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Extensive revised and updated 3rd edition of classic first-year text by Nobel Laureate. Atomic and molecular structure, quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, thermodynamics correlated with descriptive chemistry. Problems. 75 pages of appendixes. "An excellent text, highly recommended." - Ch
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
First published 1947. This Dover reprint is the 1970 edition. About 950 pages. Naturally has excursions into physics, including the structure of the nucleus and electrons, and things like electron shells. Also of course gas material from Avogadro onwards, and the relation with atomic and molecular weights, vapour pressures etc. And states of matter, such as ice, and water including deuterium and tritium; and crystallography. He doesn't clearly distinguish theories from empirically established material - but this is very common and part of the legacy of overblown mathematical treatments. Naturally enough, it has to deal with chromatography, and mass spectroscopy - i.e. separation by weight. This book predates most colour chemistry. Pauling made a mistake over 'high energy bonds'; he has quite a bit of material on biochemistry, perhaps foreshadowing Pauling's later vitamin C obsession, including hormones, vitamins, amino acids, and enzymes. There's some metallurgy. There's also an account of ektachrome colour photography - state of the art then. Much of the book is organised on periodic table lines, for example by metals with similar characteristics, and inert gases etc - and of course the full table had only recently been elucidated when Pauling wrote first, as not just transuranics but a few other gaps had been filled only in living memory. Other periodicities of course are discussed. And there's the maths of thermodynamics (includes in effect thermite - as in 9/11), heats and rates of reaction, and 3-D geometry and some other things. He gets supercooled things wrong, and I think the kinetic theory of gases.
If you like to know how things are made, and what from, and have a sense of historical continuity, this is a very good one volume reference. Pauling was not one to admit he was uncertain, so this book is more hard edged than it ought to be - I suspect in lectures and teaching Pauling would have been less dogmatic. The emphasis on overviews, and mathematical models, does however remove some of the picturesqueness of earlier chemistry texts, with accounts of mercury mines in Spain, or German minerals and Paracelsus, or wallpapers and 'poison green', so it's relatively austere. Highly recommended for people with science interests, and some maths, who like to ponder the slow processes of unravelling truths.
If you like to know how things are made, and what from, and have a sense of historical continuity, this is a very good one volume reference. Pauling was not one to admit he was uncertain, so this book is more hard edged than it ought to be - I suspect in lectures and teaching Pauling would have been less dogmatic. The emphasis on overviews, and mathematical models, does however remove some of the picturesqueness of earlier chemistry texts, with accounts of mercury mines in Spain, or German minerals and Paracelsus, or wallpapers and 'poison green', so it's relatively austere. Highly recommended for people with science interests, and some maths, who like to ponder the slow processes of unravelling truths.
Format:Paperback
Linus's book is an extremely well written discussion of the fundamentals of atomic theory (including a discussion of statistical and classical thermodynamics). It predominantly focuses on the "basics", and inorganic chemistry; unfortunatly organic chemistry is not mentioned in huge detail, although this is understandable given the breath of the subject. There is also an interesting section on Biochemistry, and luckily not too much on Pauling's unsubstantiated (but understandable) Vitamin C theories. All in all, a decent, highly readable book.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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24 reviews
144 of 147 people found the following review helpful
The Best Undergraduate Text ever!
16 Dec 2001
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
When Linus Pauling was teaching undergraduates at Caltech, he found that none of the existing undergrad texts would serve his purpose.So he decided to write his own. This was in the 1940's. The result, 'General Chemistry', even after more than 50 years, is one of the best introductions to chemistry at the University level that I know of. I discovered this book in my sophomore year and after that I couldn't put it down. If you really read this book thoroughly, you can probably say that you have an excellent grasp of most of the fundamental principles of chemistry. Pauling's masterly style of explaining the essentials without compromising on information is unmatched. The small, simple calculations that he illustrates in each chapter are enlightening. In addition, the book is lavishly illustrated with beautiful figures by Roger Hayward. Pauling has a special knack of bringing out the flavor of seemingly boring but important topics like thermochemistry and ionic equilibrium. If you want one book that will launch your chemical knowledge on the right trajectory, trust me and buy this one. You will be enlightened by it forever.
