Customer Reviews

Chemical Principles: The Quest for Insight

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

 

 

This is one of the more advanced general chem textbooks available. It has a review section at the beginning of the book for those who are not quite ready for college level chemistry. Unlike its two main competitors(Principles of Modern Chemistry by Oxtoby and Chemical Principles by Zumdahl), it introduces quantum chemistry (at very basic level) first. If you have hard time with this book, you might have to go down a level and find a text for regular science major general chemistry, for example, Brown/LeMay/Bursten or Moore/Stanitski/Jurs.

Book layout is overly confusing. Text is sometimes not as clear as can be and needs more practice examples (most apparent in sections like isomers and titrations). Yes like one person said before, UCLA does use this text to teach Life science majors, but there are better choices. There are numerous mistakes in the solution guides still, and Zumdahl's "Chemical Principles" is a much better read in my opinion. I actually used it to clear up points this text was muddy on. Your mileage may vary.

I used this book for my 1st semester Honors Chemistry class at Cornell University (CHEM 215). Even though Chem is not my favorite science subject (I'm an electrical engineer, so I prefer physics instead) I have to say the combination of book and professor (Benjamin Widom), makes me remember that class as my favorite one during my first semester at Cornell. I wouldn't listen too much to the negative reviewer (Who wrote this book?). The book is not bad at all; it is just focused towards students who are going to be majoring on Chemistry (Pre-Meds). But that doesn't make it "bad". I do recognize that there are some typos in this edition that our professor easily corrected (that's why I gave it a 4 and not a 5).

So what if UCLA uses this as their primary freshman text? UCSD (where I go), MIT, and other schools use it too, and every student I've met agrees that this book is sub-par. It isn't as clear as it can be, is bereft of example problems that apply to the homework, has at least a few mistakes per chapter in the solutions manual, spends way too much time deriving some (useless) things more applicable to physical chemisty, etc.

This is a very easy to understand Chemistry textbook that starts with the basics and goes up to very advanced topics. Anyone that is serious about learning chemistry should have this book. It has many diagrams, is easy to understand, and gives many different methods to think about the same thing.
I would definitely recommend this book to another person, and the only negative comment I have about this book is its large size and weight (although judging by how much information is in the book, its well worth the arm strain).

Admittedly an intro book, but it still does a nearly consistent job of proving the things it says. That said, if you just want to say get a 5 on AP Chem, this book will be frustratingly thorough and in depth. I loved it. Clear and detailed, highly recommend.

I enjoyed the short, point by point headings on what was to be learned. I also enjoyed the concepts you should know. I bought this to work in tandem with the textbook my chemistry class requires, just to make sure the material was basically the same. For less than 10 dollars, it was a great purchase, go for the older editions in situations such as these.

I bought this book for my son because his college used it as Freshman chemistry text book. We already have two text books. On is General Chemistry by James Brady. It is a very nice book. We bought it in the library used book sell. It is clear and simple. It is enough for high school chemistry class and AP chemistry test. I looked at the problem sets in the MIT chemistry class. I know it is more difficult than my son's high school chemistry class especially in atomic structure. So I brought the book for him to take a look. I read the book and saw that the book is much more comprehensive. But the explaination is clear and a lot of insight. This is a wonderful college book for people who has good background in high school chemistry and want to persuade a career in Science and engineering in college. But is not a good choice for high school students or the first chemistry book.

This is an overly complicated book appropriate for honors chemistry majors. Compared to other books in this category, it is not as easy to work with.

The biggest question has to be why Peter Atkins is even writing books in this category. He is a British physical chemist and everyone knows that British universities do not teach general chemistry. So, is this really a Loretta Jones book with Atkins name, because he is famous, or is Atkins crossing over?

I got this book as new but the cover was a little damage. However, the shipping and everything was on time. Definitely reccommend this seller