Customer Reviews

Exploring Chemical Analysis

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was a required text for my analytical chemistry class. I was at first a bit worried about it, I tend to be picky about chemistry textbooks, but I quickly fell in love with this one. The chapters are short and to the point (most between 20 and 30 pages). Harris tells you what you need to know and gives some good examples in those 20 pages. Other books I have had to use took in excess of 50 pages to describe what Harris does (much better at that) in under 30. This is a nice feature for the time pressured college student.

The formating is also really nice. At the end of each chapter, all of the equations discussed are printed with text telling what each variable is. This is nice for when working on problem sets as you don't have to flip throughout the chapter trying to find one relationship and then search for an hour finding out what each variable means (We all forget at least once). It also makes studying for the exams easier and proofing notes to make sure you have the right equations has never been easier.

The book is directed at either a chem or non-chemistry student. At most schools analytical is low enough to get non-chemistry or even science majors in it. This book walks this line rather well. It doesn't bore the students that are "really excited" about chemistry and it doesn't confuse the "normal" kids. It is easy to read and also, like mentioned before, has little jokes in it.

A few other minor things I liked were the sections on statstical analysis and the paper on which it was printed. I took a stats 100 level class while in highschool and I knew most of the stuff still. However, some parts I forgot and had to relearn. I had to do it for bio and for chem, the bio book and prof made it so boring and drawn out. Harris, on the other hand, jumps into it and makes math and stat analysis, almost, fun. The most minor of my comments is about the paper the book is printed on. A lot of textbooks are printed on overly gloss paper and filled with "look at this picture" images. Harris has color plates, but the majority of the book is composed of greens and blacks. The paper isn't glossy and light doesn't glare on it. This just makes the sitting down and reading part much easier on the eyes.

I would recommand this text for someone wanting to brush up on analytical chemistry, or even just general chemistry. I, as well as most of my peers, intend to keep it as a reference book because it is so well formated and written. In that way, it is almost hard to outgrow.

This is an analytical chemistry textbook, not exactly the most thrilling of chemical disciplines. (unless you are an analytical chemist). It explains things fairly well, and the problems are at the end of the chapters are pretty similar to what you would find on the ACS test for analytical chemistry. The author has a sense of humor and randomly inserts jokes in some of the material. I believe this is the most popular of textbooks for analytical/quantitative chemistry courses.

Step by step examples help tremendously with learning the problem-solving techniques used in this book. I also love the random goofiness found at points in the text. It made me almost want to read the whole thing just to find the funny stuff!

Good analytical chemistry book, chapters aren't too long and easy to understand with step by step examples. Made learning analytical chemistry easier. Problems in the back of the chapter aren't too difficult. Taking analytical chemistry wasn't too bad with this book!

This is a really good book for someone taking and Analytical Chemistry course for the first time. Detailed explanation and easy to understand statements. Recommend it to anyone.

This book occasionally uses the first person voice, including examples phrased "when I was a boy..." and "I find it easier to..." which strikes me as very unprofessional. Furthermore, some of the simplifications are inaccurate; electromagnetic radiation (EMR), for instance, is qualified as a fancy way of saying light, which is only true in a certain range of wavelengths, as the chapter explains. Chapter headings are also less-than-professional, as in the aforementioned section on EMR labeled "Let There Be Light." It may be a way of bridging the gap between teacher and student in the eyes of the author, but in my opinion, it is more patronizing than endearing.

The explanations are often long-winded and hide important points and definitions in lengthy paragraphs. The glossary could be improved: Planck's constant is referenced in the text but not in the glossary. The rest of the reference section is highly useful but hard to navigate until the student labels the sections with post-it notes him/herself.

Formatting is generally easy on the eyes. The use of the color blue in subsection titles, particular atoms of interest in a molecule diagram, underlines, examples, etc. is helpful. Eight glossy, thick pages in the middle show colorful experiments or particularly interesting applications of concepts.

The example/solution/test-yourself format of in-text applications of a concept is a useful and well-designed tool. End-of-chapter problems are in just the right difficulty range for a professor to be able to choose a difficulty level and assign problems on all concepts covered. Overall relatively easy to understand and pretty good for homework questions.

Paperback version is flimsy -- won't stand up on a bookshelf, covers easily damaged, corners very quickly worn down and bent if the book is carried in a bag or backpack at all.

If you are taking this class and are using the "Exploring Chemical Analysis" 4th edition written by Daniel C. Harris this solution manual is a must have. It has every single problem that is in the book worked out. So if your professor gives you homework from the book you have the answers and with detail! So not only will you get all the right answers, if you are stuck you can teach yourself the process of the problem allowing you to learn from your mistakes instead of just writing the answer from the back of the book and frantically trying to figure out the problem or worse just copying it from someone else and gaining no knowledge from it. I guarentee that if you use this solution manual as a learning tool and not just as an easy homework guide you will do well in the class. So take the time and actually learn how to do the problems with the help of the solutions manual because like i said it provides great step by step detail that will help you succeed!

I am not a fan of this textbook for an in depth, upper level chemistry class. The first thing my class did was learn the statistical analysis tests and t-test seem to be a pretty basic subject, however this book only had 1 eqn, compared to the 4 EQNS my professor gave us. This book may be a bit more suited to a lower level, general analytical chem. class.

Harris presents the material needed for Analytical chemistry in an entertaining and very clear way. I do believe that he could have gone more in depth into most of the topics, however this book works well as an introductory textbook for chemistry students. His examples are clear and well written and the problems in the back of each chapter will definitely test your strength in the concepts presented. This book is entertaining, and you'll suffer through/enjoy many amazingly bad chemistry jokes along the way.

If you want to be an analytical chemist, get a more in depth textbook. If you're looking for an introduction, this book is a good choice.

Analytical chemistry isn't really exciting...at all, but I surprisingly found this to be one of the most accessible textbooks I've ever had. The language is simple yet scientific and the author illustrates most concepts with practical, memorable examples. I compare this text to my math or physical chemistry textbooks and it's a world of difference. It's clear to me that an actual human being wrote this book and wants me to understand the material.

Great book.