Chemistry 4e&cdr: Molecules, Matter and Change

This is a general chemistry textbook written for US college level introductory chemistry for science majors, not for students with better background from other countries or chemistry professors. It is well written and especially good at teaching students how to solve problems on homeworks and exams. Whether this will translate into abilities to solve real-world problems is another story. A text that can show the beauty of chemistry and how different areas of chemistry fit together would be wonderful. However, most US college students are not ready for that yet, at least at freshman level. For a text like that, you might have to consult, for example, Principle of Physical Chemistry by Kuhn, which is a text for upper level chemistry students.Some more recent and more positive reviews of this text are strangely under the older edition of this text (General Chemistry by Atkins and Beran).

I am in sweden - in a local university liberary - They had just bought in the book - And I am sitting here chocked about it. This is exacly what I wanted - exacly I realy can't say anything more than I have struggled for years with this subject - and now finaly I can see that the clowds disapears Its a real pleashure to have this book in my palms - And I beleave that the time will stand still for a while - VERY GOOD WORK!

I am an instructor who has learned to be skeptical of general chemistry textbooks, so this book was a pleasant surprise. Jones and Atkins have a terrific art program, but more than that, the art is creatively designed and tied to the text. The result in my experience is deeper student understanding. The problem-solving support is extensive. It has to be seen---and used---to be appreciated. This is by far the best general chemistry textbook I have ever seen if you are interested in students really learning concepts. Instead of glossing over the concepts, the authors introduce a rationale for learning a topic, help students to visualize it, then show how concepts are connected to problem-solving in the toolboxes. Finally, the worked examples have explicit strategies for every problem, which helps students to understand what they are doing when working the problem. They can then test themselves on the self-tests. The book has a large number of interesting case studies that some students really like, especially if they are majoring in another subject. My students also liked the summaries at the ends of the sections and the checklist at the ends of the chapters.

Please ignore the Silicon Valley review. As a veteran teacher in chemistry, I have previewed many texts in chemistry. This text places a premium on conveying the necessary chemical concepts in such a way that students can understand without using the accompanying CD. It is an easy book to teach from as it is logically divided, textually accurate and yes, it does have many colorful photos of reactions and scientific principles. After reading the Silicon Valley review, I feel a grammar book is much more necessary than a chemistry text.

I may be mistaken but i do not think there is such a thing as chloric acid....