Symmetry and Spectroscopy: An Introduction to Vibrational and Electronic Spectroscopy

Simply put, this book is MUST HAVE for anyone studying or working with spectroscopy. Whether you study Physical, Analytical, or Inorganic Chemistry, this book is essential. The information is distilled and relevant. Check out your professors' book collections, odds are you will find this classic on their shelves (and probably also see many course examples similar to exercises and examples from it, even if not officially required for your course). The pages will be worn, dog-eared, highlighted, and scribbled on, just like in my copy I have used over and over and over for last 15 years! From Group Theory to Raman to Crystal Field, this book has got it all! Awesome!

I bought this book about half way through my postgraduate studies in Physical chemistry, then immediately kicked myself for not buying it earlier. If you're a bit rusty in QM, as I was, then the chapter on QM is worth the price of admission alone, the same could really be said for all of the 5 chapters (Group Theory, QM, Vibrations, MO Theory and Electronic Transitions) though as they are all clear, well constructed, with nice problems (and solutions for most). Great introduction for any aspiring Physical Chemist.

There was really no need for my short review to convince anyone interested or even marginally active in the field of molecular spectroscopy that the SYMMETRY AND SPECTROSCOPY-Introduction to Vibrational and Electronic Spectroscopy by D.C. Harris and M.D. Bertolucci is an excellent presentation of the underlying physical principles, the laws and parameters involved in the measurement and, above all and in accordance with the title, the involvement of symmetry on the appearance of virbrational and electronic spectra. Recommended, in my opinion, to both students and tutors, and to those interested in the application or the theoretical part of the aforementioned spectroscopic fields.

This was an optional text in my grad-level chemical engineering spectroscopy class, and I absolutely love it. The book is readable, the examples clear and concise, and the problems throughout the text are very instructive. A great book for those new to spectroscopy.

This is the best book for those who dont have or dont remember any quantum mechanics background. The language is very simple to understand for non english speakers. A good book with low price for personal liabrary.