5 comments about Chemistry: Matter and Its Changes.

1. When I used this textbook, I was looking for a mathemtical/engineering approach to chemistry. This textbook, however, explains concepts with examples but little or no scientific proofs. I found myself filling in proofs from other courses like thermodynamics and science of materials. Overall, a very thorough book, but heavy on the memorization, and light on math and graphs.



2. I have read older editon of this textbook. Older 3rd edition (1988). But it still stands tall among couple of other chemistry books on my shelf. No other book can match the style and elegance of Brady's book IMHO.
   
   There are a lot of books out there maybe more detailed. But Brady's is the one that explain why certain concept is important, how they were discovered and by whom they were developed. Instead of starting explaining each key concenpts in Chemistry, Brady's always start with how previous researchers reached the theory at that time period. And how we can relate them in terms of our current understanding of this wonderful of chemistry.
   
   If Brady didn't lose any his touch, I am 100 % sure and can gaurantee this newer edition will follow its earlier edition's tradition. Even if your course doesn't require this book as a text, go grap one. If you can't afford newer one, go buy old edition. They are still a classic and in fact I am still using 1988 edition.



3. THIS BOOK IS A GREAT GUIDE FOR ANY STUDENT WHO WANTS TO LEARN CHEMISTRY AND ALSO A GREAT GUIDE FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO PREPARE3 THEM SELVES FOR WHAT'S AHEAD AT UNIVERSITY.



4. ...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.




5. 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.

5 comments about The Organic Chemistry of Drug Design and Drug Action, Second Edition.

1. This book is very good introduction in the major aspects of the chemistry of the drugs. It explains with good schemes the reactions of drugs and others important mechanisms. The book is scientifically well written and enjouyable to read. The graphic images of molecules integrate well with the written aspects of book. Book covers major areas of pharmaceutical drug research, integrates the chemical and pharmacological aspects of drugs, and discusses the essentials of drug activity and mechanisms.



2. There is a new considerably expanded and updated edition available of Silverman's already classic text as of Jan/04. ISBN is 0-12-643732-7. Check it out... price is comparable to the earlier edition.



3. This book is fantastic and covers a broad range of topics that fall into the category of rational drug design. The book goes in depth into topics dealing with each important aspect of how drugs are discovered and modified to produce better drugs: from effects of chirality to electronic effects. The structure of drugs, at the molecular level are covered in detail, reflecting every major aspect of drug structure. Then, interaction between drug (ligand) and enzyme, at the molecular level are covered.
   
   In my estimation, to benefit most from this book, the reader should have a working knowledge of organic chemistry and biochemistry (at least protein secondary and tertiary structure).



4. This is probably the best book of its kind in the vast and multidisciplinary field of drug design and action. Richard Silverman is an acclaimed chemistry Professor at Northwestern University, and in this book, he provides the most comprehensive and lucid exposition of the chemical basis of drug action that I have seen. No matter how complicated biological systems and their interactions are, at the basic level, it's all chemistry, and mostly organic chemistry. An organic chemist will find this book extremely illuminating in a way that would not have been made clear through his traditional education.
   The book opens with a short but clear discussion of drug discovery, combinatorial chemistry, and clinical testing and trials. Then it leads the reader through a variety of enzyme catalyzed reactions, with examples of major drugs studded all the way. Silverman shows us how nature is the master organic chemist, employing the familiar reactions of chemistry in an unsurpassed way. The chapter on enzyme inhibition is long and detailed, and it's breathtaking. Which is important because almost all major drugs act by inhibiting enzymes. The examples which Silverman chooses to illustrate are both important (including many bestselling anti-cancer, anti-viral, and antibiotic drugs to name a few), as well as very interesting. The last parts of the book deal with DNA binding drugs, and with pathways of drug metabolism and excretion. Along all the way, the emphasis is on the chemical reactions that drugs undergo, which after all is what controls their properties. The lucidity of the book is such that a beginning graduate well-versed with the basic principles of general and organic chemistry can easily understand all the contents.
   This book is so interesting and illuminating that it's one of the very few academic books which I have actually read from the first to the last page, with every word in between. In fact, it even makes great bedside reading! Truly a must-have book for all chemists and biologists of every kind, interested in how drugs work.



5. The book is great for understanding the title subject. But it has too many references which distracts the reader. Also, many times, the corresponding picture of a particular topic covered is not in the same page as the topic. This requires going back and forth between pages. The problems at the end of each chapter are really good and checks the understanding of the subject thoroughly.

3 comments about Thermodynamics, Statistical Thermodynamics, and Kinetics.

