General Chemistry: An Integrated Approach an Integrated Approach

It is an excellent textbook for science and engineer. Pictures and contents are easy to read and understand.

This book has been my textbook for two years, and it has gotten me to the study camp in USNCO. It is evenly comprehensive and pretty clear, especially when compared to other texts I've seen.

_General Chemistry (4th Edition)_ is the book that has taught me most of what I know about chemistry. I just finished my second semester of general chemistry, and I enjoyed reading the chapters very much. In total, I went through well over 700 pages of it with a fine-tooth comb, and I never once had difficulty with the material. Every problem in the book refers back to what you learn in the chapters. It rarely leaves you in the dark (it will tell you when something is beyond the scope of the text). It is not a difficult read if your competency with the English language is satisfactory. Never once did the thought occur to me that the explanations are too difficult to understand. The authors are quite eloquent. Furthermore, there are a prodigious number of information boxes, tables, and graphs scattered throughout the book. There are also quite a few hints, chapter summaries, and lengthy introductions that explain the importance of the material that you are about to learn. Honestly, what more could you ask for? The organization of the material itself is strange at times (like another reviewer noted), but overall it is well done. It would have been best if the organic chemistry concepts were saved until the very end of the book because they tend to distract from the less advanced concepts. In any case, they don't appear too often. The only other problem that I can think of involves the answers to the end-of-the-chapter problems. On several occasions, my professor and I found answers in the back of the book that were simply wrong. Evidently, the authors updated the text and missed a few. However, in the final analysis, I fail to see how a rating less than five stars is appropriate. For the sheer size and quality of _General Chemistry_, the few flaws that it contain are negligible.

This text was used in 1999-2000 at Oregon State University for the 100-level General Chem sequence for non-science majors. It is an excellent text with a (generally) friendly approach to introductory topics, and there are many nice photographs and discussion boxes containing info about practical chem applications. For some reason, the authors include a significant section on organic chemistry in chapter 2, far before they discuss bonding.... Other than that, this book is great. Better than four out of five other general chem texts.