Additional Reading and Resources

This book is intended to provide only an introduction to the vast field of high resolution NMR, and many aspects are treated only superficially. To facilitate further study, we provide at the end of each chapter a few suggestions for additional reading—occasionally to original literature, but primarily to some of the many good books in the field and to databases where useful NMR information may be obtained. 

The Encyclopedia of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance1 is the most comprehensive work in the field, with hundreds of authoritative articles on specialized topics. Most of the material is at a rather advanced level, but many articles can be understood with the background provided in this book. Each article in the Encyclopedia provides many references to original literature. We shall refer to a number of specific articles in later chapters. 

Two other much shorter books, which give excellent definitions and summaries of a wide range of NMR topics are A Dictionary of Concepts in NMR by S. W. Homans 8 and A Handbook of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance by Ray Freeman.19 

The history of NMR, summarized very briefly in Section 1.1, is covered most comprehensively in the Encyclopedia of NMR, the first volume of which contains a long overview article and 200 primarily autobiographical articles by leaders in the field from its inception to recent years. Shorter articles on specific historical topics are given in volume 28 of Progress in NMR Spectroscopy. 

In this chapter we discuss the basic physics underlying NMR. A few fundamental concepts in both classical and quantum mechanics are assumed. Standard texts in these areas should be consulted if additional background is needed. 

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