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 Customer Reviews
The unexplainable, unexplained., 13 Aug 2008
I was glad to see some other commentators unhappy with this book. The strange and wonderful behaviour of our universe (on very small scales) can be described mathematically. At these scales however, our macromolecular philosphies fall far short of a common sense description. The really odd thing is why these seeming contradictory mathematical equations yeild such accurate results!
It may well be that no short introduction would ever be capable of doing any justice to the subject, or maybe I'm missing the elegance of the writing through too much ignorance on my part. (I'm not yet fully competent with the maths of the Quantum world, but I'm getting there.)
There are many fine texts on this subject. The Oxford publication Great Physicists gives wonderful inshights into the thinking that led to Quantum physics (and most other aspects of physics) as well as giving explanations of the mathematical logic (illogic?) in a way accessable to all.
Physics is for all and is a lot of fun. There is no way to simplify the maths for Quantum physics and it doesn't make any sense in the conventional way, but don't let that put you off trying some. Good luck. An excellent introduction to quantum theory, 25 May 2007
There seems to be some mixed reviews regarding J.C. book. Well, personally I feel that it offers a very broad and clear description to the overall structure of quantum physics. The book attempts to arouse the reader's interest through a 'storytelling' of historical facts and explains some of the fundamental problems in quantum theory.
Even as a physicist, I find some aspects of the book quite difficult to comprehend, especially the last part which discusses the philosophical aspects of quantum theory. To non-physicists, this book may seem all the more difficult. But from all the books I have read, this book gives the most simplified description of quantum theory. Highly recommended for readers who want to know what quantum theory is all about and what every physics student has to go through to earn their degree! Brilliant - and I've read a few books on this subject..., 19 Jan 2005
I have read a quite few 'pop science' books on this subject and this is the most lucid and enjoyable I have read. It encapsulates the main ideas so clearly and for once I understood the central mystery of quantum behaviour. I don't care about the error that another reviewer got excited about as it doesn't make any material difference to the level of understanding I wanted to get to. And, unlike another reviewer, I find Mr Tomkins both dull and patronising. This book, in contrast, is extremely well written and never patronising. I was extremely impressed and awed by the mastery of the subject the author has and that was demonstrated by the fact that he could explain the subject to a mathematical cretin like me...
A Misleading Introduction to Quantum Theory, 20 May 2004
Having previously read the Mathematics book in this series (which I highly recommended), I was looking forward to reading this. First the good points: This volume is fine for the non-technical reader, but as an added extra for the brave, does contain some nice appendixes giving extra mathematical detail. It is ok as a general introduction to the history of early quantum theory and its main creators, though in part looks like a fanzine for Paul Dirac (a former tutor of the author). Now the bad: Any lack of real technical depth is forgivable for a book aimed at the general reader. What is NOT forgiveable is that the author's explanation of the nature of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle is plain wrong. He falls for the classic mistake of thinking this arises from momentum transfer between interacting particles during measurement. Heisenberg himself originally thought this, but later corrected himself. I can't believe the author would repeat this error - although this is a book for the non-technical reader, I still expect it to be technically accurate.
Very short, but not all that lucid, 05 Dec 2002
This is a short book, and that is its only advantage, unfortunately. Granted, that the author is eminent in this field and was himself a student of the great Paul Dirac. However, this book does not sit easily in a series designed to make a subject approachable to the novice. It has far too much esoteric maths than is good for a book of this genre. An ever stronger criticism is the fact that instead of keeping to basic physics ideas such as the double slit experiment (which this book does well!) and then developing the ideas of atomic structure, and the uncertainty principle, it dwells on things like operators and such like. If you want a good introduction to Quantum Theory, look no further than the books by George Gamow's "The New World of Mr Tompkins" or "Mr Tomkins in paperback", or, "Uncle Albert and the Quantum Quest".
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Atkins' Physical Chemistry
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Peter AtkinsJulio de Paula;
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Customer Reviews
The unexplainable, unexplained., 13 Aug 2008
I was glad to see some other commentators unhappy with this book. The strange and wonderful behaviour of our universe (on very small scales) can be described mathematically. At these scales however, our macromolecular philosphies fall far short of a common sense description. The really odd thing is why these seeming contradictory mathematical equations yeild such accurate results!
It may well be that no short introduction would ever be capable of doing any justice to the subject, or maybe I'm missing the elegance of the writing through too much ignorance on my part. (I'm not yet fully competent with the maths of the Quantum world, but I'm getting there.)
