Product Description

Written by Jim Brady, an author well known for his ability to communicate chemistry, and Fred Senese, the architect of the most visited general chemistry web site, this book and its media are designed to support a variety of backgrounds. It maintains its hallmark feature of accurate, lucid, and interesting explanations of the basic concepts of chemistry as well as its comprehensive coverage and aid to readers in developing problem solving skills.

Key new features include a new chapter on materials and a new website with enhanced learning aids that can be customized according to background

• Flow charts, such as "Problem Analysis at a Glance," create a visual overview of key concepts.
• Each chapter opens with a "This Chapter in Context" feature that creates a framework for understanding how everything fits together

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #101773 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Textbook Binding
• 1256 pages

Review
Study Guide and Student Solutions Manual available. -- The publisher, John Wiley & Sons

Review
"I feel it would make an excellent addition to any chemistry department's coffee table text."(Education in Chemistry, September 2001)

From the Publisher
Offers accurate, lucid and interesting explanations of basic concepts and facts of chemistry, while helping readers develop skills in analytical thinking and problem solving. Features frequent references to common chemicals and numerous photographs of reactions help to focus and inspire interest. Readers are taught to think of problem-solving skills as tools.

Customer Reviews

this text does stand out from the pack...
...in a number of ways. The chapter on stoichiometry is the first one I flip to when I'm evaluating a new text. This book does a better job of providing a conceptual foundation for the mole concept than any other book I've seen. It shows the rationale behind the concept by working a few simple problems with and without moles. The problem setups emphasize strategic thinking by asking students to identify the 'critical link' that connects given information with the problem's goal. The "Is the answer reasonable" checks given with each problem are more detailed and more helpful than in other texts; they help students develop a sense for what is and isn't reasonable in the answer, using alternative back-of-the-envelope solutions that often provide additional insight into the nature of the problem.

The chapter on atomic structure is the only one I've seen that uses the central idea of quantum mechanics (wave-particle duality) as its central theme. It elegantly uses the de Broglie relation to tie wave and particle behaviors together, in the process naturally explaining where quantum numbers come from and why changes in electron confinement in a reaction can lead to color changes.

The thermodynamics chapter is also quite innovative, discarding the idea of entropy as a measure of disorder and instead stressing its connection with the number of ways a state can be realized. A simple model of heat flow from a hot object to a cold object makes the connection between probability and process spontaneity clear.

The approach for explaining and predicting molecular shapes is much better than that used in other texts, where students end up memorizing a large table of molecular shapes. This text starts by showing how electron domains arrange themselves the central atom, and then visualizes how the molecular geometry changes as bonding domains are replaced with nonbonding domains, one at a time. Students see the underlying idea without getting lost in a mass of detail and special cases.

I also like the "Thinking it through" problems at the end of each chapter, that emphasize critical and strategic thinking rather than simply getting a numerical answer. Ebbing and Chang don't have this feature. The "Test of facts and concepts" are cumulative tests that students can use to synthesize material from several chapters; I haven't seen another text with this feature, either.

Ideal for the autodidact
More than 25 years ago I took general chemistry in college and then never had a need to use the skills and knowledge...until recently. Now having made a bet with a colleague that I could pass an Organic Chemistry course on the first attempt, I don't intend to lose. I determined that I needed to tune up my general knowledge of chemistry. I checked out several college level texts from local libraries, but found them either arcane and opaque, woefully outdated, or far too superficial. Then I found an earlier addition of [i]Chemistry: Matter and Its Changes[/i] and found it straightforward and remarkably clear and readable. So I took the risk and bought this edition.

I've had this text in my hands for two weeks now and am well into the third chapter. I try to work through 8-10 pages daily and then work through 10 or 15 of the problems in the back of the chapter. Brady and Senese write well and bring a high degree of clarity to the subject of chemistry, and while I am starting to recall, with surprising detail the Chemistry I learned in 1984, I am also learning much that I either missed or misunderstood back in college.

Of course having only read the first three chapters, and not being a professional chemist, I cannot be certain that I am learning all that a chemist needs to know, but having obtained degrees and a doctorate in other fields, I do feel that I know the difference between a well written text and a poor one and I have every confidence that by the time I work through [i]Chemistry: Matter and It's Changes[/i] I will have sufficient knowleged to meet the "instructor approval" pre-requisite and take and pass Organic Chem.

I'll check back in 6 months and let you know!

excellent text
This textbook is an excellent way to learn chemistry. It provides very nice graphics to explain the text. This text makes learning chemistry very enjoyable and interesting. Senese and Brady did a wonderful job with this book. I highly recommend it.