1. Buy Levines book on physical chemistry that is a much better text. I am not saying that is is the best because I have not read every thermo book but if you want good advice, then take my word and buy Levines book. It seems as though engels text has not been edited or proofread enough or maybe not at all. I think he just solved all the problems once and published it. There a numerous times in which he trys to make problems tricky by wording it unclearly, thinking he is smart or something, and the numerical answer he has in the back will be completely wrong. There is one problem I remember where he asks you to find the atomic weight of an atom and his answer is 1235 kg/mol or something ridiculous like that. Most of the time I can see where he made his mistakes, and notice that he tries to trick students and ends up fooling himself. Some people like texts because they are not thorough and make it easy to read a hard subject, so they don't care. But this guys just leaves things out completely.



2. This book is suitable for a themodynamics course in physical chemistry, in that gives a basic thermo course without the quantum portion in it, leaving that for a separate book. This book is a long way from the mathmatic rigor found in the Atkins text. The Atkins text was famous for its detailed proofs and brilliant math, but lacks a user-friendly feel. This book was user friendly but did not give details that could lend itself further study or understanding. If you are using this text, Mcquarrie's text is dated but is a wonderful suppliment to this text, it gives more detail where needed filling in the gaps where this text generally errs toward simplicity.
   The best thing about this book is its simplicity and its readability. The worst thing about this book is its simplicity because it does not explain in detail why the mathmatical model is the way it is because of the physical interactions.



3. As an undergraduate chemistry major, this is the first of my textbooks that I have sold after the course was over. The book does an adequate job of explaining the basics of thermodynamics and the macroscopic view of physical chemistry, but has some severe limitations. Equations are poorly organized and can be very difficult to find when you're searching for them, and the relationships between equations are often difficult to discern (a concept that seemed to me very central to undergraduate Pchem). The worst part of the book, however, is that it is a poorly edited first edition. Many of the problems in the back (and their accompanying answers) have been pulled from an out of print book by Gilbert Castellan, but the tables in the back have been updated with current numbers. This results in occasional correct answers that do not match the answers in the book.
   
   If your professor requires it, you're probably going have to buy it anyway, but if you're interested in a basic physical chemistry reference you're probably better off with Atkins.

1 comments about World Of Chemistry.

1. I bought this book because I was having trouble with my college chemistry class. It helped me out a lot. The layout is great, all the important stuff is in bold letters or in boxes that sum up everything you need to know, short and sweet. Definitely would recommend to others to buy.

No comments about Barron's SAT Subject Test Chemistry with CD-ROM (Barron's: the Leader in Test Preparation).

1 comments about Introductory Biomechanics: From Cells to Organisms (Cambridge Texts in Biomedical Engineering) (Cambridge Texts in Biomedical Engineering).

1. I bought this book because it had significant discounts here on Amazon and, from various previews, seemed to cover the material that my biomechanics course covered. My class uses a biomechanics book by YC Fung, but that book is far too dense and unclear; Fung often dives into topics without establishing clear reasons why.
   
   This book is well made. It covers many of the same topics that Fung covers in his book, but without the ambiguous mathematical explanations Fung uses. The math that is used here is clearly explained and justified. It goes into the level of depth that is appropriate for an undergraduate without much background in biology. Overall, it's a great book that hopefully becomes a primary textbook for biomechanics classes, and it makes a great, cheap (at least for now) supplement to any biomechanics course, especially if your course uses a YC Fung book.

No comments about Modern Projects and Experiments in Organic Chemistry: Miniscale and Williams on Microscale.

5 comments about Practical HPLC Method Development, 2nd Edition.

1. The book is useful for gerenal operator who are both novice and expert. It do is pratice. It's better give another chapter for troubleshooting and maintence.



2. Rational Method development for HPLC is resented. Instruction of rational development of 3-solvent separation system is excellent. This book also has useful know-hows and tools in practical laboratory experiments, such as strength of hydrogen bonding of base silica and nomograph for estimation of "solvent strength" for reversed phase HPLC.



3. This is a very useful reference to have if you work extensively on HPLC. I find its of more use to understand concepts ...there is a lot of information here.

   Which means - if you are looking for a solution to a problem and you want to research separation theory - a great book.

   If your looking for a quick fix to an HPLC problem - not as good. This is a detailed, extensive and well written text on HPLC Method development - wish there was more on validation here though.




4. I find this book to be a valuable reference book on HPLC. I work extensively with HPLC and I can always rely on it to provide the in-depth explanations of what's going on. It covers all aspects of method development, form deciding where to start and figuring out what's going wrong, to finishing the method and validating it, although the validation chapter is just an overview. As of 2007, it's still relatively up to date, regarding new column technologies and latest practices.
   I really recommend this book, if it's your first time developing a method or if you're a seasoned professional, you will find many useful chapters in the book.



5. This is the first book I take off the shelf when I need to develop a method. When I stumbled on a resolution problem and decided to switch to an ion exchange method, I read the section covering the subject and without any difficulty had my problem solved. There was enough detail to help me get the method up and running in a couple of days. I only wish it was available on the Kindle.

1 comments about Molecular Visions: Organic Organometallic.

1. I bought this for an organic chemistry course. From looking at other students' models, this is the best set. They all had the same lame set from the bookstore.
   
