No comments about Prentice Hall Science Explorer: Chemical Building Blocks.

5 comments about Physical Chemistry.

1. I took both semesters of P.Chem, failing the first because I took way too many upper level Chem Classes & working as well as a weak background in Calc 3. After studying Calc III by myself over the summer and retaking the class, I am able to absorb so much more and I'm ripping a new one in this class. It is truly an amazing book. Having a solid math background helps one to 'connect the dots' so-to-speak whenever Dr. Levine makes these 'shortcuts'. Tons of worked examples, difficult yet definitely possible homework problems and an acutual intelligent sense of humor are woven into the this book making an extremely complex and difficult subject..... engaging, lol. I spend close to 40hrs. per test and I'm thankful I'm putting myeself through this. Great book, just make sure you have a solid understanding of partial diff eqns. and complex algebra before you take it. Not meant for the weak of mind.



2. I don't know why so many other people think this book is good. I feel just the opposite.
   
   First, it is filled with factual inaccuracies. Let me quote just one howler, from page 604. "At speed c, the photon has a nonzero mass m." Yes, you heard right, Dr. Levine thinks photons have mass. He then goes on to give an incorrect statement and explanation of the De Broglie wavelength. (Among other things, he uses "mv" instead of momentum, which is of course true only in the case of Newtonian mechanics with massive particles. Sigh.) These gaffes are rarely typos, they are generally the sort of thing which someone with a fundamental understanding of the underlying physics cringes at.
   
   Second, Levine is incapable of going a paragraph without interrupting himself. Given the choice of stating something simply, or filling a paragraph with fifteen references (placed in the text, not in footnotes) and a few asides, he always goes for the latter. References are a fine thing, but placing them inside the text and doing it constantly interrupts the reader's thinking.
   
   Taking an example a few pages earlier in the text, it is not sufficient for Levine to start to explain the photoelectric effect, he has to add in a few lines about practical applications of photocells. All fine and well, but it distracts from the flow of the logic, and frankly the applications of photocells aren't germane to what is being taught here, which is that light is quantized. Levine can never resist the temptation to add a little aside -- there are even spots in the book where he interrupts his own interruptions.
   
   Third, Levine is also incapable of writing without making what he discusses somehow seem meaningless and uninteresting. Take thermodynamics. In the hands of a bad author, thermodynamics can seem like a swirling vortex of formula manipulations, but if you read, say, Enrico Fermi's pamphlet from the 1930s, you instead feel as though you're seeing the power of a few ideas applied rigorously to an interesting domain -- you feel the relevance of the topic to the world and you feel the sparkle of the author's intellect. Levine takes this same topic and makes it feel like an endless parade of noise.
   
   Indeed, Levine can take all sorts topics that are full of inherent interest and relevance and make them seem utterly abstract, boring and lifeless. In order to cover up for this, he throws in lots of asides (see above) and the occassional several paragraph digression about the life of some famous scientist. Sadly, you don't make a topic more "interesting for the kids" by throwing in random asides and distractions -- you do it by knowing how to teach. A good teacher can make anything interesting -- a bad one can't make up for it by doing a few juggling tricks.
   
   Between Levine's self-interruptions, asides and dry presentation, somehow the length of the text always seems an order of magnitude longer than necessary to explain any given subject. I often mentally scream "get to the point already!" as I read.
   
   There is also the question of order of presentation. Honestly, I think that starting a discussion of thermodynamics without first at least glossing to the kinetic theory of gases is a mistake. Abstraction has to be tempered with good mental models of what is going on and why it is going on or the student becomes lost. Even a couple of pages showing that the Ideal Gas Law is an emergent result of a simple classical mechanical model would ground the student better to the material. This sort of thing happens over and over in Levine, with discussion being often both too rigorous and unfounded in basic principles at the same time -- quite a trick to pull off.
   
