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Chemical Principles: The Quest for Insight
Peter Atkins, Loretta Jones
Edition: Third Edition
ISBN: 071675701X
ISBN-13: 9780716757016
Publication Date: 2004-03-19
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 738


Customer Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 out of 5

1) fantastic.   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
Admittedly an intro book, but it still does a nearly consistent job of proving the things it says. That said, if you just want to say get a 5 on AP Chem, this book will be frustratingly thorough and in depth. I loved it. Clear and detailed, highly recommend.

2) Mediocre, at best   [Rating: 2 out of 5]
So what if UCLA uses this as their primary freshman text? UCSD (where I go), MIT, and other schools use it too, and every student I've met agrees that this book is sub-par. It isn't as clear as it can be, is bereft of example problems that apply to the homework, has at least a few mistakes per chapter in the solutions manual, spends way too much time deriving some (useless) things more applicable to physical chemisty, etc.

3) Great!   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
I got the order sooner than i expected and it was in exactly the condition they said it was in. I am very pleased with my order.

4) Confusion   [Rating: 3 out of 5]
Book layout is overly confusing. Text is sometimes not as clear as can be and needs more practice examples (most apparent in sections like isomers and titrations). Yes like one person said before, UCLA does use this text to teach Life science majors, but there are better choices. There are numerous mistakes in the solution guides still, and Zumdahl's "Chemical Principles" is a much better read in my opinion. I actually used it to clear up points this text was muddy on. Your mileage may vary.

5) Generally good   [Rating: 4 out of 5]
This is one of the more advanced general chem textbooks available. It has a review section at the beginning of the book for those who are not quite ready for college level chemistry. Unlike its two main competitors(Principles of Modern Chemistry by Oxtoby and Chemical Principles by Zumdahl), it introduces quantum chemistry (at very basic level) first. If you have hard time with this book, you might have to go down a level and find a text for regular science major general chemistry, for example, Brown/LeMay/Bursten or Moore/Stanitski/Jurs.