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Quantitative Chemical Analysis- Sixth Edition

5 stars (Get Ready for Titrations!) - Quantitative Chemical Analysis is a text intended for the first semester of Analytical Chemistry, which is known as Quantitative Analysis at my school. It is a course that is usually required for chemistry, chemical engineering, and biochemistry majors, as well as chemistry minors. This course follows second semeter general chemistry and broadens on the topics covered in that course. It is heavily based on calculations, however the calculations do not require any mathematics beyond basic algebra but do require extensive use of the quadratic formula for equilibrium problems. The book is not visually very impressive because it is in black and white with orange highlights, but this is understandable considering the small market for a text like this one. Chapters 0 - 5 of the text cover introductory material like stoicmetry, error, and statistics, and probably will not be covered in class. Chapters 7 - 25 are the heart of the material for most Quant classes. These chapters can be grouped into a few categories: chemical equilibrium, titrations, electrochemistry, and instrumental techniques such as chromatography and spectrophotometry. The book treats these subjects well and devotes enough material to specific concepts to make the information clear to the reader. Many useful examples and problems are given, and the excellent solutions manuel contains detailed answers to ALL of the problems in the text book. Harris also gives several shortcuts for solving problems. In particular, his explanation of the streamline equation for titration problems was very useful and made these problems much less tedious. He also includes information about topics of interest to biochemistry, and features textboxes about the applications of analytical procedures. I'd say that this is a great text for analytical chemistry. The main problem with a first semester analytical chemistry class is not that the problems are very difficult, it is that they are V...
W H Freeman :: Science & Chemistry & Analytic :: Quantitative analytical chemistry :: Technology & Industrial Arts :: Science&Mathematics :: Science :: Quantitative :: Engineeri :: Quantitative Chemical Analysis- Sixth Edition

 

Organic Chemistry- Fourth Edition - Structure and Function

5 stars (The best book for chem majors) - After one term of having this book, I decided to become a chemist. It grabbed me really hard and made me realize the complexity and wonder of chemistry (something I hadn't experienced with freshman chem.) If you are a chemistry major, this is definitely the book you will want to use. If your prof is using a different text, I'd definitely keep a copy of this one to use as a second opinion, at least. It is extremely well-written and it's written at a high level. In other words, it doesn't just string you along and give you the basics... it delves deeply into reaction mechanisms and what is actually happening in each reaction. Product yields for many reactions are included, and this is quite useful. The writing style makes you learn a new way of thinking - that of a scientist. At times, the syntax is a little "brainy" (they refer to acetone by its IUPAC name, "propanone", for instance, and they refer to ethylene oxide as "oxacyclopropane".) I had an earlier version of this book in class when I took organic many years ago, but the revisions are mostly in presentation and in the problem sets. True, the problems in each chapter are not always good. If your instructor is good, they will provide their own problems to supplement the book's. But my suggestion is to go ahead and just do a web search for old exams and problems given by profs at other schools. Many of these are great and will give you tons of insight. For those who have already graduated, this is a good and up-to-date book to keep with you in your graduate studies or in the lab if you work in such a capacity. 5 stars (I Love Vollhardt) - After perusing several other texts at different colleges, I have come to the conclusion that the Vollhardt book is indeed a well done text. Although more examples would have been nice, I feel that the reactions are done in a straightforward manner and the Chemical Highlights provided are fantastically interesting. The Via...
W H Freeman :: Science & Chemistry & Organic :: Organic chemistry :: Science&Mathematics :: Science :: Chemistry :: Organic :: Chemistry - Organic :: Neil E Schore :: K Peter C V :: Organic Chemistry- Fourth Edition - Structure and Function

 

Molecular Cell Biology- Fifth Edition

1 stars (Inferior in every way) - The Alberts text (Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fourth Edition) is superior to this text in every way. It is clearer, more precise, and contains more information. This one manages to make simple concepts become quite difficult. 5 stars (Excellent but starting to get outdated) - Excellent. Hands down the best book out there for cell biology. Gives a thorough look at the exciting unraveling of the cell. Figures are exceptional. However, being now ~3 years old and due to the intense output and growth of scientific literature this book is starting to get outdated. There have been several advances in a number of transport systems (i.e. Nuclear transport and regulation of gene expression). A new edition in the next year or so would hopefully address these issues. 1 stars (Rehash of previous edition to prevent resale.) - The book matches PERFECTLY to the previous edition... with loads of cut and paste of partial paragraphs. The result is that you could never find your way through a class using this edition with the previous edition: curbs the used book market. There is nothing more. No 'cutting edge technology' and minimal new info... not worth a new edition. All the "hard work" of putting together this edition was NOT done by the Authors, but by "hardworking" editors: NOT scientists. It isn't presenting any new science worthy of a new edition... thats just an appeal. The editing may have taken a lot of work but they obviously had a deadline! The combinations of sentences formed for the new edition from sentences edited from this and that chapter of the old edition are grammatical nightmares! The illustrations are also second rate. Why this book is popular must be a source of wonder to the editors. Half baked edition with undeserved popularity. Worse, the language hashed was difficult to begin with. A biologist who studied from this text would be a giggle to have around. ...
W H Freeman :: Science & Biology :: Genetics (non-medical) :: Cellular biology :: Science&Mathematics :: Science :: Molecular biology :: Life Sciences - Cytology :: Life Sciences :: Molecular Cell Biology- Fifth Edition

