What Is The Best Chemistry Textbook
Anthony Small
When I was an undergraduate we used Atkins and Jones' Chemical Principles: the Quest for Insight (link is to a slightly older edition because it's not a field whose basic principles have changed much in the last few years). If memory serves, it was pretty good. I'd also recommend checking out the MIT OCW site for 5.112 (that course will do a better job of preparing you for organic chemistry than 3.091, which is more materials focused).
It is certainly possible to start with an organic chemistry textbook as long as you have a good grasp of some fundamentals (what a chemical bond is, ionic vs. covalent bonding, electronegativity, bond dissociation energies, etc.) so if organic is really what you're after, feel free to give that a try. You can always pause that and go back to the general chemistry textbook if you feel like you're lacking foundation.
If memory serves, the Best Textbooks list has Clayden et al, which is the one that all the UK universities seem to use. It's a good textbook but if you're looking for an alternative suggestion, I used and liked Wade. Again, I'll put in a plug for OCW: 5.12 is the intro semester, with 5.13 following on.
I'm learning basic chem, and I've really enjoyed The Cartoon Guide to Chemistry. It introduces the basic concepts in an accessible, entertaining, and fast-to-read way, allowing you to look up Wikipedia details as you please.
I do think organic chemistry texts assume you start out with notions of molarity, chemical equations, conservation of energy, change of phase, the kinetic theory of temperature, a basic grasp of the periodic table, and as you go deeper into them they might start to expect you to know some quantum mechanics from elsewhere. So if I was teaching a child from scratch, we would certainly need to cover basic chemistry material before opening an organic chemistry textbook. But if you've taken a high school chemistry course and want to jump straight in to college-level orgo, you'll almost certainly be fine (speaking from experience).
The field of physical organic chemistry has gone through many developments, this book combines classic topics as well as many new ideas within the field such as organometallic chemistry, materials chemistry, bioorganic chemistry, and biochemistry. A must-have book for any undergraduate or first-grad student.
An introductory textbook developed through a collaborative approach developing the atoms first principle. Introducing atomic and molecular structures earlier than traditional models. This helps delay more abstract thinking that can confuse students and helps develop an understanding of quantitative principles which are usually used within chemistry courses.
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Gain wider insight into general Chemistry concepts through problem-solving strategies, and dynamic study tools on topics such as the macroscopic, symbolic, and particulate levels of chemistry.
Get to grips with biochemistry with the fully updated 8th edition of Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry. Developed to bring students focused research and up-to-date content in an easy-to-follow format. This book guides students through the most important aspects and principles of biochemistry. Сombine this text with the new online platform Achieve to access new end-of-chapter questions and walk-through feedback and solutions to problems.
Achieve provides an online resource for Interactive General Chemistry, engaging students in a way they learn best, techniques developed through researching study behavior make this text engaging and insightful for any student. Take advantage of digitally immersive content to better your knowledge of general chemistry with hints along the way to guide your thinking, step-by-step solutions to problems, and embedded links back to the text to further consolidate learning.
Organic chemistry is considered to be the most challenging of the general chemistry topics. Often being regarded as time-consuming and troublesome to get to grips with. Klein revokes these thoughts and offers up ideas about organic chemistry being one continuous story. Each section provides hands-on advice and exercises to help students develop a full understanding of the topics and develop critical thinking skills so that they learn how and when to ask the right questions.
This hybrid edition of Chemistry: the molecular science takes advantage of both printed text and the online learning platforms Owlv2 to deliver engaging, interesting information in the field. Explore a wide range of topics such as engineering, biology, and environmental science in the form of tutorials, videos, interactive activities, and homework-style questions. Students become more successful at visualizing chemical processes at a molecular level, integrated coverage of organic and biochemistry content, and full media integration when accessing the Owlv2 platform.
Supported by the online learning platform Owlv2 Chemistry helps students develop tools to become critical thinkers, ask relevant questions, apply knowledge and evaluate their outcomes. This book supplies students with solid pedagogy, problem-solving skills, simple effective media, and interactive experiences to help build knowledge and skills for general chemistry courses.
Clear, concise learning opportunities to learn about the main concepts of chemistry and how they relate to the real world. This book includes a wide variety of features including online interactive activities, how to apply learning to the real world, and is filled with up-to-date explanations. The second edition of Chemistry also boosts improvements in figures, illustrations, and example exercises that support the text.
Penned as one of the best chemistry books around. This 14th edition offers expert explanations of core concepts for general chemistry topics. Learning is then brought into the real world with exercises to invoke critical thinking about real-world application.
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This book is essential for any new chemistry student providing guidance for the first year of any general chemistry syllabus. Providing a concise approach linking theory with the real world and how to overcome obstacles within the environment. This book keeps students engaged by incorporating text with conceptual idea review and hand-sketched examples to give a breath of experience in the first year of learning. By supporting students to visualize three-dimensional atomic and molecular structures and matter they are helped to develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills.
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A great book for any student needing an understanding of basic chemistry, including topics in general chemistry, organic chemistry, and biochemistry. Including all aspects of chemistry gives insight to students on the connections between each branch of chemistry and allows for connections to be made across a range of disciplines.
Sammy Wilson is a freelance content creator who writes blogs and articles on education, career and personal development topics. Sammy is also a part-time teacher and studied her teaching degree at Bradford college, UK.
I am looking for a textbook for someone(me) who has done no chemistry, but isn't too basic as it progresses. What are some of the better textbooks for starting to learn chemistry? I don't know any specific fields, so I would like to get some exposure to a number of different topics. I am a third year Mathematics student, so I am not worried about it being too concise, I am willing to reread areas one hundred times if need be.
One note: I am not interested in doing experimentation at all, and would just like to learn theory, as I have (sometimes) embarrassingly bad knowledge of the field as I didn't take chemistry in highschool(which I greatly regret).
Silberberg or Zumdahl Chemistry are great introductory reference books in my opinion. They cover the topics in just the right amount of depth and explain concepts extremely well, I highly recommend it.
I would also suggest Clayden et al.'s Organic Chemistry - it's a great textbook for organic chemistry though a bit intimidating at first- you should probably go through the organic chemistry section of Silberberg or Zumdahl first (nomenclature, functional groups and naming) before they use this.
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Huheey yet. This text has less emphasis on descriptive chemistry but explains the underlying concepts extremely well. As an undergraduate reading it (it wasn't an assigned text) was quite an enlightenment.
The standard "from zero" intro Chem book where I teach would be Hein/Arena's Foundations of College Chemistry. It covers the material just broadly enough, going over the basic beats for everything from gas laws to ochem. The math level is arithmetic/basic algebra.
The most thorough Algebra-based text I found has been McQuarrie's General Chemistry. It has loads of exercises and they purposely don't change editions very often so as to keep the book cheap. The concepts are presented and built on in a way that makes sense, and since it's written by a pchem guy it doesn't skimp on the rigor.
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