Group Theory and Chemistry

Rating:
Summary: Eminently readable introduction to point groups
Review: Bishop's book is intended for students in the fields of physical chemistry and chemical physics, and limits its scope to subjects of interest to these people. Hard core physicists may want to turn to some other text for this reason, but the ease of presentation should still make the book attractive to them. It more or less only covers finite point groups, but the full rotation group is also discussed (superficially, not to scare away the mathematically disinclined). The book is eminently readable, and explains the uses of group theory within chemistry in a lucid and actually enjoyable way. The text is self-contained, and is suitable for private study. Vibrational spectroscopy, hybridization and symmetrization of wave functions in quantum chemistry are among the applications covered.

Rating:
Summary: Looks hard as a rock, tastes smooth and easy going down!
Review: Ever wonder how to simplify those hard to solve quatum mechanics chemistry problems, well I just don't have the anwer. I can, however, say that this fantastic book does a great job of explaining such a hard subject and,as an added bonus as the end, give you a fresh new hope of being able to solve such problems using group theory. First chemistry book I couldn't put down