There are many fine texts on this subject. The Oxford publication Great Physicists gives wonderful inshights into the thinking that led to Quantum physics (and most other aspects of physics) as well as giving explanations of the mathematical logic (illogic?) in a way accessable to all.
Physics is for all and is a lot of fun. There is no way to simplify the maths for Quantum physics and it doesn't make any sense in the conventional way, but don't let that put you off trying some. Good luck. An excellent introduction to quantum theory, 25 May 2007
There seems to be some mixed reviews regarding J.C. book. Well, personally I feel that it offers a very broad and clear description to the overall structure of quantum physics. The book attempts to arouse the reader's interest through a 'storytelling' of historical facts and explains some of the fundamental problems in quantum theory.
Even as a physicist, I find some aspects of the book quite difficult to comprehend, especially the last part which discusses the philosophical aspects of quantum theory. To non-physicists, this book may seem all the more difficult. But from all the books I have read, this book gives the most simplified description of quantum theory. Highly recommended for readers who want to know what quantum theory is all about and what every physics student has to go through to earn their degree! Brilliant - and I've read a few books on this subject..., 19 Jan 2005
I have read a quite few 'pop science' books on this subject and this is the most lucid and enjoyable I have read. It encapsulates the main ideas so clearly and for once I understood the central mystery of quantum behaviour. I don't care about the error that another reviewer got excited about as it doesn't make any material difference to the level of understanding I wanted to get to. And, unlike another reviewer, I find Mr Tomkins both dull and patronising. This book, in contrast, is extremely well written and never patronising. I was extremely impressed and awed by the mastery of the subject the author has and that was demonstrated by the fact that he could explain the subject to a mathematical cretin like me...
A Misleading Introduction to Quantum Theory, 20 May 2004
Having previously read the Mathematics book in this series (which I highly recommended), I was looking forward to reading this. First the good points: This volume is fine for the non-technical reader, but as an added extra for the brave, does contain some nice appendixes giving extra mathematical detail. It is ok as a general introduction to the history of early quantum theory and its main creators, though in part looks like a fanzine for Paul Dirac (a former tutor of the author). Now the bad: Any lack of real technical depth is forgivable for a book aimed at the general reader. What is NOT forgiveable is that the author's explanation of the nature of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle is plain wrong. He falls for the classic mistake of thinking this arises from momentum transfer between interacting particles during measurement. Heisenberg himself originally thought this, but later corrected himself. I can't believe the author would repeat this error - although this is a book for the non-technical reader, I still expect it to be technically accurate.
Very short, but not all that lucid, 05 Dec 2002
This is a short book, and that is its only advantage, unfortunately. Granted, that the author is eminent in this field and was himself a student of the great Paul Dirac. However, this book does not sit easily in a series designed to make a subject approachable to the novice. It has far too much esoteric maths than is good for a book of this genre. An ever stronger criticism is the fact that instead of keeping to basic physics ideas such as the double slit experiment (which this book does well!) and then developing the ideas of atomic structure, and the uncertainty principle, it dwells on things like operators and such like. If you want a good introduction to Quantum Theory, look no further than the books by George Gamow's "The New World of Mr Tompkins" or "Mr Tomkins in paperback", or, "Uncle Albert and the Quantum Quest".
Not for the faint hearted..., 04 Jan 2009
I like this textbook - it goes in to quite some depth, answering questions that other authorive tomes I've read won't touch. But I would recomend reading the apendices (particularly the one about mathematics), otherwise you are liable top get lost as certain points.
I quite liked the way that it can be read as both a traditonal physical chemistry textbook and a molecular physical chemistry textbook - and the flow charts ploting each course.
Overall, better (by that I mean less boring) that expected.
Helpfull book, 18 Jul 2007
This book is excellent for chemistry undergrads and postgrads. It is quite a hard read and you need to pick out the small part that you need to know about because it is written in detail. However the small details you select from this book aid your overall understanding of physical chemistry and is very helpfull. I think this book is written to a level which is higher than a chemistry degree. I used this book in my first year at university as an chemistry undergrad and found it extremly helpful. It is one of the core texts required for chemistry students at the university of manchester. If i found this book helpful so can you
Not for the complete novice, but invaluable for everyone else interested in the subject, 20 Jun 2007
Let's start with saying that the authors pull no mathematical punches. They assume a fair amount of maths and use it throughout, and not in the watered-down fashion, so often seen.
Optically, the book is a gem, and the authors have gone to great pains to use all the tricks at the modern printer's disposal.
