Product Description: With each edition, Chemistry: The Molecular Nature of Matter and Change by Martin Silberberg is becoming a favorite among faculty and students. Silberberg's 5th edition contains features that make it the most comprehensive and relevant text for any student enrolled in a general chemistry course. The text contains unprecedented macroscopic to microscopic molecular illustrations, consistent step-by-step worked exercises in every chapter, and an extensive range of end-of-chapter problems which provide engaging applications covering a wide variety of freshman interests, including engineering, medicine, materials, and environmental studies. All of these qualities make Chemistry: The Molecular Nature of Matter and Change the centerpiece for any General Chemistry course.
fast shipping!!! fast shipping all I can say about this one, but it was a bit pricey.
Chemistry It was in great shape! She even sent me an extra handboook. and VERY inexpensive! saved LOTS OF MONEY!!! thank you!!!!!
Chemistry Book This book I recieved was in amazing condition of course because it is brand new. Thank you.
disappointment DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK IF YOU'RE SELF TEACHING!
This is book is required for my general chemistry for science majors class. What a terrible book, I hope that there is a better chemistry text out there.
My first complaint is the large number of mistakes I've found in the book, usually a missing division sign or unit. Without searching I've found at least five in the two months I've been using this book. This is a fourth edition, for the price of the book and this many reprintings I expect a better editing job.
Secondly it is written from the stance that the reader has a science background and often I find myself puzzling over a single problem for up to an hour trying to figure out how the author arrived at the conclusion (And I have a science background). The writers make too many assumptions when writing out an example problem and don't adequately explain their reasoning. Each concept has two example problems, the first has the solution written out. IF you want to know the solution for the other "example" you're going to have to buy the solutions manual for an additional $65.
Third, the solutions manual has mistakes as well, even comparing the answer from the back of the text to the solutions manual the authors are not consistent.
There are not very many simple problems to drill a student with a concept, the authors approach is the exact opposite. Assume the reader "gets it" after a single example problem and then at the end of the chapter increase the difficulty level of the problem ten fold. The problems are good if you want a challenge and want to develop problem solving abilities, but are useless for developing the fundamental concepts that the book is supposed to teach.
I would recommend the Silberberg text to someone who wants a refresher, but if you're new to chemistry, avoid at all costs!
Excellent College-Level Introductory Chemistry Book Although this book essentially starts from scratch, I'd recommend it to people who have already had high school chemistry. If you haven't had that, you should still do okay, but you may have to spend some extra time and effort since some of the most basic concepts are only skimmed over. They spend much more time on the material that you probably didn't cover in depth in high school chemistry.
First off, I would say that the book's content is excellent. It is an introductory (sort of) textbook, but it covers most of its topics in plenty of depth (at least as much as you would expect from an introductory general chemistry textbook). Also, the book does a great job at explaining the material in a clear fashion and it provides tons of illustrations. It is a very visual text and the author is obviously aware of the fact that visualizing chemical structures is extremely useful in understanding many of the concepts. This is especially useful in the section on covalent bonding.
The book also provides tons of useful exercises at the end of each chapter. The exercises range from very easy to fairly challenging, but they never seem too frustrating. Generally, I'd say that the exercises leaned more towards "easy" and are mostly just straight-forward applications of the material. Note: If you're having trouble, check out the ChemSkill Builder site. The exercises help a lot and it gives you useful feedback.
Whether it's for a class or for self-study, I would pick this book over any other.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