   Levine's text is, of course, in its fifth edition. Presumably, had the earlier revision been left alone, sales might have flagged as used copies from bored students uninterested in holding on to them filled the market. The publishers have therefore done the usual thing and produced trivial updates every few years to assure that used copies become worthless. Does this new fifth edition come with snazzy new diagrams and all the other stigmata of the modern textbook industry? No. The diagrams in the text -- a text you pay a kings ransom for -- were clearly done in MacDraw and MacPaint in the mid-1980s. I am not that upset about this -- I just find it another irritation. Truthfully, I don't need snazzy illustrations -- my favorite physics and chemistry texts are often decades old -- but if you're going to pretend that you're doing a new edition for some reason other than to keep your sales numbers up, at least have the decency to spend a small amount of money on production to keep up appearances. Milking the students is an embarrassment, especially at the inflated price this book commands.
   
   Oh, and did I mention that the book is insanely heavy? That's not a small thing if you have to haul it around a campus constantly.
   
   As I said, I don't know why other reviewers like this book so much. I'm a confirmed science geek who loves reading science texts for their own sake and I'm having a great deal of difficulty reminding myself that this text (which is being used for a class I'm taking) is not reason enough to find the entire subject of physical chemistry an unbearably boring waste of time -- the topic is in fact interesting, it is this book which is the problem.
   
   To survive the course I'm taking with my mind intact, I've used a succession of small texts by people like Fermi and Pauli. The contrast between people who understand a topic well enough to explain it clearly and simply and the people like Levine that churn out heavy uninteresting textbooks is striking. If you're a professor considering the use of this book, please, please, please don't do it. Find something else. there has to be a decent book on this topic out there somewhere.
   
   As a final comment, let me say this is not the worst text I've ever used. That would be H.J. Pain's "The Physics of Vibrations and Waves". To damn Dr. Levine with faint praise, this book doesn't even come close to being as bad as that other text.



3. Physical Chemistry is complicated, there is no way of getting around that. This book will go through the derivations, but never include units. That is a huge problem.



4. If you want the most student friendly book get Physical Chemistry , 4/e by Laidler, Meiser, Sanctuary, ISBN 061815292X.
   
   Description on their website says "With its clear explanations and practical pedagogy, Physical Chemistry is less intimidating to students than other texts, without sacrificing the mathematical rigor and comprehensiveness necessary for a junior-level physical chemistry course. The text's long-standing reputation for accessible writing provides clear instruction and superior problem-solving support for students." I second that.
   
   see my review here Physical Chemistry I mention the alternatives as well.



5. A previous reviewer stated that physical chemistry is complicated. As a retired NASA researcher with 44 years experience specializing in physical chemistry I readily acknowledge that physical chemistry can be a very challenging subject. But, personally, I have also found it to be immensely fascinating and rewarding. There are several good textbooks on physical chemistry but, in my opinion, none is better than this one. Levine has done a very good job of presenting the material contained in an understandable fashion without compromising scientific rigor.
   
   An earlier reviewer stated that this book is full of inaccuracies, but I strongly disagree with this statement. One example of an alleged inaccuracy which this reviewer cited is Levine`s statement that, at the velocity of light, photons have mass. This is a true statement; photons do indeed have both mass and momentum and thus can cause pressure on objects they strike. I beg you not to be biased against this outstanding book by this flawed review.
   
   The topic of physical chemistry -- in which chemistry, physics, and mathematics overlap and interact -- clearly does not appeal to everyone. Even many chemists shun the rigors of physical chemistry as much as possible. But for those studying this important subject, I highly recommend this book. And some of you may even come to love this fascinating subject as I do.

5 comments about Oxygen: The Molecule that Made the World (Popular Science).

1. Although not quite as pulled together as "Power, Sex, Suicide", this is a wonderful account of modern biochemistry. There are fresh ideas on nearly every page and his writing is amazingly clear. I realized halfway through that there are very few diagrams in the text, yet I felt like I didn't need any; a rarity for any science book.
   
   It may be a little tough going if you haven't had some chemistry/biology background, but it seems like it would be accessible to most readers with a undergrad science background.



2. This is the only really good book I've read about the evolution, history and chemistry of life. It's especially good when it is least philosophical. As when pondering over the likely order of ways to handle elemental oxygen - as it (or it's relatives peroxide or superoxide) most probably had to be handlet even before it was produced by plants. - And here are no tiresome stories about geologists having to travel around. It's on topic and well written.



