BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – For Illinois Wesleyan University’s James E. House, writing textbooks is more than sharing information, it is the chance to teach students across the nation and around the world. “Last year, I taught at several universities, and the students have never heard my voice,” said House, speaking of chemistry textbooks. His latest book, Inorganic Chemistry (Academic Press), was published in August and is slated to be used by universities in the spring.
Inorganic Chemistry is House’s fourth textbook in seven years. A second edition of his Principles of Chemical Kinetics (Academic Press) came out last summer, another second edition, Fundamentals of Quantum Mechanics (Academic Press), was published in 2005, and Descriptive Inorganic Chemistry (Brooks Cole) was released in 2001. “People ask me why I am writing these books and I tell them that I guess it’s because I can,” said House, who has been teaching chemistry for more than 40 years, and joined the Illinois Wesleyan Chemistry Department as an adjunct faculty member in 1997. “I’ve seen a lot of textbooks through my years, and I thought maybe it was time to give my views on some topics.”