Customer Reviews

Molecular Quantum Mechanics

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

 

 

This text is not for someone that is starting out in the subject, or even for someone looking to get more into quantum chemistry. This is a book for someone already fairly familiar with quantum and particularly quantum chemistry.
My main issue with this book is that it's way too much information that is not covered in enough detail to give any insight into the methods that are presented. The examples that he uses to illustrate an idea rarely if ever can be generalized to other cases and for someone not already comfortable with this material it will be more than a challenge. I often found myself reaching for McQuarrie's Quantum Chemistry text as well as Griffiths's Quantum mechanics text to help clarify what was presented in this book.
The questions at the end of the chapter often are confusing and any hint that is given only makes the problem more obscure. What makes it worse is that equations that are cited in the hints are often wrong and unless you know what you're doing you will have a hard time figuring out what they're hinting at. Many of the examples have mistakes and typos in them, and they're not trivial most of the time. For example, in Chapter six they attempt to walk you through group theory. In one of the examples showing you how to get an irreducible representation from a reducible one they mix up the last two rows using the little orthogonality theorem.
Several of the character tables in the back of the book are wrong as well. This can make several of the problems at the end of chapters more than a little challenging.
If you're looking for a good quantum chemistry textbook, this is not it. Even putting the typos aside there is too little information in the book for it to stand on its own as anything useful to learn from. I recommend McQaurrie (both undergraduate and graduate texts) or Levine. Griffiths's quantum mechanics text is a useful reference no matter which text you use.

I cannot say that this is a strict quantum mechanics text that would be used for a quantum physics course, for the absence of core idea like operator mechanics, ladder operators and the such. Yet "Molecular Quantum Mechanics" definitely shines and has proven itself to be a much better (in details, explanations, readability) text than "Physical Chemistry" written by the same author.

"Molecular Quantum Mechanics" focuses on aspects of quantum mechanics in chemistry, especially in applications on spectroscopy (infrared and Raman) which roots in the ideas of rotation, vibration, anharmonicity, and centrifugal distortion. It also discusses advanced topics like nonlinear spectroscopy and computational chemistry. The book is written in thorough details and a very organized manner. I recommend "Molecular Quantum Mechanics" along with McQuarrie's "Physical Chemistry: Molecular Appraoch" for anyone who would like to learn about quantum chemistry.

I definitely recommend this text for anyone interested in theoretical chemistry and qunatum mechanics. It presents material which assumes the reader is familiar with multivariate vector calculus and the basics of quantum theory. The book is excellent in that it presents practically every facet of quantum chemistry in a cohesive manner which widens the reader's understanding and appreciation of the subject.

I recommend this book for anyone interested in intermediate level quantum chemistry. It provides very detailed information which has been very useful to me personally. It presents the material in a logical order and includes many detailed diagrams. You won't regret buying this one.

Atkins must do nothing but write these days, and we should all be very grateful. This text is the most fundamentally readable presentation of quantum chemistry I have ever seen. The order is sensible, the examples clear, and the writing clean. The authors even manage to blend humor into the mix!

The triumph of the book is that the authors keep the rigor of the mathematical presentation without burying the reader. Thus not only is this a great textbook for the advanced undergraduate, but it is a valuable reference for the practicing professional. I expect to turn to it time after time in the coming years as I carry out my research, and I do not envision ever being let down.

I have always thought that Atkins' textbooks were horrible. His worst book was Physical Chemistry, only the 2nd edition was good, then it deteriorated considerably (now I think it's up to the 8th edition! very hard to read that book). This one, Molecular Quantum Mechanics, has an excellent selection of topics, and is mostly a book that will teach you about spectroscopy techniques for the study of molecules (NMR, ESR, vibrational spectroscopy, rotational spectroscopy, etc). It does a fairly good job at teaching things with minimal assumed background. So anyone with basic calculus and some intro to QM should be able to read this book. Atkins derives much of the QM tools needed for the rest of the book (e.g. time-dependent perturbation theory). His presentation of the more "mathematical" topics is generally very lucid. With the exception of the section on group theory, which I've always thought was incomprehensible. You will find a MUCH better (and friendly) learning tool in D.C. Harris' (dover) book. Group theory is taught without any nonsense. I also like Bernath's textbook for group theory (that's about the only thing that's good in Bernath). Anyhow, Atkins IS a good buy. You will learn a lot from it, and it can serve as an excellent supplement to any course on quantum mechanics. He is very pedagogical, and the book includes tons of relevant worked examples. Many of them are non-trivial too, so it makes you feel good, that you've learned new stuff and improved your skills. I would say this is a good book, from an author who usually writes mediocre textbooks.

I used this text after struggling for the first few weeks in my quantum chemistry course at Berkeley. Recommended by my professor, this text made sense of things that I believed impossible. And, it includes a lot of graphs to boot! I found this book coupled with Griffith's Quantum Mechanics to have been the best possible undergrad combo in my junior year as a chemistry undergrad. In fact, I sold my required text and passed the class with flying colors using just the Atkins book and the Griffith text. Where Atkins is too wordy, Griffith's concise explanations help greatly. And, vice versa, when you need more info, turn to Atkins. Bon chance!

This is probably the most didactic book for beginning students in the subject of quantum chemistry, is full of color ilustrations, solved exercices and detailed explanations. I really recomended it.

Okay, I'll admit that my background in quantum chemistry is pretty sketchy. However I feel much more lost than usual in this book when it comes to understanding the phenomena that they're trying to model. The problems at the back and the solutions that come with the 3rd edition of this book are even worse as he jumps around alot and don't teach you how to think about problems, just random ways of solving it. I guess this is an intermediate quantum course but I feel safer with Levine, which I used in undergrad physical chemistry. He/she (not sure if Ira is a guy) at least goes through the math so that you can follow it pretty easily. Atkins... Not my cup of tea!

Useful and clear book about molecular quantum mechanics......

For a material scientist it's the second book of the triptych: Cohen - Atkins - Kittel