3. A review for science teachers:
   
   Nick Lane in Oxygen: the molecule that made the world [OUP 2002] presents the history of the world as narrated by a biochemist. Controversial, thought provoking and very original, Oxygen synthesises Earth's geology, why there is life on Earth but not on Mars, the evolution of photosynthesis (and respiration), why there are only exactly two sexes and why we age.
   
   Earth's oxygen was liberated when uv light split water; the hydrogen first escaped into space but the oxygen remained, reacting with the rocks, forming reactive free radicals. 3.85 Billion years ago, LUCA (the Last Universal Common Ancestor; a concept not a fossil) had to have antioxidant enzymes, all of which survive in living organisms today: haemoglobin, oxide dismutase, catalase, peroxiredoxins, and could respire oxygen. Twinned catalase units formed the basis for water-splitting, oxygen producing photosynthesis, that arose only once on earth and may be unique in the cosmos, generating a positive feedback cycle where excess oxygen now recombined with hydrogen to form water. Water was the first gift of photosynthesis. The second was oxygen itself.
   
   Every year, there seems to be one outstanding popular science book. I loved this one for its fusion of ideas: snowball Earth; the difference between mitochondria in animals that age quickly with those with high metabolic rates that are long lived, why women's ova remain in suspended animation after birth, not dividing. Oxide radicals are a consistent theme in the explanations.



4. This book is a hard read if you don't have a good background in natural science and chemistry, but if you do it is fascinating.
   
   The author seems to do a very balanced approach to the topics citing references on both sides of the issues discussed.
   
   The book takes you from the formation of the earth to modern times and discusses the changes that occurred to the earth and its inhabitants as free oxygen developed.



5. I read the 2003 paperback of the 2002 book.
   
   Once again, people looked at me strangely when taking a glimpse at the title of the book I was reading. Did I wonder off into chemistry nerdhood? Not really. This book is about a kaleidoscope of issues: the origins of life, sex and sexes; photosynthesis, snowball earth, mitochondria; oxygen poisoning, free radicals, anti-oxidants; ageing, diabetes, dementia; the rise and fall of gigantism in insects and dinosaurs. And the occasional frightening statistic: How many million tons of water are lost to space every year, how many million billion free radicals are taken in with a single puff of cigarette smoke?
   
   This book is a perfect example of how important it is to keep up with the doubling of knowledge every five years. The book was already more than five years old when I read it, yet I felt ancient considering the intake of new knowledge. Keep in mind that much of the book is theories in need to get fine tuned, combined with other knowledge or even turned over. But without such brilliant minds as the author's, we wouldn't be able to.
   
   The minor subtraction in my rating mirrors the slight repetitiveness (slight in relation to other books, which are much more repetitive than this), that some sections are a bit difficult and that occasionally Nick Lane wrote verbosely, i.e. in quite long sections not at all about oxygen, but for a supposed preparation for a better overstanding of the oxygen-issues to come. There's also a considerate overlap with his later book Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life, nevertheless recommendable to read in addition.
   
   There are other/additional/supporting/varying theories about some issues he is elaborating on in "Oxygen". For example about ageing read also The Science of Orgasm and Mutants: On the Form, Varieties and Errors of the Human Body. For the origin of sex and sexes read also Symbiotic Planet: A New Look At Evolution, Liaisons of Life: From Hornworts to Hippos--How the Unassuming Microbe has Driven Evolution and Riddled with Life: Friendly Worms, Ladybug Sex, and the Parasites That Make Us Who We Are.

1 comments about Biochemistry Lecture Notebook.

1. This book has helped me stay in line with what my professor is going over. The only draw back is the lack of space on some pages to add in adequate text. overall it is a great product

5 comments about Fundamentals of Analytical Chemistry (Saunders Golden Sunburst Series).

1. I used this book in my undergrad Analytical Class. I sold it back at the end of the semester and have wished I hadn't for the last eight years. It is well thought out and easy to navigate when a quick answer is needed once you are out in the "real world". There are some mistakes, like any textbook, but I think the other reviewers are just frustrated crammers sending out late-night rants.



