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General Chemistry

1 stars (The worst chemistry book ever!) - As a physical science major, I consider the book to be worst than mediocre. It is way too "general", basically giving worded explanations rather than applied concepts and clear diagrams. Some of the topics are very vague and you are left more confused than ever. I supplement my studying with a McMurray and Fay textbook which is 10 years old and I acquired for 25 cents, and it is even better than this trash of a book. It also provides very few problems at the end of the chapter. For example, for the nomenclature and orbital diagrams, there are only two problems each, not enough to practice for a test. The cummulative skill problems are way to difficult for a beginning scientist, and their level of difficulty isn't justified, since the book doesn't explain clearly. Reading it is basically like reading Popular Science: way too much writing to explain one simple concept. It goes on and on, which makes me think, "Who cares?." If it had not been for the fact that I took introductory chemistry, (I used a Zumdahl book, by the way) I would had been lost. The material is also spread all over the place throughout the chapters. While redox chemistry is introduced somewhere around chapter 7 or eight, you see it again in chapters 20, so my teacher goes back and forth, flipping through the pages. As a relief, the chemistry dept. at my school is changing the book next semester for the general chemistry 2 course. We will be using a Raymond Chang book. Please, professors, do not torture your students by making them buy this book. ...
Houghton Mifflin Company :: Science&Mathematics :: Science :: General :: Chemistry - General :: Darrel Ebbing :: :: General Chemistry