Google can find targeted content in articles, books, and other material. I use it every day to answer specific questions, and to find specific references and information. But answers to specific questions or information are not a substitute for education, which can lead to a decision about a topic or problem. An education produces background, theory, context, examples, and references. That’s what’s readily found in books, but less readily found by an internet search. Said another way, Google can’t keep us from making mistakes; a well-founded book by an experienced author can.

This column is a review of three books, available directly from CRC Press or Amazon, about which you should know.

HANDBOOK FOR CRITICAL CLEANING¹
This 2011 work is edited by Barbara and Edward Kanegsberg, who have decades of credible experience in industrial cleaning, particularly critical cleaning, and who also write a column for this magazine.

Of the many chapters I found of interest and value, these are just a few:

• A chapter on equipment design provides both fundamental education and specific guidance about design of rinsing for aqueous cleaning systems.
• An excellent chapter on “Cleaning Agent Chemistry” is replete with tables of useful basic data about components of aqueous cleaners, specific solvents, stabilizers, conditioners, etc.
• A unique chapter on scale-up of laboratory results to a plant design can easily save the price of the book in avoiding mistakes.
• A valuable chapter, written without deference to political correctness, about how to select options of cleaning products which minimize environmental impact.
• An informative chapter introducing U.S. readers to the applicable details of the internationally-founded REACH program for management of chemicals and their hazards.