2. Overall, the book is average. Towards the end when you start reviewing different techniques like voltammetry, potentiometry, spectrometry, and seperations the author explains the material fairly well (and has the least in text problems). I noticed a lot of errors in the book for the in text examples so be careful when checking your answer. I bought the solutions manual to this book and a couple of questions in the manual actually stated that the answers in the back of the book were incorrect. Be very careful from chapters 9-20, as I noticed a few examples had math errors. Also, at least for me, the mathmatics were derived, but not explained as to understand why they add a new term or perform an operation. I would have liked to see them relate the math to the concept better than they did. If you sit with this book (I mean really sit with it) you'll do fine. This is not a text nor a course that you can cram for. It has to be studied everyday of the week.



3. I returned to college to further my education this year after working as a High School Chemistry and Biology teacher for the last 5 years, and your text "Fundamentals of Analytical Chemistry (with CD-ROM and InfoTrac) 8th Edition" is the required text that we are using for my Quantitative Analysis course. Myself and numerous other students in the class have found ourselves completely exasperated with the text for numerous reasons. Some of the reasons are as follows:
   
   1. Formulas written incorrectly, while the definition/derivation is written properly right next to it, or vice versa.
   2. Incorrect answers to the end of the chapter questions given in the back of the book.
   3. The end of the chapter questions will often have no previous examples shown in the chapter, or in the chapters prior to it. Essentially there is no guide or basis to begin a question.
   4. Asking for something in a way that is so convoluted that one has no idea what is being asked.
   5. Suddenly using or asking for a term that has never been used in the book. Such as asking for "molar solubility"...nothing in text as to referred, nothing in the index, and nothing in the glossary.
   6. Your solved examples within the chapter are atrocious, in that they are of virtually no use when trying to use them as a guide to the end of the chapter questions. And thank you for skipping/not showing steps or assuming things in the problems when they are shown.
   
   These are great given that one comes to consider the questions, Did I make an algebraic error in solving? Was the formula given the correct one, and was it even given correctly? Did I do it correctly, and is it just the wrong answer given in the back of the text?
   
   I have taken into consideration that I have been out of school for a while and that I may not be as sharp as I used to as far as some of the more complicated calculations, because I have not had much practice recently, however, when one is trying to learn from a book that makes it so hard to do anything with it, it makes it about as useful as a paperweight, which is about the best use I have for it now. A $100+ paperweight.
   
   I thought that the mistakes were due to an early edition text, but with a simple view of the front of this book one can readily see that this is the 8th edition...the EIGHTH edition! One would think that after writing the same book 8 times, these errors and some general refinements may have taken place; thank you for the exception to the rule.
   
   In all my years of school, I have come across many books, both used to learn from as well as ones to teach from, and I have never found a more poorly done text.
   
   We, the students and professor, have created a website solely dedicated to the errors or oddities that we have so far found in the text: Needless to say, it continues to grow.
   
   I will say that it is nice to see you incorporating Excel and other software into the text, which is beneficial in its use in Industry and presentation.
   
   Thought you might want to know...thanks.



4. My complaints about this book have been covered in other reviews but I wanted to add my low-star rating. The Henderson-Hasselbalch equation is given one paragraph of space which refers back to four other equations in the text. Understanding the use of this popular equation requires a convoluted page-flipping to try to work through the author's many equations leading up to it. (And by leading up, I do not mean to imply there's a logical conceptual sequence.) As others have written, the chapter review questions aren't covered adequately in the text and the questions themselves aren't always clear. The Solutions Manual for the text is worthless, tossing out more equations and giving no indications of where the numbers used come from. If you're a professor looking at this book for a class, please keep looking. This isn't the book students need.



5. There's no need to say anything else; it's all been covered by the other reviewers. It is absolutely ridiculous that an 8th edition can still pass with so many errors like this piece.

2 comments about Chemistry: Matter and Its Changes: Student Solutions Manual.

1. I ordered the solutions manual for the 4th edition, but Amazon sent the 5th edition one. They are not at all the same! I had to send it back and look for a 4th edition somewhere else.



2. The answer for the question is so clear. I would recommend this one with the textbook since it helps a lot

5 comments about Physical Chemistry.

1. In my opinion this book sucks. I have to use it for a class now and when doing the assignment I can't figure out how to do the problems because it doesn't cover how to go about getting the answers for many of the problems.



2. Don't let some of the previous reviews dissuade you from this book. It's excellent.
   
   Laidler et al. cover all the major areas of undergraduate p-chem: gas laws, KMT, thermodynamics, chemical equilibria, solutions, phase diagrams, electrochemistry, transport processes, chemical kinetics, surface chem.
   