 

Biochemistry Chapters 1-34

1 stars (Only thoughts: WTF!!) - I helped teach three terms of upper division biochemistry with this book and this book is terrible!! Don't get this confused with the Stryer book (although he is listed as an author, the book IS NOT written in his style). For non-biochem people, get the real Stryer book and for biochem people get the Matthews or the Voet book. 1 stars (OMG! A how to manual for a badly written book) - I needed to purchase this book for my graduate class in biochemistry. I found it to be NOT user friendly in the least. Most books I have used for biochemistry come with a great set of definitions. This book not only doesn't come with an appendix with definitions but doesn't explicitely define words in the text. I finally found the "definitions" appendix at the only website (how nice of them...and how cheap can you get. Most books if they have a website also have definitions in the back). I should also mention it does not have a thorough index. Major subjects are neither defined nor shown in the index. Several times I had to go to either my organic chem book (Morrison & Boyd...great book), the Lippencotes (spelling) biochemistry review text (also a great concise book), or my under graduate biochemistry book (and study guide. Garrett and Grisham) to find information due to either the lack of information in this book or difficulty in finding it. Also, the layout of the book is terrible. Although proteins are now THE significant phase of biochemistry, the introduction of DNA and mRNA in later portions of the book is rediculous. If you follow the basic flow of genetic information from DNA to RNA to Protein it is much more easily understood. Throwing in the flow of genetic information at chapter 5 and later in chapter 27 discussing DNA replication, RNA synthesis and splicing (ch 28) and protein production (ch 29) makes no sense whatsoever. The order is correct but to place this information at the back of the book when it is necessary to un...
W H Freeman :: Science & Biochemistry :: Science&Mathematics :: Science :: Life Sciences - Biochemistry :: Biochemistry :: John L Tymoczko :: Lubert Stryer :: Jeremy M Berg :: :: Biochemistry (Chapters 1-34)

 

Chemical Principles - The Quest for Insight

3 stars (Confusion) - Book layout is overly confusing. Text is sometimes not as clear as can be and needs more practice examples (most apparent in sections like isomers and titrations). Yes like one person said before, UCLA does use this text to teach Life science majors, but there are better choices. There are numerous mistakes in the solution guides still, and Zumdahl's "Chemical Principles" is a much better read in my opinion. I actually used it to clear up points this text was muddy on. Your mileage may vary. 4 stars (Generally good) - This is one of the more advanced general chem textbooks available. It has a review section at the beginning of the book for those who are not quite ready for college level chemistry. Unlike its two main competitors(Principles of Modern Chemistry by Oxtoby and Chemical Principles by Zumdahl), it introduces quantum chemistry (at very basic level) first. If you have hard time with this book, you might have to go down a level and find a text for regular science major general chemistry, for example, Brown/LeMay/Bursten or Moore/Stanitski/Jurs. 4 stars (THE COLLOGE 1ST SEMESTER HONORS CHEM BOOK) - I used this book for my 1st semester Honors Chemistry class at Cornell University (CHEM 215). Even though Chem is not my favorite science subject (I'm an electrical engineer, so I prefer physics instead) I have to say the combination of book and professor (Benjamin Widom), makes me remember that class as my favorite one during my first semester at Cornell. I wouldn't listen too much to the negative reviewer (Who wrote this book?). The book is not bad at all; it is just focused towards students who are going to be majoring on Chemistry (Pre-Meds). But that doesn't make it "bad". I do recognize that there are some typos in this edition that our professor easily corrected (that's why I gave it a 4 and not a 5). ...
W H Freeman :: Science & Chemistry & General :: Science&Mathematics :: Science :: Chemistry - General :: Chemistry :: Peter Atkins :: Loretta Jones :: :: Chemical Principles - The Quest for Insight

 

Life- The Science of Biology- 7th Edition Book Only

5 stars (I'm in Biology heaven) - Ah, the holy grail of textbooks: To find a textbook that is completely clear, explains all aspects of the subject, lets you understand rather than just memorize so you can think independently on the subject and actually enjoyable to read. Textbooks like those are incredibly rare and they are worth their weight in gold once you find them. Looks like we found one for biology. 2 stars (Poor Organization) - I decided to buy this book instead of borrowing from the library because of the pretty colorful pictures it has. However, I regret spending $100 on this book because the text is poorly orgnanized. Although some chapters are written well, you will see content are scrambled within some chapters making it hard to take notes. There are also errors like they mentioned that Th cell help cellular response, but they ever tell you how. The activation gate and inactivation gate mentioned in the neuron chapters are confusing. The mentioned it on the text, but they don't show it on the pictures. I need to admit that their animation, tutorial in their web site are awesome. I would recommed the campbell book instead 5 stars (Life Review) - THIS BOOK HAS AMAZINGLY USEFUL DIAGRAMS AND FIGURES THAT HELP THE READER VISUALIZE AND UNDERSTAND THE SUBJECT. ...
Sinauer Associates and W H Freeman :: Science & Biology :: Biology :: Life Sciences :: Science&Mathematics :: Science :: Life Sciences - Biology - General :: General :: Biology :: Gordon H Orians :: Craig :: Life- The Science of Biology- 7th Edition (Book Only)