Customer Reviews

Chemistry for Environmental Engineering

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

 

 

If you want to know it all about chemistry, this is the book for you. Covers general, physical, equilibrium, organic, bio-, colloid and nuclear chemistry in addition to all the environmental and wastewater chemistry. Take the time to read the chapters slowly and carefully, as almost every sentence contains vital information that you have to know. Fairly easy to follow and the example problems give good explanations. Downsides are that there are very few pictures and there could be more example problems.

What a terrible book. I am currently taking an environmental chemistry course, and I'm learning more from my freshman Chem 101 notes and wikipedia than I am from this book. The chapters are too brief to even teach a topic, the examples aren't explained well, you have no idea what is truly going on because facts are simply thrown at you, and overall, this book makes you hate environmental chemistry.

Additionally, the book is exorbitantly priced, as there are NO illustrations whatsoever and the inside looks like some cheap international edition - no color, maybe a scatter plot here and there. It is impossible to visualize any concepts that the book discusses. The authors are probably snoozing in their mansions right now as miserable students attempt to learn from this worthless piece of trash. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK.

As a chemist with a bachelor's and a doctorate, I've seen quite a few books on the subject. I can say with 100% certainty that this is the worst chemistry text ever. This book spews equations at the reader but does not connect any of the concepts. Key steps are left out of the explanations. The reader is left wondering how the authors got to the end of a multi-step problem in one step. Books like this one are what make students hate chemistry. Do yourself a favor and get any other chemistry book.

Despite the equal treatment in the Intro, which misleads the reader that there will be air and solid waste chemistry, there is practically no in-depth discourse on these areas, as if they are not part of the subject. The basic Ideal Gas and Henry's Laws are covered handbook style, but in the chapters on Nitrogen and Sulfates, there is not a single mention of SOx and NOx, nor any discussion on composting and two pages on biodegradation. The title is misleading..should be Environmental Chemistry for Water Treatment. And the section on Total Alkalinity is designed to confuse the student. Many of you know what I mean. There is a ton of texts in this general area, and the best intermediate (and appropriately titled) one is by Spiro and Stagliani.

This is one book which an engineer esp an environemtal engineer must have as it starts from basics and takes you to complex situations making them understandable.