   The topic order follows macroscopic physical chemisty. i.e. gas laws come first, then thermo, followed by equilibria, solutions etc.
   
   They also provide chapters on quantum chem, molecular spectroscopy, chemical bonding, statistical mechanics.
   
   They include all this and yet still manage to walk the fine line between too much and not enough theory. Their explanations and diagrams are always clear & direct. I disagree with reviewer (below) who says there's not enough detail for chem majors. The level of detail is just right.
   
   As another reviewer mentioned, the chemical kinetics chapters are very good - something most p-chem books mess up. This is because K.J. Laidler has written the standard book in the field for upper level and grad. students: Chemical Kinetics (3rd Edition), ISBN 0060438622.
   
   They summarize equations for each chapter and provide RELEVANT (i.e. for undergrads) references to other books. The problems in the book tend to be easy.
   
   The quantum chem/mol. spec./stat. mech. chapters are not deep enough for full semester courses in these areas. But, then, that's not their intent. They're introductions. Well written, too. I read these chapters to get a general understanding of these 'microscopic' areas for my upper year courses.
   
   Immediate competitors to this book: Barrow (ISBN 0070051119), Levine (ISBN 0072534958), Alberty (ISBN 047121504X), Atkins (ISBN 0716735393), Noggle (ISBN 0673523411)
   
   Barrow & Levine & Alberty are all about the same - nothing special. Not as clear as Laidler IMO.
   
   Avoid Atkins. He's abstruse. Same goes for his Molecular Quantum Mechanics book. His dictionary, "Quanta: A Handbook of Concepts", is much better. Get it for your Quantum chem course.
   
   Noggle is an odd book. Some parts are superficial and not detailed enough. Other parts provide very nice alternative explanations (e.g. entropy) if you're having trouble. Works best as a supplement.
   
   Other books that I've no experience with: Principles of Physical Chemistry by Lionel M. Raff and Physical Chemistry by David W. Ball
   
   ----------------------
   
   4 other books must be mentioned:
   
   1. "Physical Chemistry: A Molecular Approach" by Donald A. McQuarrie & John D. Simon (ISBN: 0935702997). This book is unlike any of the others. It covers p-chem from a microscopic viewpoint - quantum mechanics first (extensively), followed by bonding, symmetry, molecular spec., stat thermo, gases, thermodynamics, equilibria, kinetics. He derives all of p-chem from first principles. For traditionalists note the authors de-emphasize phase diagrams (no big loss - few people will ever see it again) and drop electrochemistry (a real shame).
   
   Be sure to check out McQuarrie's other books on Quantum Chemistry and Statistical Mechanics.
   
   He's an excellent chemistry author.
   
   2. The only other book that follows this microscopic approach is Principles of Physical Chemistry: Understanding Atoms, Molecules and Supramolecular Machines by Hans Kuhn, Horst-Dieter Försterling (ISBN 0471965413). This book does not have any end-of-chapter problems.
   
   3. "Physical Chemistry" by Walter J. Moore. Unfortunately, long out of print. Find a used 4th (North America) or 5th (international) edition - published in 1972. This is a macroscopic text. It's a bit more difficult than other books of this sort. But, he says exactly what any subject requires and no more. Beautiful economy of words. Keep it for reference.
   
   4. "Thermodynamics and the Free Energy of Chemical Substances" by G.N. Lewis and Merle Randall first published in 1923. Lewis was one of the best physical chemists ever. Book was THE text for a generation of chemists. A 2nd edition came out in 1961. Some of the language is dated but it's still serviceable after all these years.
   
   Check out my other reviews for other chem books.



3. The biggest problem with this textbook is the problems. Each chapter has sub-headers. There should be sub-headers in the problem sets that match the sub-headers within the chapter. In fact, there are not. The sub-headers of the problem sets are fewer than the sub-headers of the chapters, and the names of the sub-headers usually do not match. Further, the problems should progress as the chapter progresses. In other words, the first problems should match the material presented at the start of the chapter. As the chapter progresses, so should the problems. Again, this is not the case. The first problem could be from the last page of the chapter, or anywhere else in the chapter. So, if you're having difficulty with a problem, it becomes impossible to target the part of the text that covers the concept of the problem.
   
