I wrote a textbook! You can see it on Amazon UK here.

What’s the book about?

The book is about assigning NMR spectra of main group molecules. This is commonly a topic in the second or third year of UK undergraduate Chemistry degrees, depending on the degree’s structure. It’s something I’ve been teaching for a while, and I’ve thought carefully about how best to support student learning. 

I was really bad at this topic as an undergraduate. It’s the book I wish I’d had.

What’s the pedagogy?

In the ‘programmed’ style of Warren’s Chemistry of the Carbonyl Group and Vincent’s Molecular Symmetry and Group Theory the writing presents a careful sequence of just-in-time teaching coupled with structured problems for the reader to work through. The ‘programmed’ approach is intended to reduce cognitive load upon the learner while scaffolding deliberate practice of assigning increasingly complex spectra.

That sounds interesting. Can I see an excerpt?

You sure can! Here’s one of the 90 pages.

How could I use this in my teaching?

I’ll personally use it as a way of flipping content: if students learn about (say) quadrupolar splitting by themselves, I can use contact time to get students doing assessment-aligned activities (e.g. past paper questions) so they get in-session feedback from me. You should do whatever your heart (and – to be boringly clear – copyright law) tells you.

£5 is cheap, isn’t it?

It is, coming in at under a third of the new-copy price of the nearest price-point competitor (Iggo’s excellent OUP primer).

I know that textbook costs in the UK are Bad for my students; in the USA they seem to be outright horrific. Pricing this book low is a small political act. It’s not completely altruistic: I also hope the low price can increase the impact of my teaching.

Self-publishing, though?

Mmmm. I’m a bit scared of how it’ll go, to be honest. Excited, but scared. Some friendly people have kindly given feedback on drafts (I am so very grateful to them), but there is always risk in innovating. I think it will help students, which is my main concern. But I’m also quite… proud of it? I feel I’ve done good work, which is quite a rare sensation for me. 

Print-on-demand self-publishing also allows me to do things a traditional print run doesn’t. Changes can be made without pulping thousands of copies, and reader suggestions can be incorporated relatively easily. I have complete editorial freedom, as well as control over the pricing (so long as Amazon’s costs are covered – weirdly the pricing options won’t let me run Amazon into the ground with my blockbusting niche-topic Chemistry textbook).

Well, this all sounds excellent. Where can I buy it again?

Right here (Amazon UK - other regions available). Let me know if you like it, or if you can see ways of making it even better.