General Chemistry [STUDENT EDITION] (Hardcover)

~ Darrell Ebbing (Author), Steven D. Gammon (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The strength of the Ebbing and Gammon text is in its readability. Explanations are concise and nicely worded. Illustrations, pictures, and diagrams are very useable and useful. The special essays, 'A Chemist Looks At' and 'Instrumental Methods,' are well done and present students with a look at some of the chemistry they might miss in an ordinary text." -- Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Complex, realistic, conceptual, open-ended, vague and motivated! Concept Explorations can be used to enhance student conceptual understanding and problem solving abilities. They emphasize the multiple representations of processes (words, sketches, graphs, chemical equations) and encourage active participation of students. I think Concept Explorations perfectly match the author's goals. Concept Explorations are very suitable for small groups of students to solve together--would certainly promote the discussion! So I would definitely use them interactively in a recitation/study group format."

"The authors have focused on a major problem that many textbooks seem either to ignore or at a minimum fail to recognize and address. Students often master the process of problem solving without understanding the underlying concept that the problem attempts to address. The authors have taken a giant step in addressing this shortcoming."

"I think these [Concept Explorations] are very beneficial for a few reasons. They go beyond the typical end-of-chapter problems. They are more in-depth and allow connections to be made to concepts in other sections of the chapter. The questions will allow the students to be less focused on trying to remember how the numbers are to be applied to the formulas and more focused on understanding and applying the concept. I think it is advantageous that the problems are in a multi-step format. The students will feel a greater sense of accomplishment as they progress through the problem."

"These [Strategy Problems] meet the worthy goals of the author. They are well written, adequate in number and rigor, and do not just parrot earlier exercises. I was initially afraid these would be as difficult as some of the 'comprehensive' exercises found in texts, but this was not the case. The only thing that makes them 'difficult' is the lack of an algorithm to follow. Should help push some students toward broader thinking."

"Great idea. It is too easy to develop a false sense of security applying a standard model to homework problems without understanding chemistry. The [Strategy] problems in both chapters I reviewed appeared adequate with the right balance of challenge and ability to solve the problem using available information." --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 1062 pages
• Publisher: Brooks Cole; 8 edition (October 20, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618399410
• ISBN-13: 978-0618399413
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #431,030 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The worst chemistry book ever!, May 28, 2005

By	Iggy S. "iggy" (Bell, CA United States) - See all my reviews

As a physical science major, I consider the book to be worst than mediocre. It is way too "general", basically giving worded explanations rather than applied concepts and clear diagrams. Some of the topics are very vague and you are left more confused than ever. I supplement my studying with a McMurray and Fay textbook which is 10 years old and I acquired for 25 cents, and it is even better than this trash of a book. It also provides very few problems at the end of the chapter. For example, for the nomenclature and orbital diagrams, there are only two problems each, not enough to practice for a test. The cummulative skill problems are way to difficult for a beginning scientist, and their level of difficulty isn't justified, since the book doesn't explain clearly. Reading it is basically like reading Popular Science: way too much writing to explain one simple concept. It goes on and on, which makes me think, "Who cares?." If it had not been for the fact that I took introductory chemistry, (I used a Zumdahl book, by the way) I would had been lost. The material is also spread all over the place throughout the chapters. While redox chemistry is introduced somewhere around chapter 7 or eight, you see it again in chapters 20, so my teacher goes back and forth, flipping through the pages. As a relief, the chemistry dept. at my school is changing the book next semester for the general chemistry 2 course. We will be using a Raymond Chang book. Please, professors, do not torture your students by making them buy this book.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, general, nice diagrams, June 27, 2000

By	Craig MACKINNON (Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: General Chemistry (Hardcover)

We use this text for our freshman chemistry course at Trent University, and have for a number of years (previous editions). It is equal or superior to virtually all other texts that I am aware of for a general course that includes both chemistry majors and others (biology, physics, etc.). Concepts are explained well, diagrams are easy to understand, and there is a profusion of examples in the text. It also includes a biochemistry chapter, which many other texts do not have. With the addition of bichem to many 1st year curricula, this is important.

If teaching a more rigorous/physical course directed solely to chem majors, this book may not be the best choice (perhaps Oxtoby and Nachtrieb would be a better choice).

This book is generally superior in quantity and quality of questions at the back of the chapter. All questions are paired with the odd numbered question having the answer in the back of the book. Students really like this feature.

As an instructor, there are a number of extras that are very helpful, including an alternate example manual (with examples to use in class that are complimentary to the text), a full set of figures on a CD-ROM which are easily transferred to Powerpoint for use in lectures, and a complete solutions manual.

There are a few small problems. The order in the text is not the order I teach in, but the chapters are pretty good at delineating the material so you can teach out of order. For example, Chapter 6 is thermochemistry, and Chapter 18 is the rest of thermodynamics - why 12 chapters between them? (To be fair, this system is used in a number of freshman texts.) Web resources for the student are lacking in that they cost extra (at least, in Canada), something many other publishers offer for free.

All in all, this is a very good text for a general course in freshman chemistry. It is well indexed, and should also be of use to anyone that needs a chemistry reference book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great aid for any 1st year chem student, November 5, 2001

By	Jeff Manuel (Cape Town, South Africa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: General Chemistry (Hardcover)

As a first year Chemistry student, I found Ebbing the most helpful textbook of the three that was prescribed for me.

Ebbing has it all: A logical layout, Nice diagrams to accompany explained concepts and best of all: a set of applicable problems at the end of each chapter. Ebbing's glossary is also one of the better ones you will come accross in General Chemistry Textbooks.

For the student who likes self-study, Ebbing is a gem, as it explains everything in a user-friendly, easy-reading easy-to-understand manner. It is, in fact, a Chemistry textbook that you can read just for the hell of it. If only I had Ebbing in highschool, my chemistry grades would have been that much higher.

It is not, however a textbook for those planning to major in chem. It is, as the title clearly says, a GENERAL CHEMISTRY textbook and should be treated as such. If you are, however, planning to major in more inter-disciplinary subjects that draw on chemistry , i.e. botany, geology and to an extent physics, Ebbing would be good to have around.