General Chemistry (Dover Books on Chemistry)

I am currently a chemistry student in an honors general chemistry course at an Ivy League university, and I can say with certitude that this is an excellent resource for any chemistry student (with a decent knowledge of calculus), especially considering the price. I don't think it best to use as a default textbook for a modern general chemistry course (Oxtoby and Atkins are both very good; I especially like Atkins because I find the explanations superior to Oxtoby, though if you want the more advanced text you should go with Oxtoby, but be aware that it incorporates a lot of physics in its explanations) but as a supplementary resource it is wonderful. Stylistically, it is very easy to read and everything is explained very clearly. You can tell Pauling's audience was his students. I have a great deal of interest in chemistry and I appreciate the history that it provides on all of the experiments and discoveries, which I find to be lacking in most modern sources, like the aforementioned Oxtoby and Atkins. It is exceptional in that it covers so many diverse topics, which is wonderful because general chemistry is so broad, and in particular has a lot of material on biochemistry and quantum chemistry, which makes a lot of sense considering Pauling's achievements in those fields. Its age does show in the some of the notation. For instance, it seems to defer to using formal rather than molar concentrations, which I had never seen previously (they are however, essentially the same thing; formal simply ignores the species in solution and only looks at the initial number of moles of species present, while molar takes into account species present). I just wish there were a solutions manual somewhere.

As a physicist-educator and life-long learner, I absolutely loved this book. It is so incredibly comprehensive and through, covering all the phenomena of inorganic chemistry from the ground up, taking care to elucidate the physics behind them. The figures and diagrams are focused, relevant and explicit. It is easy to find whatever topic I am interested in. And this book cost next to nothing! Buy it - the Kindle edition - and read it!

Perhaps not how chemistry is taught nowadays, but the book is still full of insights, and it shows one how instrumental Pauling was in changing the way chemistry was taught and how chemistry textbooks would come to be written. It’s positioned at the cusp of when a wide collection of chemical reactions and behavior would transition from parallel observations based organized by the groups of the periodic table, to an understanding of periodic behavior as a consequence of the underlying orbitals and molecular structure as revealed experimentally by crystallography and theoretically by quantum mechanics. All textbooks since show the overtones, often simplified and schematized, from this seminal work. A classic and still worth reading today.

I have not read this book cover to cover, and I have not read it so thoroughly that anyone should take in too deeply what I think of it. I would not recommend this book to be used as a primary textbook in class. This is not because the explanations and ideas are completely outmoded, but because it is organized differently from how a typical college course is set up - the organization is "old-school" so to speak. I have taken two general chemistry courses, and the contents of this book are very different from what I studied in class. The fundamental ideas are the same, but with a different emphasis and approach; and personally, I like the book's approach better; it is more comprehensive. Pauling does not omit the better mathematics of chemistry (as it was done and is being done in my chemistry courses), thus introducing the reader to the most elegant and most exciting aspects of chemistry. I have not bothered to work on the practice problems which the book provides since I do not have much leisure time to study subjects outside the courses I am taking, so I cannot make any useful comments respecting that. What struck me about the book is its detailed descriptions of the properties of "interesting" atoms and compounds (e.g. hydrogen, iron, ammonia). It struck me because I am beginning to lose interest in chemistry (because of the way it is taught in class), and reading these chapters provides me with reasons to find chemistry interesting as a whole instead of just the chemistry which overlaps with atomic physics. It gives me an "intuitive feel" for the atoms involved - therefore, less memorization; always a plus. And of course, the chapters on thermodynamics and quantum mechanics are superb. Pauling goes through these topics with a depth which would frighten condescending instructors. That being said, I do not think I would have succeeded in class relying on this book alone; it is, as a previous reviewer said, "eccentric". It is an excellent supplement, but I do not believe it will be enjoyed by anyone without prior knowledge of chemistry or who is not taking a course organized the Pauling way.

This is a dover edition of a 'modern' book on chemistry. It is very well written and interesting. It is a good complementary source of information to standard textbooks.

Lo considero un libro imprescindible para enseñar con fundamento la Química General y, aunque el libro tiene 50 años contiene datos útiles que no han sido después usados por libros mas modernos, por ejemplo sobre la fuerza de los oxiácidos.

packed with tons of info to prepare me for uni :) great

Il y a exactement 50 ans, le très excellent Monsieur Bachot, Professeur de Physique et Chimie au Lycée du Parc à Lyon, cette année là chargé entre autres de la classe de Mathématiques supérieures où j'avais été admis, nous demandait d'acheter(une édition antérieure de)ce livre, malgré son coût, et bien qu'il ne corresponde pas vraiment au contenu et encore moins à l'approche du programme officiel. 21 mois plus tard, reçu au concours d'entrée à l'Ecole Supérieure d'Electricité, mais totalement impécunieux, je devais à mon grand regret revendre mon Linus Pauling. Je l'ai maintenant retrouvé, avec une grande joie. Pour quelqu'un qui n'a pas ouvert un livre de chimie depuis près d'un demi siècle, l'ouvrage de Linus Pauling est un véritable bain de jouvence. A lire et relire, absolument.

This is an unabriged Dover publication of the 1970 (3rd edition) of Linus Pauling's book for 1st year college students. I like it for its thoroughly modern approach in skilfully meshing atomic structure and physical chemistry with the more orthodox inorganic treatment. The notable bonus is the inclusion of biochemistry and nuclear chemistry, though organic chemistry is rather compressed into one of the 26 chapters - a litle surprising for a Nobel Laureate who is deservedly famous in this area. There are 16 useful appendices and a detailed index. Cost-wise, an absolute bargain.

It best for beginners