Despite being, perhaps, somewhat heavy going if you lack the prerequisites, they manage to clarify almost anything for the reader willing to spend the effort.
One amazing thing is, that one does not require a stiff background in chemistry itself. Possible stumbling blocks lie in the maths, and the autors are extremely generous with worked examples and justifications.
A very useful feature is that the reader can cover one of two tracks, the traditional approach and the molecular approach in either order he or she chooses. The molecular approach doesn't start until chapter 8, but if you wish, you can jump in right there and hardly feel a loss not having read the previous seven. (It is heartily recommended that you do anyway -the classical approach is a beautiful subject in its own right.)
So, Mr. Atkins and Mr. de Paula, continue improving your shining work, if you can come up with ways to do so. As the book is now, I imagine new ideas are getting hard to come by, but if someone buys just one book on physical chemistry, this should be it.
An excellent text for the undergraduate, 09 Mar 2005
The fact that I've had the author as a lecturer for part of my physical chemistry course is helpful enough, but every topic that an undergraduate may requuire for their physical chemistry course should be found in here, and in my opinion, all are represented in reasonable detail. Occasionally, you may need to consult a more specialist textbook on a particular sub-topic, but even if you were to soley use this book as a guide, you could expect a comfortable pass. Probably the only physical chemistry textbook you should consider.
Classic case of quantity of quality, 12 Feb 2004
I won't deny that this book covers a phenomenal range of topics, but this isn't necessarily a good thing. In so many subjects it just doesn't contain enough material to be useful in preparing for undergraduate exams or workshops. If your lecturers follow this text closely then fine, this will probably be a very sensible buy, but otherwise look elsewhere. That this is, as another reviewer pointed out, the de facto undergrad physical chemistry text is a problem because there isn't really a widely-available alternative. Lazy lecturers just recommend this book if their course is in physical or physical inorganic chemistry as they seem to assume it will contain everything their students need. Sadly this is rarely the case (in my experience). It may be worth obtaining some of the OUP primers for some of the more specialist topics or trying to find some more specific texts in your university library. I feel that the mathematics in this book is too advanced. Many of my undergraduate colleagues struggled to understand the derivations and justifications, for example. But I suppose this depends entirely on your mathematical background; I came to university with A-level Pure Maths and had few problems. Those who had only AS Pure (or A-level Pure/Applied) seemed to find the material far more challenging. In the book's defense, the topics on quantum theory are far more rigorous and thorough than most of the other material covered. If you are on an undergrad chemistry degree you probably won't do that much quantum mechanics though, so (as stated above) you may want to just find a dedicated book in the library. There are some very clear colour diagrams in this book which can help to augment the text on a few topics (again, particularly the chapters on QM). I found the practice exercises fairly useless as they were, generally, more advanced than anything covered in my lecture courses. (This will, of course, depend on what is covered at your university.) By the way, don't buy the solutions manual. Complete waste of money which doesn't come close to explaining clearly what's going on. Concluding, it's difficult to either encourage or dissuade anyone from buying this. Wait until you get a little way into your course and have a flick through it in the library. If it looks like your physical lectures and problem questions are basically being copied from it (apparently quite common...), then by all means take the plunge and buy it. Just give it some thought and don't buy it without reading it first.
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Customer Reviews
The unexplainable, unexplained., 13 Aug 2008
I was glad to see some other commentators unhappy with this book. The strange and wonderful behaviour of our universe (on very small scales) can be described mathematically. At these scales however, our macromolecular philosphies fall far short of a common sense description. The really odd thing is why these seeming contradictory mathematical equations yeild such accurate results!
It may well be that no short introduction would ever be capable of doing any justice to the subject, or maybe I'm missing the elegance of the writing through too much ignorance on my part. (I'm not yet fully competent with the maths of the Quantum world, but I'm getting there.)
There are many fine texts on this subject. The Oxford publication Great Physicists gives wonderful inshights into the thinking that led to Quantum physics (and most other aspects of physics) as well as giving explanations of the mathematical logic (illogic?) in a way accessable to all.
Physics is for all and is a lot of fun. There is no way to simplify the maths for Quantum physics and it doesn't make any sense in the conventional way, but don't let that put you off trying some. Good luck. An excellent introduction to quantum theory, 25 May 2007
There seems to be some mixed reviews regarding J.C. book. Well, personally I feel that it offers a very broad and clear description to the overall structure of quantum physics. The book attempts to arouse the reader's interest through a 'storytelling' of historical facts and explains some of the fundamental problems in quantum theory.
