Customer Reviews

Chemistry: Molecules, Matter and Change

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

 

 

Hey, it's just a first year college chemisty textbook for use in the USA. As a microbial biochemistry professor, I see it to be perfectly OK from a beginning chemistry perspective. Some will like it, some will not. Introductory chemistry is just difficult for some people, no matter what text they use, or how skilled or unskilled the professors appear to be. One has to work at it. This text is not meant to be an upper level text as the misguided, rather strident, and seemingly arrogant review from Rome might have you believe (considering the inappropriate and misdirected review comments) --- but this is the same reviewer who somewhat viciously and, in the same manner, mistakenly criticized the rather excellent, introductory-level, general microbiology textbook --- Brock: Biology of Microorganisms. Jones and Atkins is a general, first year, introductory textbook and a useful as any. Nothing more, nothing less --- . In the USA, most students don't have the luxury of choosing their primary class texts anyway. Those who do can always look to the reviews of other gen chem texts, but I'd be very careful and consider the appropriateness of some of the reviews.

I am an instructor who has learned to be skeptical of general chemistry textbooks, so this book was a pleasant surprise. Jones and Atkins have a terrific art program, but more than that, the art is creatively designed and tied to the text. The result in my experience is deeper student understanding. The problem-solving support is extensive. It has to be seen---and used---to be appreciated.

This is by far the best general chemistry textbook I have ever seen if you are interested in students really learning concepts. Instead of glossing over the concepts, the authors introduce a rationale for learning a topic, help students to visualize it, then show how concepts are connected to problem-solving in the toolboxes. Finally, the worked examples have explicit strategies for every problem, which helps students to understand what they are doing when working the problem. They can then test themselves on the self-tests.

The book has a large number of interesting case studies that some students really like, especially if they are majoring in another subject. My students also liked the summaries at the ends of the sections and the checklist at the ends of the chapters.

Please ignore the Silicon Valley review. As a veteran teacher in chemistry, I have previewed many texts in chemistry. This text places a premium on conveying the necessary chemical concepts in such a way that students can understand without using the accompanying CD. It is an easy book to teach from as it is logically divided, textually accurate and yes, it does have many colorful photos of reactions and scientific principles. After reading the Silicon Valley review, I feel a grammar book is much more necessary than a chemistry text.

Despite of beautifull and helpfull pictures, unfortunately, the text of this book is very superficial. It is dangerous for two reasons: 1) in some way, the beautifull pictures keep off the student's immagination and 2) the most important aspect, from the own text it appears many important basic questions which can not be answered because the very superficial way that the author writes about the subject. Important aspects are not answered and just a general view is showed. The author has tried make a easy reading book but I think what he got was a very superficial and not helpfull text book about this important subject that is GENERAL CHEMISTRY. So, be aware about this aspect, it is a beautifull book, but it is like a shop windows: just for take a look.

This is a general chemistry textbook written for US college level introductory chemistry for science majors, not for students with better background from other countries or chemistry professors. It is well written and especially good at teaching students how to solve problems on homeworks and exams. Whether this will translate into abilities to solve real-world problems is another story. A text that can show the beauty of chemistry and how different areas of chemistry fit together would be wonderful. However, most US college students are not ready for that yet, at least at freshman level. For a text like that, you might have to consult, for example, Principle of Physical Chemistry by Kuhn, which is a text for upper level chemistry students.

Some more recent and more positive reviews of this text are strangely under the older edition of this text (General Chemistry by Atkins and Beran).

I am in sweden - in a local university liberary - They had just bought in the book - And I am sitting here chocked about it. This is exacly what I wanted - exacly I realy can't say anything more than I have struggled for years with this subject - and now finaly I can see that the clowds disapears Its a real pleashure to have this book in my palms - And I beleave that the time will stand still for a while - VERY GOOD WORK!

book was on time and in accurate condition. plus it was very cheap. i will definately be buying from amazon in the future

Don't buy this book. The author spending his time make his book pretty but the content really really lousy.... If you study and do all the problem s in his book you still fail the course...DON'T BUY it. Atkins, please explain how you are doing the problem...just don't spend too much time in doing the mechanic of it. example. If some one give a RxN of strong acid and a weak base, without telling you which chapter this problem belong to, explain how you sove it. And how did you pick a chapter or section to apply to solve a problem. In a test, they don't tell you here is the problem belong to chapter 14, apply the principle and solve it. One must identify which chapter then solve it. So, you should spend time telling people how you classified the problem and solve it....talk to people ... apply some brain work to it...who care about the CD-rom (bad any way) who care about the pretty picture when it not really help student get A in the course or comprehense it...For me, I spend lot of time classified the problem so I know which principle to apply...so your next version, classified it...put some brain into it...work man...you want to sell...do some work at it...forget about the pretty picture...the CD..waist of time...

