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34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An engaging and well organized new text for general chemistry, January 23, 2007
This review is from: Chemistry: A Molecular Approach (Hardcover)
This is a new textbook for general chemistry. Yes, there a quite a number of general chemistry texts and they all cover roughly the same general material. They differ more in how they organize the material, illustrate it, and their method of helping the student develop a solid understanding and command of this basic material. The student not only needs to learn the basic facts of chemistry, she needs to learn how to think about it so when she looks at the world, she can see and understand the issues as they relate to this vital science.
Dr. Tro begins this book by explaining how the text was developed and provides instructions for the student on how to make the most of the book. I liked this a great deal. He starts the book by providing what he thinks is the most important scientific idea in all of human knowledge: "the properties of matter are determined by the properties of molecules and atoms". From there he builds all the principles taught in general chemistry. He also define chemistry as: "the science that seeks to understand the behavior of matter by studying the behavior of atoms and molecules".
Each chapter is organized in a similar fashion and a great deal of emphasis is placed on making the illustrations demonstrate a principle - a process - rather than an isolated picture. Tro also has interesting articles of chemistry in various fields in different chapters and he often introduces ideas with practical issues that will likely matter to the student.
For review, at the end of each chapter he goes over the key concepts taught, the key equations and relationships discussed, and the key skills that the student is expected to have learned. He provides exercises to test one's mastery of the material that the student can answer for himself. The problems are organized by chapter topic. Those listed with blue numbers have answers provided in the back of the book. There are also cumulative problems that build on skills learned previously, challenge problems, and conceptual problems that go a bit further than the minimum requirements of chapter mastery.
Besides Appendix III with selected answers, there are others with key equations, useful data, and a glossary. And there is a good index, as well.
I think it is a handsome and very useful text for teaching and learning general chemistry. A general reader could benefit from studying from it because it is clear and engaging enough that one can work through what is being taught.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book, but the solutions manual is essential., December 7, 2008
This review is from: Chemistry: A Molecular Approach (Hardcover)
This is an excellent book that gives wonderful examples that clarify confusing concepts in chemistry. Granted, this book does have a few things that are less than desirable (exothermic/endothermic reactions are confusing because Tro does not clearly define what the "system" is; wave diffraction is confusing but that is really a physics topic, etc.). However, the way Tro sorts out problems (sort, strategize, solve, solution, check) is amazing. To truly reap the benefits of this incredible book though, the serious student should purchase the instructor's solutions manual (all reveiw questions and every problem at the end of each chapter). The link to buy this solutions manual is:
[...]
Well worth the cost for serious chem students!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent problems solving method,easy to read, several weak chapters, May 7, 2009
This review is from: Chemistry: A Molecular Approach (Hardcover)
As a beginning chemistry student this spring, I loved this book (1st edition) initially. The first 5 chapters were clear, easy to learn from, with excellent questions in the back of the book. I really enjoyed it. But then, the book really fell down. It would have made sense to include balancing in acidic and basic media in the earlier balancing discussion, rather than burying it in chapter 18. The text made little sense, and was rather dull, and then the examples did not enlighten. The problems in the back of the chapter were no help on the exam. From there through chapter 10, our class ended up veering away from the text material, so that now, in orbitals and Lewis dot structure, I'm using the web, rather than the textbook. Thank god for Google books and Wikipedia and all those who've generously posted study material out there. Further, it should be noted that there are wrong answers periodically throughout the books, and scientific notation and rounding is inconsistently applied. I suspect a revision or two, with someone rewriting several chapters entirely will make this an excellent text.
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