Even as a physicist, I find some aspects of the book quite difficult to comprehend, especially the last part which discusses the philosophical aspects of quantum theory. To non-physicists, this book may seem all the more difficult. But from all the books I have read, this book gives the most simplified description of quantum theory. Highly recommended for readers who want to know what quantum theory is all about and what every physics student has to go through to earn their degree! Brilliant - and I've read a few books on this subject..., 19 Jan 2005
I have read a quite few 'pop science' books on this subject and this is the most lucid and enjoyable I have read. It encapsulates the main ideas so clearly and for once I understood the central mystery of quantum behaviour. I don't care about the error that another reviewer got excited about as it doesn't make any material difference to the level of understanding I wanted to get to. And, unlike another reviewer, I find Mr Tomkins both dull and patronising. This book, in contrast, is extremely well written and never patronising. I was extremely impressed and awed by the mastery of the subject the author has and that was demonstrated by the fact that he could explain the subject to a mathematical cretin like me...
A Misleading Introduction to Quantum Theory, 20 May 2004
Having previously read the Mathematics book in this series (which I highly recommended), I was looking forward to reading this. First the good points: This volume is fine for the non-technical reader, but as an added extra for the brave, does contain some nice appendixes giving extra mathematical detail. It is ok as a general introduction to the history of early quantum theory and its main creators, though in part looks like a fanzine for Paul Dirac (a former tutor of the author). Now the bad: Any lack of real technical depth is forgivable for a book aimed at the general reader. What is NOT forgiveable is that the author's explanation of the nature of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle is plain wrong. He falls for the classic mistake of thinking this arises from momentum transfer between interacting particles during measurement. Heisenberg himself originally thought this, but later corrected himself. I can't believe the author would repeat this error - although this is a book for the non-technical reader, I still expect it to be technically accurate.
Very short, but not all that lucid, 05 Dec 2002
This is a short book, and that is its only advantage, unfortunately. Granted, that the author is eminent in this field and was himself a student of the great Paul Dirac. However, this book does not sit easily in a series designed to make a subject approachable to the novice. It has far too much esoteric maths than is good for a book of this genre. An ever stronger criticism is the fact that instead of keeping to basic physics ideas such as the double slit experiment (which this book does well!) and then developing the ideas of atomic structure, and the uncertainty principle, it dwells on things like operators and such like. If you want a good introduction to Quantum Theory, look no further than the books by George Gamow's "The New World of Mr Tompkins" or "Mr Tomkins in paperback", or, "Uncle Albert and the Quantum Quest".
Not for the faint hearted..., 04 Jan 2009
I like this textbook - it goes in to quite some depth, answering questions that other authorive tomes I've read won't touch. But I would recomend reading the apendices (particularly the one about mathematics), otherwise you are liable top get lost as certain points.
I quite liked the way that it can be read as both a traditonal physical chemistry textbook and a molecular physical chemistry textbook - and the flow charts ploting each course.
Overall, better (by that I mean less boring) that expected.
Helpfull book, 18 Jul 2007
This book is excellent for chemistry undergrads and postgrads. It is quite a hard read and you need to pick out the small part that you need to know about because it is written in detail. However the small details you select from this book aid your overall understanding of physical chemistry and is very helpfull. I think this book is written to a level which is higher than a chemistry degree. I used this book in my first year at university as an chemistry undergrad and found it extremly helpful. It is one of the core texts required for chemistry students at the university of manchester. If i found this book helpful so can you
Not for the complete novice, but invaluable for everyone else interested in the subject, 20 Jun 2007
Let's start with saying that the authors pull no mathematical punches. They assume a fair amount of maths and use it throughout, and not in the watered-down fashion, so often seen.
Optically, the book is a gem, and the authors have gone to great pains to use all the tricks at the modern printer's disposal.
Despite being, perhaps, somewhat heavy going if you lack the prerequisites, they manage to clarify almost anything for the reader willing to spend the effort.
One amazing thing is, that one does not require a stiff background in chemistry itself. Possible stumbling blocks lie in the maths, and the autors are extremely generous with worked examples and justifications.
A very useful feature is that the reader can cover one of two tracks, the traditional approach and the molecular approach in either order he or she chooses. The molecular approach doesn't start until chapter 8, but if you wish, you can jump in right there and hardly feel a loss not having read the previous seven. (It is heartily recommended that you do anyway -the classical approach is a beautiful subject in its own right.)
So, Mr. Atkins and Mr. de Paula, continue improving your shining work, if you can come up with ways to do so. As the book is now, I imagine new ideas are getting hard to come by, but if someone buys just one book on physical chemistry, this should be it.