   The text has few worked problems. The authors present a few concepts along with some formulas, then provide a worked problem. How do you know if you discerned the concept? Working problems at the end of the chapter should do it. But, you can't really target problems because the problems don't match the chapter. If you do identify the correct problems to match the concept you're trying to understand, the next step is actually solving the problem. If you can't solve it, there aren't sufficient worked examples to help you through it. Your solution is to go to other textbooks.
   
   Given the random method the problems were placed at the end of the chapters, there is no progression. The problems do not generally go from easy to hard, working you up to more difficult concepts. It becomes demoralizing when the first problem assigned by a professor is so difficult you cannot work it. However, the next few problems may be blazingly simple. So, the authors did not take motivating the student into account when generating the problem sets.
   
   This textbook is challenged in its presentation of quantum chemistry. Quantum chemistry is often a separate textbook. This book covers it all in one, giant 81 page chapter. Try to match the problems at the end of that chapter to pages in the text!
   
   There are a few wrong answers within the problem sets. While this is normally to be expected, the organization of the problems is already problematic, making it difficult for students to be sure the authors are in error. Diligent students will be further frustrated trying to get the author's answers. Given the cost of this book, accuracy should be demanded.
   
   The authors present physical chemistry in the historical manner it was discovered. While this is a traditional approach, it is not necessarily the most conducive to student's understanding of the material.
   
   There is a CD ROM that accompany's the text. It would be good for presentation of concepts at the middle school level. When you are struggling to work problems, you often refer to the text to ensure you understand the concept. When that fails, you might try looking at the CD ROM. Neither my fellow students nor I ever found the CD ROM to be of any help. It is grossly simplistic.
   
   If you're a student forced to use this text because your school requires it, I advise you to get other textbooks and solutions manuals to learn the material. That will be costly, but your grade will likely suffer if you rely solely on this text. This textbook is far from a complete source to learning physical chemistry at the undergraduate level. If you're a professor looking for a physical chemistry textbook, please do your students a favor and do not choose this text.



4. I am looking at p-chem books for a class I will be teaching in the fall. The college currently uses this text, so I wanted to stick with it. I liked the resource CD which I think is interactive and visually appealing. I liked the use of color in the text and the overall traditional order in which the chapters are laid out. So at first glance, I wanted to like this book.
   
   I want to organize my lectures around key concepts, so I'm turned off by how hard it is to find the main idea in any given chapter of this textbook. There can be ten loosely connected ideas in a single subsection, with the main idea buried somewhere in the middle. I understand the need to draw connections in science, but I think that can be done more effectively with footnotes or with separate math chapters.
   
   For anyone taking a class with this textbook, please make sure you pay attention to what the professor talks about in lecture, then do all of the assigned problems and try to figure out why those particular problems were assigned. I apologize for getting preachy, but that should help to clarify the main ideas. This book can be most helpful for students who are able to focus on what really matters and filter out the rest.
   
   I should mention that I lean toward more mathematically oriented texts like Silbey and Alberty's or possibly McQuarrie's Quantum Chemistry with a different book for thermodynamics and kinetics (because I want to teach thermo before quantum, and McQuarrie and Simon is not written that way). These may be pretty difficult for an undergrad-level course, but at least they make sense all the way through.



5. The textbook can be very complicated at times and the problems will be even harder without the solutions. There is a bunch of complicated equations with many variables. This solution manual helps greatly with understanding the problems.

No comments about Chemical Principles Study Guide.

5 comments about Chemistry: The Central Science.

1. the best introductory chem book out there. i used it for my ap chem test, and the book was so easy to understand. i didn't pay attention in class and was able to get a 98 average, although the class average was much lower (80s).



2. As an AP level high school student, my class is using this book to prepare for our AP exam. As we go through the book it has its pros and cons, with most of the cons being the errors in the text!! Our class has a mixture of editions, some "printed with corrections" others not, and we find errors even in the editions that are supposedly corrected, many of them ones that my classmates and I notice even before we have gone through the chapter with our teacher. While it does cover the necessary topics for success in chemistry, the errors within the text are a major discredit to the rest of the information. The public doesn't listen to politicians who are wrong, why should textbooks be treated diffrently?