   The users manual that comes with this is full color and about 50 pages (50 small pages that is, one page measures about 4 x 8) and is a mini chemistry course in itself. It was very helpful in showing you how to model all the different molecules you will encouter in a junior level org chem course.
   
   The set is small, yet it is engineered in such a way that you have more options than the other sets I encountered. The set comes in a hard plastic case in which all the pieces snap into place (the bookstore version sold it to you in a plastic bag!) thus saving you time when you are ready to assemble.
   
   When modeling some molecules, there is a lot of strain put on some of the pieces, and the pieces tend to become deformed. However, this set is made of a polymer that when you put the deformed pieces in boiling water, it returns to its original shape.
   
   Overall, I was very impressed with this set and highly recommend it.

5 comments about Molecular Quantum Mechanics.

1. I have always had a reverence for quantum mechanics, but now I have dread. Dread that sometimes manifests in awe, but most of the times, grows from confusion, thanks to the heap of frustration from quantum mechanics.

   I gave the book 4 stars to avoid my biased review doing the injustice to the authors as a result of my own folly, but I must admit that I cannot understand the authors past the chapter on angular momentum (Chapter 4), albeit their breathless enthusiasm to impart the wonder of quantum mechanics to the reader. Probably a formalistic approach that Atkins and Friedman told us they took to present the book hampers my progress. A whole page of obscure subscripts wouldn't seem to help much either.

   The first three chapter took the familiar analytical route, giving way to the intuition to supply insight and inspire the heart during times of imminent failure, yet the introduction of the quantum mechanical concept of angular momentum by the supposedly clever arguments of subscript manipulation went over my head. And this marks the end of my struggle, for after that I am just a regular mechanic.

   The humor in this assumedly humorless subject seems to alleviate the pain a bit. (It should strongly be reminded that such humor should only be reserved for the geeky lot, for those college kids are probably too cool to appreciate a joke from, ugh, quantum mechanics.)

   The book is perhaps too inclined to chemistry (hence Molecular Quantum Mechanics). A considerable amount of mathematical maturity is needed (not necessarily mathematical knowledge), and a readiness to leave your intuition bewildered.




2. Okay, I'll admit that my background in quantum chemistry is pretty sketchy. However I feel much more lost than usual in this book when it comes to understanding the phenomena that they're trying to model. The problems at the back and the solutions that come with the 3rd edition of this book are even worse as he jumps around alot and don't teach you how to think about problems, just random ways of solving it. I guess this is an intermediate quantum course but I feel safer with Levine, which I used in undergrad physical chemistry. He/she (not sure if Ira is a guy) at least goes through the math so that you can follow it pretty easily. Atkins... Not my cup of tea!



3. This text is not for someone that is starting out in the subject, or even for someone looking to get more into quantum chemistry. This is a book for someone already fairly familiar with quantum and particularly quantum chemistry.
   My main issue with this book is that it's way too much information that is not covered in enough detail to give any insight into the methods that are presented. The examples that he uses to illustrate an idea rarely if ever can be generalized to other cases and for someone not already comfortable with this material it will be more than a challenge. I often found myself reaching for McQuarrie's Quantum Chemistry text as well as Griffiths's Quantum mechanics text to help clarify what was presented in this book.
   The questions at the end of the chapter often are confusing and any hint that is given only makes the problem more obscure. What makes it worse is that equations that are cited in the hints are often wrong and unless you know what you're doing you will have a hard time figuring out what they're hinting at. Many of the examples have mistakes and typos in them, and they're not trivial most of the time. For example, in Chapter six they attempt to walk you through group theory. In one of the examples showing you how to get an irreducible representation from a reducible one they mix up the last two rows using the little orthogonality theorem.
   Several of the character tables in the back of the book are wrong as well. This can make several of the problems at the end of chapters more than a little challenging.
   If you're looking for a good quantum chemistry textbook, this is not it. Even putting the typos aside there is too little information in the book for it to stand on its own as anything useful to learn from. I recommend McQaurrie (both undergraduate and graduate texts) or Levine. Griffiths's quantum mechanics text is a useful reference no matter which text you use.



4. I used this text after struggling for the first few weeks in my quantum chemistry course at Berkeley. Recommended by my professor, this text made sense of things that I believed impossible. And, it includes a lot of graphs to boot! I found this book coupled with Griffith's Quantum Mechanics to have been the best possible undergrad combo in my junior year as a chemistry undergrad. In fact, I sold my required text and passed the class with flying colors using just the Atkins book and the Griffith text. Where Atkins is too wordy, Griffith's concise explanations help greatly. And, vice versa, when you need more info, turn to Atkins. Bon chance!



5. This is a beautiful book and has some very clear mathematical introductions to the subject of QM but I fear that the subject matter is still quite formidable and is most useful as a reference to those who are already comfortable with the subject.
   
   John