An excellent text for the undergraduate, 09 Mar 2005
The fact that I've had the author as a lecturer for part of my physical chemistry course is helpful enough, but every topic that an undergraduate may requuire for their physical chemistry course should be found in here, and in my opinion, all are represented in reasonable detail. Occasionally, you may need to consult a more specialist textbook on a particular sub-topic, but even if you were to soley use this book as a guide, you could expect a comfortable pass. Probably the only physical chemistry textbook you should consider.
Classic case of quantity of quality, 12 Feb 2004
I won't deny that this book covers a phenomenal range of topics, but this isn't necessarily a good thing. In so many subjects it just doesn't contain enough material to be useful in preparing for undergraduate exams or workshops. If your lecturers follow this text closely then fine, this will probably be a very sensible buy, but otherwise look elsewhere. That this is, as another reviewer pointed out, the de facto undergrad physical chemistry text is a problem because there isn't really a widely-available alternative. Lazy lecturers just recommend this book if their course is in physical or physical inorganic chemistry as they seem to assume it will contain everything their students need. Sadly this is rarely the case (in my experience). It may be worth obtaining some of the OUP primers for some of the more specialist topics or trying to find some more specific texts in your university library. I feel that the mathematics in this book is too advanced. Many of my undergraduate colleagues struggled to understand the derivations and justifications, for example. But I suppose this depends entirely on your mathematical background; I came to university with A-level Pure Maths and had few problems. Those who had only AS Pure (or A-level Pure/Applied) seemed to find the material far more challenging. In the book's defense, the topics on quantum theory are far more rigorous and thorough than most of the other material covered. If you are on an undergrad chemistry degree you probably won't do that much quantum mechanics though, so (as stated above) you may want to just find a dedicated book in the library. There are some very clear colour diagrams in this book which can help to augment the text on a few topics (again, particularly the chapters on QM). I found the practice exercises fairly useless as they were, generally, more advanced than anything covered in my lecture courses. (This will, of course, depend on what is covered at your university.) By the way, don't buy the solutions manual. Complete waste of money which doesn't come close to explaining clearly what's going on. Concluding, it's difficult to either encourage or dissuade anyone from buying this. Wait until you get a little way into your course and have a flick through it in the library. If it looks like your physical lectures and problem questions are basically being copied from it (apparently quite common...), then by all means take the plunge and buy it. Just give it some thought and don't buy it without reading it first.
Excellent, 12 Nov 2003
I use this book for my AS Level chemistry. It is not suitable for use on it's own but is an excellent supplement to a textbook. It has all the information you need, but not in as much detail as a main textbook.
Easy to understand, 01 Sep 2002
This is the best AQA revision book available. The rest of the books in the series are also worth buying. They contain a large amount of content but are small enough to read through for last minute revision. They helped me to get a grade A in my chemistry AS. I would definitely recommend these books to anyone studying the AQA syllabus.
An excellent guide-book for this module, 16 Mar 2002
The book covers the bare essentials for this chemistry module. Although it does not go into substantial detail, it is excellent as a quick reference and is also very useful for "last-minute" cramming
Small, concise and friendly looking but with plenty detail., 07 Mar 2002
The book is perfect for revision. I found it really great that it was specific only to my sylabus because it meant there were no extra pages to wade through. Although i am aware some books tell you which parts you need to look at for each specification i prefered a book catering for only one examining board because it kept content down to a minimum making it look less threatening and much more approachable! The modular format also really helped with this, i'd suggest you get the whole set! The content is easy to understand and in easily enough detail. The books do contain colour and highlighted text but not many different colours (generally just black, one bright colour and shades of gray) which i liked beaucse i find some revision books overwhelming and confusing due to them overdoing it on the colour! All in all, a very helpful revision aid.
Want to pass this exam? Buy this book!, 25 Feb 2002
It's official - whoever had the idea for this series of Collins revision guides is a genius. Why? Well, read on......
These guides are written specifically for the AQA Chemistry syllabus. Many revision guides are written for the general subject of Chemistry - however, there are differences between the different exam boards, and so using a syllabus specific revision guide ensures you are learning all of the material you need to know - and are not wasting time learning things not on your syllabus.
Plus, these provide clearly worked examples of the sorts of questions you get asked not only in exams, but also for your homework - which comes in useful! There is also a mock paper - taken form the AQA resource pack - and a detailed answer scheme, so you can really test your knowledge.
