The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Chemistry, 2nd Edition
- ISBN13: 9781592575145
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Chemistry solutions that won’t get students all mixed up …
With topics such as stoichiometry, chemical equilibria, and thermodynamics, it’s no wonder so many students have a bad reaction to chemistry class. Fortunately, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Chemistry, Second Edition, gives both high school and college students an easy-to- understand formula for passing chemistry with flying colors. New edition includes coverage of biochemist… More >>
November 25th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
I just started grad school and needed to brush up on the high school/undergraduate chemistry I took more than 10 years ago. I thought this book would help reacquaint me with the concepts I’d need for the ecology class I’m taking and for future science-based coursework, and bought it on the basis of the positive reviews others on this site had given the book. I didn’t get more than a few pages into reading this book, however, before returning it. I have never before felt like a book was actively INSULTING my intelligence. And maybe I AM a complete idiot for not taking the book’s title seriously, but I always assumed that this was just a marketing ploy and that the books in these “dummies” and “idiots” series would actually be helpful back-to-basics type guides. The most annoying/insulting aspect of this book was the author’s repeated insistence that chemistry was “SO SCARY!” to everyone. I actually remember liking chemistry and thinking it was kinda cool, thank you very much. The other element that makes my skin crawl just remembering it was the author’s frequent tangents into cheesy anecdotes that had nothing to do with chemistry at all and read like one of those “Life in These United States” vignettes in Reader’s Digest. Just tell me what a freakin’ mole is and shut up with the lame stories.
Rating: 1 / 5
November 25th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
I am a chemistry idiot and I bought this book specifically for practical advice on how to dilute solutions in the laboratory. I was disappointed. This book gives a five-sentence description of Normality (that includes the more-than-obvious joke) and does not provide any examples (such as the difference in calculating the normality of H2SO4 and HCl. Or, how would one calculate the Normality of a 10% H2SO4 solution?) Alas, I remain an idiot.
Rating: 2 / 5
November 25th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
This book (as do many others) assumes that the reader already has a basic background in chemistry. I do not. I bought this book because I have to have Intro Chem as a pre-req for a grad program. I already have one Master’s degree so I am not an “idiot”, but I thought this guide would help. It has a few helpful facts, but those facts were already in my school textbook. I needed a book that presented the BASICS of chemistry in teeny, little, baby steps. This doesn’t.
Rating: 2 / 5
November 25th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
book as good as new, got in on time, and overall i was satisfied with the purchase and the delivery process
Rating: 4 / 5
November 25th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
I purchased the book to help me “brush-up” on some basic principles. I found quite a few typos and inconsistencies in the answers to the problems. I just wish I had read these reviews before I purchased the book. I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone who really wants to understand chemistry. It’s just for those who want a very brief overview of basic chemistry.
Rating: 2 / 5