Chemistry: Principles and Reactions

This book does a good job of presenting material in a precise manner. Two classes at my college are taught out of this text book and I was amazed at how thin it was. It is not at all a heavy, bulky book but it still does an excellent job of explaining material and providing useful problems.

I used this book for AP chem. I know one of the reviewers claims that it doesn't prepare you for the test. I think though, that it covers all the information you'll need to get a five on the AP, as I used this book, and I got a five. Perhaps, the practice problems aren't exactly AP chem test type problems. Therefore, to study for the actual test, go find a practice AP chem book like Barrons. They give you myriad practice problems. This book though, explains chemistry, not just how to do problems. Some people think that its over simplified. I think that its just written well and doesn't over complicate matters. Everything you need to know for a first year non calculus based chemistry course is in this book...and its accessible. The language is clear and concise. The sample problems are very useful because they cover basic problem solving techniques. I also enjoyed the little notes in the margins, they're kinda funny (this refers to the third edition). Anyway, if you want a general chem book that is not too complicated but still covers alot of material, this one's for you!

I am a UCONN student, where Prof. Masterton and Prof. Hurley are my chemistry teachers. I have to say that this book is very well written, and interesting to read. It explains the priciple in clear and easy to understand fassion, not wordy, not repetitive. The exercises are step by step, and get to the point. The author often makes connection between chemistry and our everyday life. For example, he will expain that sea water is a bit slipery because it's slightly basic. There are some comments that this book is too simple, and not at college level. Well, I'm taking general chemistry course here, with this textbook, and this course is one of the hardest course at UCONN. We judge a book by it's content, not by it's thickness or how pretty the title page is. There are not too many organic stuff here, but most people who is major in chemistry related fields go on to take Organic Chemistry, at here this is the way it is here. This book is supposed to be General introduction to chemistry. And you can certainly get a lot out of it.

i bought this book to help me pass honors chem in high school cuz it corresponds with our text and was highly recommended. it has a great sort of outline for each chapter where you can take notes in a fill in the blank form, and the stepbystep instructions and problems are great.

At first glance, this book looks too abstract, geared more towards high school students. Upon closer examination, I found that the book is extremely well-organized and written in the most concise way possible without losing the essence of the subject. Only other chemistry book that I think is comparable in quality is "Chemistry 2nd ed" by McMurry. However, if you compare side by side, you will see that the exact same materials are generally discussed in much more concise form with no wordy explanations in Masterton's writing. I think the book received some negative comments from other reviewers because it appears over simplified; however, I think all the important materials are covered extremely well at college-level. If you believe in efficiency, definitely use this book. However, if you want to look/feel sophisticated, scholarly or pretentious, there's a lot of wordy books out there.