Rating: 
Summary: This book was not worth the money.
Review: After buying this book for one semester of intrumental analysis I was very displeased with the number of errors in the answers and dry approach to the content. I much prefer qualitative analysis by Harris.
Rating:
Summary: Not worth the money....disorganized and hard to understand
Review: After having used this particular edition for two semesters of Instrumental Analysis .... I can honsestly say that this book is not worth the money or the headache of trying to decipher it. The book was very disorganized as far as subject placement is concerned and it contains errors throughout. I have heard that earlier edditions were much better and through limited use I can say that there are no aparent errors and the 3rd and 4th editions are much easier to understand. If you are buying this for a class don't expect to gather anything that you can understand without using an additional source and don't expect to get any money for it.
Rating: 
Summary: Corners are cut to get book out on time...
Review: As a Senior Undergraduate Chemistry student, I was required to buy this book as a text for an instrumental analysis class. I had heard great things about previous editions, and I figured that with a fifth edition, most of the kinks had been worked out.However, to my dismay, the book was not released until four weeks into the semester, and when it was, I dropped a cumbersome wad of cash for a substandard book that had apparently skipped the proofreading stage to get the book out to the bookstores (probably so that the author could once again line his pockets with cash). There are erroneous equations (albeit subtle mistakes, but those can be the deadliest), misplaced chapter headings, and a myriad of confusing ordering of the chapter, just to name a few things that I felt were below average about this book. When all was said and done, and the course was over, I gladly took it back to the bookstore to sell it back for a whopping loss, and it didn't even phase me. My suggestion: Go out to a used bookstore and see if you can find an earlier edition. I would imagine that those were actually proofread.
Rating: 
Summary: Good instrumental chemistry overview ... January - 2002
Review: As an undergrad chemistry major at Erciyes University.Any good book has its problems.
Rating: 
Summary: Good instrumental chemistry overview, but needs a proofread.
Review: As an undergrad chemistry major at James Madison University, I was required to purchase this text for my senior level instrumental methods class. Fortunately, my professor was one of the co-authors to a previous edition of this book and was able to point out many of the editing flaws in this text before they became a problem. But any good book has its problems. I found it increasingly frustrating that some of the diagrams were mislabeled, or labeled with information of questionable accuracy and/or value. Additionally, the book is written in an extremely dull fashion. Well, you may be saying "this is chemistry, its supposed to be dull and boring!" I would tell you that is the absolute untruth! I have read many technical manuals and texts which cover not only difficult material, but present it in an easily readable fashion. This COULD be a fabulous book if the authors would proofread the newest version themselves and correct some of the errors. A large portion of this book is devoted to the accuracy of data and the maximization of signal to noise ratio. With this in mind I find it disturbing that a book which so advocates this has so many errors in it!
Rating:
Summary: Good overview, but not deep enough
Review: Aside from the blatant errors in the text, the book is a fair intro to modern instruments. Skoog manages to explain most everything enough to understand, but then goes into the mathematics behind the machines. The explanations are not detailed enough to understand. The additional explanations do nothing but confuse the text. If one is able to wade through the confusion, the book is not bad. In a later edition, Skoog would be wise to add more explanations to facilitate understanding, or remove them entirely.
Rating:
Summary: Give it a break !
Review: Despite some errors, this is STILL the only REAL instrumental methods book on the market - if you want to see REALLY BAD books, look at the competitors! In terms of presenting instrumental theory, describing in detail the instruments and their operation, and providing detailed drawings of the instruments and components, this book has no peer. That's why it is used for more Instrumental Methods courses than all other books combined, and why I continue to choose it for my students.
Rating:
Summary: There have to be better books
Review: First of all, this book is riddled with errors. There are typos up the wazoo! Second, a lot of the optical path diagrams of the instruments are very confusing. You cannot make heads or tales from the illustrations. Skoog has yet to enter the 21st century because everything is in black and white. The picture style is very bland and terribly out of date. Skoog also tries desperately to be pedantic. For example, he describes a computer monitor as a cathode ray tube output device. If you like Atkins, you will love Skoog, or vice versa. It's great as a reference but otherwise worthless. Trust me when I say this book is too wordy, too confusing, and way too 'Cold War' era boring.
Rating:
Summary: There have to be better books
Review: First of all, this book is riddled with errors. There are typos up the wazoo! Second, a lot of the optical path diagrams of the instruments are very confusing. You cannot make heads or tales from the illustrations. Skoog has yet to enter the 21st century because everything is in black and white. The picture style is very bland and terribly out of date. Skoog also tries desperately to be pedantic. For example, he describes a computer monitor as a cathode ray tube output device. If you like Atkins, you will love Skoog, or vice versa. It's great as a reference but otherwise worthless. Trust me when I say this book is too wordy, too confusing, and way too 'Cold War' era boring.
Rating: 
Summary: Valuable resource.....
Review: I am an undergrad senior majoring in math and chemistry. I noticed a majority of the reviews seemed to be somewhat negative, so I thought I would weigh in. I have found this text to be a real asset. I have used it for a one credit lab in instrumental analysis and really love the attention given to the mathematical representations of the concepts. I don't really plan on working in a lab setting, and I find the text gives a great overview of a lot of instrumentation. Very easy to read and follow. Well worth the money to have it on the bookshelf.
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