If that isn't enough to convince you that you should buy this immediately, this guide is also written really clearly, using bullet points, tables and margin notes to ensure you understand every topic fully, and each section is clearly referenced to the syllabus, so you can make revision notes really easily and quickly.
Still not convinced? Well - my chemistry teacher was so impressed with it, he's planning to buy a complete set for his class next year!
If you really want to do well in Chemistry......my advice? Buy this now!
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Customer Reviews
The unexplainable, unexplained., 13 Aug 2008
I was glad to see some other commentators unhappy with this book. The strange and wonderful behaviour of our universe (on very small scales) can be described mathematically. At these scales however, our macromolecular philosphies fall far short of a common sense description. The really odd thing is why these seeming contradictory mathematical equations yeild such accurate results!
It may well be that no short introduction would ever be capable of doing any justice to the subject, or maybe I'm missing the elegance of the writing through too much ignorance on my part. (I'm not yet fully competent with the maths of the Quantum world, but I'm getting there.)
There are many fine texts on this subject. The Oxford publication Great Physicists gives wonderful inshights into the thinking that led to Quantum physics (and most other aspects of physics) as well as giving explanations of the mathematical logic (illogic?) in a way accessable to all.
Physics is for all and is a lot of fun. There is no way to simplify the maths for Quantum physics and it doesn't make any sense in the conventional way, but don't let that put you off trying some. Good luck. An excellent introduction to quantum theory, 25 May 2007
There seems to be some mixed reviews regarding J.C. book. Well, personally I feel that it offers a very broad and clear description to the overall structure of quantum physics. The book attempts to arouse the reader's interest through a 'storytelling' of historical facts and explains some of the fundamental problems in quantum theory.
Even as a physicist, I find some aspects of the book quite difficult to comprehend, especially the last part which discusses the philosophical aspects of quantum theory. To non-physicists, this book may seem all the more difficult. But from all the books I have read, this book gives the most simplified description of quantum theory. Highly recommended for readers who want to know what quantum theory is all about and what every physics student has to go through to earn their degree! Brilliant - and I've read a few books on this subject..., 19 Jan 2005
I have read a quite few 'pop science' books on this subject and this is the most lucid and enjoyable I have read. It encapsulates the main ideas so clearly and for once I understood the central mystery of quantum behaviour. I don't care about the error that another reviewer got excited about as it doesn't make any material difference to the level of understanding I wanted to get to. And, unlike another reviewer, I find Mr Tomkins both dull and patronising. This book, in contrast, is extremely well written and never patronising. I was extremely impressed and awed by the mastery of the subject the author has and that was demonstrated by the fact that he could explain the subject to a mathematical cretin like me...
A Misleading Introduction to Quantum Theory, 20 May 2004
Having previously read the Mathematics book in this series (which I highly recommended), I was looking forward to reading this. First the good points: This volume is fine for the non-technical reader, but as an added extra for the brave, does contain some nice appendixes giving extra mathematical detail. It is ok as a general introduction to the history of early quantum theory and its main creators, though in part looks like a fanzine for Paul Dirac (a former tutor of the author). Now the bad: Any lack of real technical depth is forgivable for a book aimed at the general reader. What is NOT forgiveable is that the author's explanation of the nature of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle is plain wrong. He falls for the classic mistake of thinking this arises from momentum transfer between interacting particles during measurement. Heisenberg himself originally thought this, but later corrected himself. I can't believe the author would repeat this error - although this is a book for the non-technical reader, I still expect it to be technically accurate.
Very short, but not all that lucid, 05 Dec 2002
This is a short book, and that is its only advantage, unfortunately. Granted, that the author is eminent in this field and was himself a student of the great Paul Dirac. However, this book does not sit easily in a series designed to make a subject approachable to the novice. It has far too much esoteric maths than is good for a book of this genre. An ever stronger criticism is the fact that instead of keeping to basic physics ideas such as the double slit experiment (which this book does well!) and then developing the ideas of atomic structure, and the uncertainty principle, it dwells on things like operators and such like. If you want a good introduction to Quantum Theory, look no further than the books by George Gamow's "The New World of Mr Tompkins" or "Mr Tomkins in paperback", or, "Uncle Albert and the Quantum Quest".
Not for the faint hearted..., 04 Jan 2009
I like this textbook - it goes in to quite some depth, answering questions that other authorive tomes I've read won't touch. But I would recomend reading the apendices (particularly the one about mathematics), otherwise you are liable top get lost as certain points.