Hello! I am Italian so sorry about any mistakes. (If you have comments, write to Giovani_Bassi@Hotmail.com) This is yet another General Chem. clone. Linus Pauling and the Swedish Gunnar Haegg (=Hägg) once started this tradition of elementary chemistry pedagogy with writing two magically good and inspired books, but since then nothing has happened, except for the dawn of lengthy prefaces, lists of reviewers, increase in format, thickness and the many hundreds of colour pictures and endless pedagogical aids (many on CD or in supplementary volumes) that just have to explain the simplest things over, over, over, over and over again with the aid of distracting colour diagrams and flow-charts, reducing the concentration of facts vastly, as well as logical continuity and coherence. General Chem. is today an extremely elementary course that probably does as much good as bad to people. It explains not in one case the physical basis of the discussed phenomena or from where the crude formulas used have come, which destroys one's sensitivity and criticism - and often interest. (As it did for myself, who already after one year of chemistry courses had learned to hate the subject and its ever-practically-minded view on the world. Only after three years of physics could I return to chemistry again, but at that time I was equipped with the tools needed to put the chemical situations into a broader perspective and felt independent of other's explanations. This is a possible path to follow, you know, you really interested students!) This is really very unsatisfactory and it would at least be less confusing for the more curious student, if someone could just put down, honestly, all the facts (that it has been agreed that one must learn in the course), say what simplifications that had been made in these, and show briefly how the ten or so central formulae can be employed. Then the students would know why they get stuck all the time, when they try to "see what is going on at the molecular level" - they do not have all the needed pieces, simply, which the G-chem. books so boldly dare to suggest in their simplifications - and not waste a minute more time than required by their colleges on various doubts over the funny presentation! Chemistry is the disicpline concerned with change, and the description of change tends to involve differential equations, derivatives, integrals etc. - none of which we see in G-Chem and therefore the subject cannot allow one to "gain eyes to see with". All the dozens of books with this same title have similiarly named and ordered chapters, an identical lay-out, give the same analogies, the same cute comments, discuss the same'ol classic compounds (when millions of fantastic compounds are available that are far more interesting than graphite...) and provide the same problems and the same solutions to them. I seriously recommend studying Atkins's little "Elements of Physical Chemistry" (Oxford) parallel, for all those who are taking General Chemistry. (Advanced students will purchase the "Physical Chemistry" proper, too.) It contains about the same information and is no more deep (no more advanced maths either, except for the occasional high-school integral), but ties all facts together in a coherent way - which mostly has been possible due to the avoidance of cluttering the pages up with useless pictures and review boxes. Learn all in this thin little book and you can feel that you have really done the best of the situation with your first chemistry course and are well-prepared for the coming ones. Atkins's "The Second Law" is also very useful and brilliant. The most advanced problems are found in Petrucci-Harwood "Gen. Chem." from Prentice-Hall, a rather good G-Chem clone. The simplest book is Umland-Bellama's "Gen.Chem." from West Publishing. ALL suffer from the perverted idea of diluting ten formulas into 1200, or so, pages, however. (Pauling and Haegg/Hägg remain the very best, as said before.) It is somewhat disappointing that the truly great scientist Atkins agrees to put his signature on a book that is so incoherent. Atkins is very intelligent, creative and inspiring as a writer and lecturer, but in his textbooks (except for those recommended here, "MQM" and "Quanta") he just happily follows the standard, affixed college concept and walks in the leash of his publishers' demands, leaving no possibility for a reader to even guess that Atkins is the author.

Thanks Lilian. Your comments are right on target. This book makes people curious about the pretty pictures, but it does not address the actual concept. Please remember that not all teacher know their own subject well. In Texas and many other states, 70% of the teachers failed their own teaching subject exam, and these teachers can not get fired, job for life. Until these teachers actually take their subject exam once in a while and actually pass it with at least a B grade, other wise just disregard their comments here at Amazon. I Aced all General Chem Courses with out using the technique in this book. So, my comments may help you on this text book.