Rating: 
Summary: An Honest Opinion...
Review: After reading all the other reviews on this book, one might notice the large gap in opinion on this text. And I think that is justified...For those who really enjoy P-Chem and pour alot of energy and time into the course, this book should be fine; but for those of us who are not particularly fascinated with the inner thermodynamic or kinetic workings of the molecules we've come to love, this book isn't necessarily as explanatory as it could be. Also, the professor one has makes a BIG difference in this course. If one has a professor who uses this book as simply a reference to his/her teaching/lecturing then the book makes a great reference material. But for those professors who are new (like mine) and expect undergraduate CHEM majors to leave their course understanding every single facet of the P-Chem cosmos, using this book as their Bible and lecturing straight from it, then this book is not so great (pretty bad, in fact). However, I must say, the text varies in readability and depth of explanation. Some parts give sufficient explanation and other portions leave students feeling confused at least. That's why I give this book a 3 star rating. I think other books may be more beneficial.
Rating: 
Summary: look elsewhere
Review: This book is the absolutely worst choice one could make for a physical chemistry course. Atkins's main selling point is: "By Jove, it's the 7th edition!" a whole generation of physical chemists has been trained to think that Atkins's is the only decent pchem text out there.The book is confused, muddy and arbitrary. Some concepts get great explanation. Many simple techniques have painstakingly done proofs and then the complicated techniques just get lots of hand-waving or worse...no explanation. If you interested in actually learning some pchem, buy Lionel Raff's new text from Prentice Hall (ISBN: 013027805X). Barring that, buy an advanced physical text in the subfield you specialize in, such as Carroll's Structures and Perspectives on Organic Chemstry. Whatever you do, don't buy this textbook!
Rating:
Summary: This Book Has Taken my Soul
Review: I pity the poor fools who are required to use this book. It is poorly written and chronically confusing. Words are arbitrarily put in bold type and then not defined in any manner whatsoever. Other words with lengthy definitions only merit italicized print, in some hierarchy of type that only the author understands. The "outline" system of organization inevitably bogs down into minor details that not only take pages to slog through, but do not reappear in any of the subsequent problems. And let's not forget the dreaded thermodynamics section in which enthalpy is defined only as an equation and not in any way that can be explained in real world terms. Finally, this book provides no decent review of most of the concepts it assumes readers already know. Either you need to keep your general chemistry text of choice handy, or suffer in silence.
Please do not go down the same path I did, it only leads to sorrow. Avoid this book at all costs.
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