I quite liked the way that it can be read as both a traditonal physical chemistry textbook and a molecular physical chemistry textbook - and the flow charts ploting each course.
Overall, better (by that I mean less boring) that expected.
Helpfull book, 18 Jul 2007
This book is excellent for chemistry undergrads and postgrads. It is quite a hard read and you need to pick out the small part that you need to know about because it is written in detail. However the small details you select from this book aid your overall understanding of physical chemistry and is very helpfull. I think this book is written to a level which is higher than a chemistry degree. I used this book in my first year at university as an chemistry undergrad and found it extremly helpful. It is one of the core texts required for chemistry students at the university of manchester. If i found this book helpful so can you
Not for the complete novice, but invaluable for everyone else interested in the subject, 20 Jun 2007
Let's start with saying that the authors pull no mathematical punches. They assume a fair amount of maths and use it throughout, and not in the watered-down fashion, so often seen.
Optically, the book is a gem, and the authors have gone to great pains to use all the tricks at the modern printer's disposal.
Despite being, perhaps, somewhat heavy going if you lack the prerequisites, they manage to clarify almost anything for the reader willing to spend the effort.
One amazing thing is, that one does not require a stiff background in chemistry itself. Possible stumbling blocks lie in the maths, and the autors are extremely generous with worked examples and justifications.
A very useful feature is that the reader can cover one of two tracks, the traditional approach and the molecular approach in either order he or she chooses. The molecular approach doesn't start until chapter 8, but if you wish, you can jump in right there and hardly feel a loss not having read the previous seven. (It is heartily recommended that you do anyway -the classical approach is a beautiful subject in its own right.)
So, Mr. Atkins and Mr. de Paula, continue improving your shining work, if you can come up with ways to do so. As the book is now, I imagine new ideas are getting hard to come by, but if someone buys just one book on physical chemistry, this should be it.
An excellent text for the undergraduate, 09 Mar 2005
The fact that I've had the author as a lecturer for part of my physical chemistry course is helpful enough, but every topic that an undergraduate may requuire for their physical chemistry course should be found in here, and in my opinion, all are represented in reasonable detail. Occasionally, you may need to consult a more specialist textbook on a particular sub-topic, but even if you were to soley use this book as a guide, you could expect a comfortable pass. Probably the only physical chemistry textbook you should consider.
Classic case of quantity of quality, 12 Feb 2004
I won't deny that this book covers a phenomenal range of topics, but this isn't necessarily a good thing. In so many subjects it just doesn't contain enough material to be useful in preparing for undergraduate exams or workshops. If your lecturers follow this text closely then fine, this will probably be a very sensible buy, but otherwise look elsewhere. That this is, as another reviewer pointed out, the de facto undergrad physical chemistry text is a problem because there isn't really a widely-available alternative. Lazy lecturers just recommend this book if their course is in physical or physical inorganic chemistry as they seem to assume it will contain everything their students need. Sadly this is rarely the case (in my experience). It may be worth obtaining some of the OUP primers for some of the more specialist topics or trying to find some more specific texts in your university library. I feel that the mathematics in this book is too advanced. Many of my undergraduate colleagues struggled to understand the derivations and justifications, for example. But I suppose this depends entirely on your mathematical background; I came to university with A-level Pure Maths and had few problems. Those who had only AS Pure (or A-level Pure/Applied) seemed to find the material far more challenging. In the book's defense, the topics on quantum theory are far more rigorous and thorough than most of the other material covered. If you are on an undergrad chemistry degree you probably won't do that much quantum mechanics though, so (as stated above) you may want to just find a dedicated book in the library. There are some very clear colour diagrams in this book which can help to augment the text on a few topics (again, particularly the chapters on QM). I found the practice exercises fairly useless as they were, generally, more advanced than anything covered in my lecture courses. (This will, of course, depend on what is covered at your university.) By the way, don't buy the solutions manual. Complete waste of money which doesn't come close to explaining clearly what's going on. Concluding, it's difficult to either encourage or dissuade anyone from buying this. Wait until you get a little way into your course and have a flick through it in the library. If it looks like your physical lectures and problem questions are basically being copied from it (apparently quite common...), then by all means take the plunge and buy it. Just give it some thought and don't buy it without reading it first.
Excellent, 12 Nov 2003
I use this book for my AS Level chemistry. It is not suitable for use on it's own but is an excellent supplement to a textbook. It has all the information you need, but not in as much detail as a main textbook.
