, a chemist looking for the way into a field of study will find within Rodd an outline of the important aspects of that area of chemistry, together with leading references to other works to provide more detailed information.