General Chemistry: The Essential Concepts

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Summary: Another case of "too much for too little".
Review: This is a difficult book. Not as difficult as my Phys book, but difficult nonetheless. Perhaps that is the way with chemistry, but it was Chang's job to write a book that could be understood and comprehended. He failed. I resigned myself early in the semester to draw the depth of my chem knowledge from a supplements ("Chemistry", by McMurry and Fay and "Schaum's 3000 solved problems in chemistry"). This trully reminded me of physics in a way I had never before expected of a chemistry class - finding answers to problems out of thin air. The material is overly light and does NOTHING to sort through the jibber jabber in a clear and comprehensive way. Note to Mr. Chang: Sometimes it is not enough to be witty and write well; Sometimes students actually want to learn how to DO THE PROBLEMS YOU THEN ASSIGN TO US AT THE END OF EACH CHAPTER! This book is written for people who have another book (or person) to fall back on for a REAL explanation. Raymond (if I may call you that), you should come down to the trenches and see the devastation in your book's wake.

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Summary: Horrible book, that is my personal view
Review: This is the book that was assigned to my general chemistry class. Personally I think this is one of the most horrible books ever written, not just chemistry but on any subject. Even though the book says "General Chemistry" there is NO general overview of chemistry whatsoever in the chapters. The only thing that even comes close is the one page "A Note to the Student" thing that says chemistry is percieved as difficult. If the subject is difficult then it is the authors job to make it as simple as possible, which he clearly doesn't. Every chapter I have read gets way too detailed right off the bat. The equations that are given rarely have an explanation of where they came from; they take on a view of, "Here is the equation, now memorize it." They don't try to explain the relationship of the specific subject of chemistry on hand. Also, I think the chapters are out of order. I think some chapters should come before others. Lastly, the book has WAY too much information to be called a general chemistry book. I have been swamped with more information from chemistry than all of my other classes combined. I AM NOT EXAGERATING! Less than half way through the book they try to teach quantum mechanics/physics. It is just a poorly planned book for the coarse. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU STAY AWAY FROM THIS BOOK!!!

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Summary: Another Amazing Chang Text
Review: This text serves its purpose perfectly. It is very well-written and succint. Prof. Chang realizes that there is more to chemistry than solving problems...he does a fantastic job of presenting the essential concepts and then solving many sample problems. There's no way that a chemistry book can show an example of every type of problem; that expectation is unreasonable. This text seeks to teach students chemistry with the examples falling into place.