Customer Reviews

Basic Concepts of Chemistry, 5th Edition

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is the perfect companion for those studying Chemistry at a beginner level (high school, and to a lesser extent first-year College study.) Its detailed explaination of ideas and concepts coupled with the lively and colorful diagrams all provides excellent back-up notes for one's course of study. Take it to class and have it ready to go when you study. Malone writes in a friendly and non-formal style, but still gives very good and up-to-date deatils of current chemistry techniques. The tag questions on each page will make you think about each chapter's contents and will reinforce the content of the book. Like chemistry, the ideas in this book are universal and will benefit your study no matter where in the world you are.

CONS:
If your planning on taking college level chemistry, don't waste your time with this text. It's overly simplistic and is not able to explain many of the regular concepts that are required for completing a college chem. course. Although the simplicity appears appealing to the beginner level, the text will leave you hanging with numerous unanswered questions.
PROS:
The book is a "ok" "review" unless your in high school and still you'll need more then it offers. The math examples and color are probably it's best features. ...

This book does an extremely poor job of explaining basic concepts. The explanations lack even more clarity because of the absurd amount of typos that occur throughout (the study guide contains several typos per chapter...and we're not talking grammar, we're talking wrong answers/formulas). I actually bought a second textbook for my chemistry course and found it more helpful than this one (and the course was taught from this text). Someone needs to A.) PROOFREAD THE TEXT AND STUDY GUIDE, and B.) DEVELOP REAL, LUCID EXPLANATIONS, not relate molar mass to apples and oranges. For anyone who is interested the second book I purchased was the one published by McGraw-Hill(and no I do not work for them).

Chemistry contains A LOT of math, at least my professor requires it.

I am taking a college Chemistry course to satisfy my degree requirement in the nursing field. I am an adult student whom has always struggled with math. I have searched high and low for a book to show the right set ups for the math problems that must be dealt with in order to succeed in this subject. I finally found it, Basic Concepts of Chemistry.

At the beginning of the book, it shows how to set up conversions. It does a beautiful job of showing mole to mole conversion in later chapters. It also shows you the geometry that you need when you encounter the valance shell electron pair repulsion theory (VESPR) in an easy to understand format.

This book may contain typos and errors but it delivers the good by explaining what you need to know. If you can overlook them, you've got yourself a winner.

Yes, this book is not college level, but it is a fast read, and explains concepts clearly. The book seems to help "prepare" you, or get you ready for the math that you will face in Chemistry without it seeming overwhelming to the student. I only wish I had this book at the beginning of the semester, instead of towards the last, when I really needed it.

For comparisons, I do like it better than The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chemistry, 2nd Edition (Complete Idiot's Guide to) and Chemistry for Dummies. The book that my class requires is Introduction to General, Organic and Biochemistry (with CD-ROM and ThomsonNOW Printed Access Card). It does an okay job but out of all of them, Basic Concepts of Chemistry is the best.