Principles of Modern Chemistry (Saunders Golden Sunburst Series) [Hardcover]

David W. Oxtoby (Author), Norman H. Nachtrieb (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0030059046 | ISBN-13: 978-0030059049 | Publication Date: July 1995 | Edition: 3

This edition has been updated to reflect the continuing developments taking place in chemistry. It emphasises the total scientific process placing general chemistry into a complete perspective for science and engineering students.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"…the new edition is an improvement over what I thought was an excellent text already. The writing is clear and, in general, the proper length of treatment is provided for all of the addressed topics."

"I like the mathematical rigor in the text, and the clear writing. I also like the problems…"

"One of the REAL strengths of this book is the very interesting and informative problems. My students also like them!!!!! In My view the students learn a great deal of practical chemistry by solving well selected problems."

"I like the exercises as they are. The problems in the textbook are really excellent. Best that I have seen. [Overall], this is a great textbook." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

David W. Oxtoby became the ninth president of Pomona College on July 1, 2003. An internationally noted chemist, he previously served as dean of physical sciences at the University of Chicago. At Pomona, he holds a coterminous appointment as president and professor of chemistry. Before coming to Pomona, he was associated with the University of Chicago for nearly three decades, with brief interludes to serve as a visiting professor at such places as the University of Paris; the University of Bristol in Great Britain; and the University of Sydney in Australia.
As a research chemist, he is author or co-author of more than 165 scientific articles on such subjects as light scattering, chemical reaction dynamics and phase transitions. He has been invited as a guest lecturer at conferences and institutions around the globe. In addition to co-authoring Principles of Modern Chemistry and Chemistry: Science of Change, he has received fellowships from the Guggenheim, von Humboldt, Dreyfus, Sloan, Danforth and National Science foundations.
Oxtoby is a fellow of the American Physical Society and a member of the American Chemical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
After earning his bachelor's degree, summa cum laude, from Harvard University, he went on to earn his Ph.D. on the opposite coast, at the University of California, Berkeley.
Oxtoby and his wife, Claire, are the parents of three children, Mary Christina, John and Laura.

H.P. Gillis conducts experimental research in the physical chemistry of electronic materials, emphasizing phenomena at solid surfaces and interfaces. Dr. Gillis received his B.S. (Chemistry and Physics) at Louisiana State University and his Ph.D. (Chemical Physics) at The University of Chicago. After postdoctoral research at the University of California-Los Angels and 10 years with the technical staff at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California, Dr. Gillis joined the faculty of Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Gillis moved to University of California-Los Angeles, where he currently serves as Adjunct Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. He has taught courses in general chemistry, physical chemistry, quantum mechanics, surface science, and materials science at Georgia Institute of Technology and at UCLA. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 848 pages
• Publisher: Holt Rinehart & Winston; 3 edition (July 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0030059046
• ISBN-13: 978-0030059049
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,526,869 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a slightly different take on general chemistry, July 16, 2008

By 

Athena_Wiles (New Haven, CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Principles of Modern Chemistry, Sixth Edition (Hardcover)

This book is not as approachable as many general chemistry books; as a previous reviewer has noted, this book is written by physical chemists and the organization and presentation of the concepts in the text reflects this. As a physical chemist, I generally like this text; however, I acknowledge that it's not for everyone and I do have a few critiques.

Students who are not mathematically-inclined will have a hard time with this text: the thermodynamics section, the derivation of the kinetic theory of gases, and some of the derivations of the quantum mechanics material are intimidating! However, students with a firm grounding in math and physics will get much more out of this text than they will out of other standard general chemistry texts like Brown and LeMay (Chemistry The Central Science Tenth Edition).

I would strongly recommend this book for students who have an interest in math and physics or who have already taken an introductory chemistry course and want to understand the phenomena described at a more detailed level. For AP Chemistry or for students who haven't taken intro physics or intro calculus, I would instead recommend the Brown and LeMay book. I feel that its coverage of some of the topics is a bit more superficial, but it is more approachable for students taking chemistry for the first time.

One last note: I dislike the newest edition of this book because they authors reorganized the chapters into a "quantum first" presentation (quantum mechanics is introduced in chapter 4 rather than chapter 15 as it was in the 5th edition). While this organization is suitable for some full-out physical chemistry courses, it is not appropriate for this book. If this book is to be used as a general chemistry book, consider doing the chapters out of order: start with the history of chemistry chapters, skip to the thermo stuff, and come back to quantum later. It's much easier to grasp intuitively if you work from the macro to the micro and not the other way around.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Who really needs this book?!?, April 22, 2007

By 

Charles B. (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Principles of Modern Chemistry (Hardcover)

I am really not sure for whom this book is intended. It presents things in an introductory tone, then proceeds to explain concepts as if the reader had a degree in physics, chemistry, and math.

There are three main problems with this book:
First, the book uses math to justify concepts, rather than the concepts justifying the math. Mathematical models are supposed to clarify and propose a logical way of explaining observed phenomena. Instead, Oxtoby will explain physical processes by describing the way in which a math formula or graph is constructed. While this refers back to historically founded rules of chemistry, it does nothing to explain the concept to a reader who has never seen the principles before.
The second problem is that there are barely ANY solved problems in the chapter text. Many of the end-chapter problems have no similarity at all to the few solved problems preceding them. Even intelligent students will be left confused by problems that lack any clear explanation.
The third problem is that the book is simply not well written. Like another reviewer said, make sure you have had a good nights sleep before reading Oxtoby's text. Explanations are often convoluted and do not try to build complexity from simply worded basic principles. In a way, the text should be twice as long, in order to clearly cover all the concepts presented.

Basically, this is an introductory chemistry text for students who have already had introductory chem.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great chemistry textbook for college freshmen, March 4, 2005

By 

HolyMasamune (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Principles of Modern Chemistry (Hardcover)

Though many people would find this book distasteful, it is an extremely good source of information for both basic and intermediate chemistry. It is obviously not a book any student can handle, but with a good background in basic chemistry, the book will take the student a long way down the path of chemistry. The book uses colorful pictures and graphs to show the reader what the chemistry looks like in real life rather than just teaching the bare concept.

Chemistry is not about doing word problems; it is about actually seeing the results and learning to analyze these results. If you prefer to just get through chemistry and "learn" how to do problems without learning the real applications, choose another book. If you actually want to learn chemistry, this is the perfect book for you. As opposed to the average textbook that drags a subject matter on, this book is very concise and moves on after showing a derivation of an equation or one sample problem. Obviously this book may seem hard and seemingly impossible to comprehend at times, but a good recommendation is to get enough sleep before reading the book because it is much denser than other introduction to chemistry textbooks.