82 of 82 people found the following review helpful
full of insight but eccentric
23 Sep 2006
Format:Paperback
This is an interesting, if somewhat dated and eccentric textbook by the man who was probably the leading chemist of the twentieth century. It is full of interesting insight, and written with real flair, so much unlike the typical textbook today produced by the textbook publishing machines.
Let me give a couple of examples, good and bad, of what makes this book interesting, but also exasperating.
The book is the only freshman chemistry text I know of that has a derivation of the Boltzmann distribution P ~ e^(-E/kT), a very basic relation in the kinetic theory of gases and in fact in all of statistical physics. The derivation is simpler than most, which makes it a real jewel especially at this level, where most people would think it doesn't belong.
On the other hand, the section on chemical bonding, which is actually where Pauling made his reputation, is very eccentric, like the author, so much so that it makes the book unsuitable as the sole text for a course. It is all based on sp3 hybrid orbitals. As far as I can tell, sp2 and sp hybrids are never mentioned. With the sp3 story, Pauling is able to account surprisingly well for some systematics of bond lengths. Whether this is fortuitous or not, I don't know, but it is interesting. On the other hand, without sp2 and sp hybrids, he is completely unable to give the standard, very simple, beautiful account of bond angles. A student learning introductory chemistry from this text who then went into organic chemistry would soon be at a disadvantage without knowing the theory of hybrid orbitals that everyone else would get from any of the standard contemporary texts.
My recommendation: use this text as a very insightful, quirky supplement. The price is certainly right.
The text that comes closest, in my opinion, in seriousness, if not eccentricity, is the contemporary text by Oxtoby and coauthors. It is too highbrow though for most college introductory chemistry courses.
Let me give a couple of examples, good and bad, of what makes this book interesting, but also exasperating.
The book is the only freshman chemistry text I know of that has a derivation of the Boltzmann distribution P ~ e^(-E/kT), a very basic relation in the kinetic theory of gases and in fact in all of statistical physics. The derivation is simpler than most, which makes it a real jewel especially at this level, where most people would think it doesn't belong.
On the other hand, the section on chemical bonding, which is actually where Pauling made his reputation, is very eccentric, like the author, so much so that it makes the book unsuitable as the sole text for a course. It is all based on sp3 hybrid orbitals. As far as I can tell, sp2 and sp hybrids are never mentioned. With the sp3 story, Pauling is able to account surprisingly well for some systematics of bond lengths. Whether this is fortuitous or not, I don't know, but it is interesting. On the other hand, without sp2 and sp hybrids, he is completely unable to give the standard, very simple, beautiful account of bond angles. A student learning introductory chemistry from this text who then went into organic chemistry would soon be at a disadvantage without knowing the theory of hybrid orbitals that everyone else would get from any of the standard contemporary texts.
My recommendation: use this text as a very insightful, quirky supplement. The price is certainly right.
The text that comes closest, in my opinion, in seriousness, if not eccentricity, is the contemporary text by Oxtoby and coauthors. It is too highbrow though for most college introductory chemistry courses.
58 of 59 people found the following review helpful
Despite its age, still a truly fine book.
3 Oct 1999
Format:Paperback
Even though this is NOT the most up to date and technically correct text out there, it is still the best introduction to general chemistry I've seen which is why I rated it 5 stars (I refuse to dock it points for being old, unlike other reviews of other books I've seen). I found a copy at a garage sale, best four bucks I've spent in a while. The format of this book is superb, basing thermodynamics on his discussion of statistical mechanics and QM-he found it makes learning much more smooth, and I happen to agree. If someone would get permission to update this book and not much more, perfect general chem text for a college sequence. For those who'd like more physical and mathematical detail, the appendices are chock full of derivations, integrations and connections to make your heart swoon. Excellent book.
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