General Chemistry (Dover Books on Chemistry)

For people who are serious about learning chemistry, this is without a doubt the best general chemistry book available. The treatment of fundamentals is more rigorous than in standard texts, however it is not more difficult to follow. Pauling's writing style, and ability to explain concepts clearly, are truly admirable. The depth and coverage of the book are also very impressive. While some of the nomenclature has fallen out of fashion, this is a very trivial issue when weighed against the overall quality of the text, and anyone planning a future in chemistry who cannot or will not learn the older conventions along with the new is going to have some trouble down the road anyway. An update, or new edition would not improve the real substance of this book. Colorful new general chemistry texts retail for approximately 10-fold the price of this fat little workhorse, and publishers would have you believe they are next to worthless when the newer new edition comes out after 2 years. It is difficult to justify not buying this book, and if you are serious about learning chemistry, and want to learn in more depth than will be covered in your general chemistry class, then you really need to own this book.

Linus Pauling's treatise on general chemistry is exciting and interesting. The book presents very basic but in-depth discussion of chemical phenomena such as thermodynamics and molecular structure. It is clear, reader-friendly, and easy to read. It is not meant to be just a textbook but a fun book for evening reading. No mathematical background is assumed. I recommend this book for undergraduate students as well as everyone who is interested in reading science but curbed by all the mathematical manipulations.

Even though this is NOT the most up to date and technically correct text out there, it is still the best introduction to general chemistry I've seen which is why I rated it 5 stars (I refuse to dock it points for being old, unlike other reviews of other books I've seen). I found a copy at a garage sale, best four bucks I've spent in a while. The format of this book is superb, basing thermodynamics on his discussion of statistical mechanics and QM-he found it makes learning much more smooth, and I happen to agree. If someone would get permission to update this book and not much more, perfect general chem text for a college sequence. For those who'd like more physical and mathematical detail, the appendices are chock full of derivations, integrations and connections to make your heart swoon. Excellent book.