3. Ignore the 2 star review above. The book is perfect for anyone preparing for the AP chemistry exam, and even for those who just want an in depth understanding of it. As far as there being a "corrected version of the book": LMAO. Give me a break, books are updated but rarely corrected. They are put together by reliable scholars who major in the field, I don't see any errors in the book. A student trying to compete with several scientists is just dumb, they obviously don't have the common intellect to understand the book. I'm sorry, but that review just shocked me because of it's inaccuracy. The book is wonderful and I reccommend it to all. :)



4. Book was in great condition. Unfortunately it was not the edition I needed.



5. First, make sure if you buy it used, it is explicitly stated that the CD-ROM is included. I LOVE this book. I am a homeschooling mother with a M.S. in chemistry. My daughter is gaining excellent comprehension. The text does a very good job of integrating concepts throughout the chapters. I found the ninth edition (which some of my homeschool students have) to be essentially the same with the aggravation of slight changes in the homework sets (to make college students buy expensive new books each year!)Solutions manuals are obtainable used, as well.

5 comments about Bright Earth: Art and the Invention of Color.

1. excellent service book is very deep and scientific, but i waded through it.



2. Bright Earth gives a detailed history of the development of colour as used in art (painting primarily). It is well written and easy to read but perhaps tends a little towards being a pedantic. Nevertheless it is very helpful in understanding colour and its use in art through the ages.



3. Colour is easy to take as grant. However, the great painters of the history worked often with a very limited palettes, as good pigments simply weren't invented. The best blues and reds were very valuable, which defined the ways they were used in medieval painting. There's plenty of detail in the history of art that can be explained by the economics and chemistry of paint.
   
   Philip Ball is a chemist and painters will learn a lot of chemistry from this book. Chemists will learn about art and painting and curious reader will learn both. The book is clearly written, entertaining and educational: an excellent example of good popular science. There are plenty of interesting details, as Ball goes through the history of art and pigments from the stone age cave paintings to modern art. (Review based on the Finnish translation.)



4. It is not easy to classify this book, I would not say it is a science book, what the title "the invention of colour" would suggest, nor an art history. It is more a history of dyes and pigments and how they were used by artists of different ages.
   
   It explains how the availability of materials shaped the artists' palette and how the artists of different periods chose among the available pigments to create and shape their own colour style. Avant garde painters took advantage of the discovery of new pigments (sometimes in detriment of durability and stability) in order to create new styles and art movements, that gradually became mainstream.
   
   Chapter 2: "Plucking the rainbow. The physics and chemistry of colour" is brilliant, clear and comprehensible, as are all approaches to science topics by Mr. Ball.
   
   The book contains very detailed descriptions and "recipes" of how pigments were obtained in alchemists or craftsmen laboratories, quoting the original "magic" texts, craftsmen manuals or art treatises of the time, instead of using chemical formulas, but Ball briefly explains the minerals or chemical compounds and the chemical reactions that took place in the "cauldrons" to produce certain hues.
   
   Ball uses the original names of the pigments or colours throughout the book, like "vermilion", "ultramarine", "azurite", "indigo", "orpiment", to name a few. Since they were used to name a colour, a substance or both, sometimes the same substance gave origin to two different colours, creating a lot of confusion. At times, this read like a soup of ingredients to me. Although this does not affect the readability of the book, I find it difficult to remember all these words. If it should serve as a reference, an Appendix, listing the dyes, minerals or substances from which it was obtained, formula, period or artist that used it most, etc. or a "coloured" timeline would be more useful.
   
   Would this book have been written by somebody different than Phillip Ball, it would most probably be very boring. Mr. Ball definitely knows how to write, since the book is quite easy to read, despite the extravagant display of factual details.



5. Bright Earth is about the long history of paint, not as much as art and painting but of paint itself, and the amazing history people have with visual art.
   
   Focusing on the machanics of paint, where the pigments came from, possible ways people discovered paint, and how different pigments interact with their binders, this is a very intersting and informative book on the technical aspects of visual art, but the book is more.
   
   It deals also with the historic aspect of color and how cultural precepts influence our perception of color and color theory. How our cultural baggage influences how we see color and our reactions to it.