Customer Reviews

Inorganic Chemistry (Solutions Manual)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

It's hard to write an inorganic textbook that will please everybody. In general, there are three different types of undergraduate inorganic chemistry courses offered:
1) One semester Descriptive Inorganic (pre P. chem)
2) One semester Advanced Inorganic (post P. chem)
3) Two semester sequence (post P. chem)

Missler and Tarr's text is written for the second audience. If you are interested in a book that (i) is written at the jr/sr level; (ii) emphasizes group theory, molecular orbital theory, coordination chemistry, spectroscopy, reaction mechanisms and organometallic chemistry; and (iii) can be covered in one semester without killing the average undergraduate, then this is going to be a good text for you. If you are interested in descriptive chemistry or want a complete overview of inorganic chemistry, then you aren't going to be happy with M&T.

In my opinion, this is the best textbook on the market for a one-semester advanced inorganic course. My student's opinions of M&T were somewhat lukewarm, but at least it didn't inspire the scathing criticism that two other texts received in previous years. It's not a perfect book, but it is concise and well written for the audience it is intended to serve.

This was the book used for 5.03 (Inorganic Chemistry I) at MIT for Spring 2004. I thought it was a great book in terms of examples and explanations of point groups & molecular orbital diagrams. A lot of the chapters seemed to be organized such that the essential information was presented first, followed by applications and interesting side notes for each of the topics. This was very helpful when skimming before the final! I also recommend the solution manual!!

This textbook is a paradigm in the art of conciseness: while I admire Miessler and Tarr's ability to convey the massive amount of every chapter in so few pages, it makes for extraordinarily difficult. My professor thought this would be a useful text to cover our introductory class, as it does not waste time on basic information on periodicity, etc. However, after a few weeks of telling us what not to read (as it was far too abstruse), and resorting to other textbooks, she had to give up altogether on this one. I imagine this work's chief usefulness will come to graduate students needing a "refresher", but not to anyone else. There are too few grainy pictures, questions that rarely relate to the material in the chapter, and a text whose density rivals the Bible.

I suppose you could say the book covers a wide range of complicated material, but that's pretty much it. It's extremely convoluted, an explanations are generally very poor. I had to search Google for supplementary links that actually explained most of the major concepts.

Not recommended.

This book seems to be the new standard for undergraduate inorganic chem. Came into use after I left university.

For those reviewers who don't like this text there are some good, less well known options:

1. Concise Inorganic Chemistry by J.D. Lee

2. Inorganic Chemistry by Catherine Housecroft and Alan G. Sharpe

3. Basic Inorganic Chemistry by F. Albert Cotton, Geoffrey Wilkinson, Paul L. Gaus

4. Descriptive Inorganic Chemistry by Geoff Rayner-Canham, Tina Overton. A nice, easy read for a one semester, terminal course. Only 569 pages - 4th edition. Not the be-all and end-all of inorganic chem, though.

5. Concepts and Models of Inorganic Chemistry by Bodie E. Douglas, Darl H. McDaniel, John J. Alexander

Check out my other reviews for other chem books.

When I was a junior, I bought this book thanks to professor's recommandation. This book is so clear to understand what Inorganic Chemistry is. Maybe, This book is the best inorganic book in the market to grasp concepts. Author's explanation is so easy and marvelous!

The answer key was often unhelpful, as it abbreviates or omits many parts that are key to understanding a solution. I found that the practice problems I could do from the textbook were limited by the answers I could actually follow. It is an exercise in understanding the authors' trains of thought, rather than the actual chemistry.

M&T was used for the intro. inorganic chemistry course that I TA'd, and I found that while all off the essential inorganic topics are covered the book focuses primarily on symmetry and molecular orbital theory. Truly, it makes MO theory very accessible (a fine preparation to carrying on with Cotton's Chem. App. of Group Theory). I recommend this textbook for courses and individuals focused on developing these areas, but in terms of physical inorganic chemistry, this book is lacking. There is only one chapter spent on main group chemistry, hardly enough space to mention more than a small spattering of information. The solid state chapter is also disappointingly weak. However, in terms of illustrations and ease of readablity, this book succeeds. Overall, while the book does not miss any "essentials," it does little more than skim a large section of inorganic chemistry.

This was the worst college chemistry textbook that I have encountered. I have taken gen chem, organic, analytical, physical, biochem, photochem, and inorganic. This book was poorly written and extremely bland in terms of the pages. The sections of each chapter feel like they should be their own chapter in itself because the authors go on and on and on without stopping. And once you get to the next section, its a blunt start. There's little continuity between sections. Each page has little to offer in terms of supporting diagrams and tables. In addition, the examples given are not explained and consequently do nothing to help the reader's understanding.

One must look at this book from the standpoint of the authors. This book is written from a symmetry and point-group standpoint. Having met the authors, I learned that the symmetry and point-group chapter (3?) was written first, then everything thereafter came from that. Also, this was NEVER meant to be a comprehensive textbook. It's designed to be used for a 1 semester course. What is excellent is that the basics are taught really well (the point-group stuff, and the ligand-field theory chapter) and that there are literature references to almost all topics in the book. If you feel like you don't get it, this book faciliates extended learning by pointing the reader to primary resources. If you like learning and have a good prof, this is a good book.