Customer Reviews

Chemistry for Changing Times, 10th Edition

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

There are two people that would be interested in this book - those that are enrolled in a liberal arts chemistry course, and those that are just interested in learning about chemistry. This book suits either type of person admirably.

While setting up a liberal arts course in chemistry (i.e., Chemistry for Non-science Majors), we previewed a number of possible texts. This one, in my mind, stood above all the others that I looked at. There are a number of reasons why:

1. The scope - this book covers a vast number of topics, from basic structure of the atom to environmental chemistry to toxins and drugs to combustion and energy. We are designing a survey course, and this spread is ideal. Other texts tended to focus too much, especially on environmental issues (e.g., the ACS's Chemistry in Context).

2. Descriptive, non-mathmatical. Since this course has no prerequisites, not even grade 10 math, we needed a book that minimised mathematics. Other books, such as Kelter/Carr/Scott's Chemistry: World of Choices, was too mathematical for this type of course.

3. The pictures - this book simply looks good.

Thus, if you're looking for a text for a liberal arts chemistry course, or if you just want to know more about chemistry and are not mathematically inclined, I would recommend this book.

Nicely written general chemistry book with many interesting details. Good ideas include self-assesment tests, example problems with solutions, critical thinking excercies after each chapter, summaries and collaborative group projects. Has some flaws however, and the major one is the fact that four last chapters are online only, and require a registration to access. Paying such a sum for a book, I would prefer to get it to hand in whole.

This book has great illustrations and appears to be very complete at first glance, but as you go through the book you will find many places where concepts are introduced but not really explained. This wouldn't be too much of an issue if this book were actually intended for liberal arts students, but it starts to get annoying when the book follows up the poor introduction of a concept with "self assessment" questions on things that were completely glossed over. To make matters worse, some teachers copy questions from the book.

I have found Khan Academy to be a fantastic supplement to this book, as the videos at Khan Academy follow the same sequence as this book and do a great job of filling in the blanks that the authors of this book seem to have left.

This isn't the worst chemistry book I've read, but it is far from the best.

I ordered my Chemistry book and it came in the condition I expected and even came earlier than I expected. Definitely recommend this seller.

Book was as described on site and you did a super job of getting it shipped in a very timely manner.

The book was received shortly after the order, and came in in great condition. There are no missing or torn pages, no spills, or other damage. I am impressed with the condition of the book given it was listed as used.

This book shipped within 2 days and reached me before I thought it would. The book was in new condition, was packaged well so it would arrive undamaged, and was exactly what I ordered. I couldn't be more pleased.

Very pleased with our transaction. We were cutting it short on ordering time and we received the book quicker than we anticipated. We ordered used and the book was in great shape. Would definitely recommend buying again.

Item was exactly as described. I think the 1st one that was sent got lost in the mail but she sent me another. Very nice to work with. Thanks.

As someone who has taken several chemistry courses in the past and has a great foundation of chemistry concepts, I find this book to be a terrible choice for chemistry 'beginners'. I am taking a course strictly for credits and luckily, I am able to supplement the lack of conceptual information in this book with my previous knowledge on the subject. However, I feel sorry for those in my class who have no chemistry experience...they are totally confused with this text! The text skims over concepts, without truly delving into the hows and whys. Students feel the need to simply memorize instead of learning by assimilating and building on concepts. The assessment questions throughout the chapter may help to further explain information presented, but often touch on information not clearly covered by the text at all. Also, some answers to review questions are incorrect, causing even more confusion than just the text itself! I wish I had my old chemistry book back!