Easy to understand, 01 Sep 2002
This is the best AQA revision book available. The rest of the books in the series are also worth buying. They contain a large amount of content but are small enough to read through for last minute revision. They helped me to get a grade A in my chemistry AS. I would definitely recommend these books to anyone studying the AQA syllabus.
An excellent guide-book for this module, 16 Mar 2002
The book covers the bare essentials for this chemistry module. Although it does not go into substantial detail, it is excellent as a quick reference and is also very useful for "last-minute" cramming
Small, concise and friendly looking but with plenty detail., 07 Mar 2002
The book is perfect for revision. I found it really great that it was specific only to my sylabus because it meant there were no extra pages to wade through. Although i am aware some books tell you which parts you need to look at for each specification i prefered a book catering for only one examining board because it kept content down to a minimum making it look less threatening and much more approachable! The modular format also really helped with this, i'd suggest you get the whole set! The content is easy to understand and in easily enough detail. The books do contain colour and highlighted text but not many different colours (generally just black, one bright colour and shades of gray) which i liked beaucse i find some revision books overwhelming and confusing due to them overdoing it on the colour! All in all, a very helpful revision aid.
Want to pass this exam? Buy this book!, 25 Feb 2002
It's official - whoever had the idea for this series of Collins revision guides is a genius. Why? Well, read on......
These guides are written specifically for the AQA Chemistry syllabus. Many revision guides are written for the general subject of Chemistry - however, there are differences between the different exam boards, and so using a syllabus specific revision guide ensures you are learning all of the material you need to know - and are not wasting time learning things not on your syllabus.
Plus, these provide clearly worked examples of the sorts of questions you get asked not only in exams, but also for your homework - which comes in useful! There is also a mock paper - taken form the AQA resource pack - and a detailed answer scheme, so you can really test your knowledge.
If that isn't enough to convince you that you should buy this immediately, this guide is also written really clearly, using bullet points, tables and margin notes to ensure you understand every topic fully, and each section is clearly referenced to the syllabus, so you can make revision notes really easily and quickly.
Still not convinced? Well - my chemistry teacher was so impressed with it, he's planning to buy a complete set for his class next year!
If you really want to do well in Chemistry......my advice? Buy this now!
An essential resource for making every word count, 25 Sep 2007
I am midway through an Open University degree course and have found 'Line by Line' to be an absolutely indespensible resource. Whenever an academic essay is required I find remaining within strict word limits to be one of the most taxing requirements. Using the simple, but effective, techniques in the book I am able to literally cut an essay word length in half without losing valuable content. Trust me, if you are about to embark - or are already engaged in - any type of scholarship, this is the book for you!
Good but a bit old-fashioned, 27 Jun 2007
I was lured into buying this book by the five-start reviews. It is thorough. It does the job. But I have read better.
Being 'old-fashioned' is not necessarily bad, but the parsing and anatomizing of each sentance feels laboured. I have a small Edwardian guide to grammar, sadly long out of print, that is beautifully clear without ever saying 'appositive', 'verbal' (a noun), 'copula', or words like that. These words are all explained in the book, but it does not make for easy reading.
For instance...
"I read the book" has a subject, predicate, and object. The subject of "The book was read by me?" is "the book". To newcomers, this might seem illogical - the subject is the thing that is , innit? Not with passive verbs, though. The rules for determining the subject are explained in the book. Once you understand them, they are unambiguous. However, even terms like subject, predicate, and object cannot be used unless you are sure your reader understands them. If they understand them perfectly, then they probably do not need the book.
In some cases, I find the terminology a bit suspect. She says the noun 'horse' has an 'adjectival form' in terms such as 'horse race'. maybe. How would you parse modern agglutinative horrors such as 'image stack operator syntax hierarchy'. We stuff nouns together in bunches to make different nouns. There aren't any clear rules; 'horse race' and 'human race' are not similar things. I remember having to parse some six-noun pile-up a bit like my invention above for a Japanese translator, who could speak engish beautifully, but could not pick apart stuff like this.
There is a bit in the introduction that suggests that computer programs may be able to check syntax. This dates the book to about 1985. I remember using an early style checking program from about then that was a great help. Style checkers still can convert a perfectly good sentance into rubbish by mindlessly applying rules, but they have a worthwhile contribution. I found the most helpful feature was something that highlighted any sentence over 24 words. I found any sentance that long can be broken into two shorter sentences, and shorter sentences have fewer ways of going wrong. If you find your longer sentence works, then you can always leave it alone. The passive voice is usually avoidable, um, you can usually avoid the passive voice, and the more familiar did to
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Customer Reviews
The unexplainable, unexplained., 13 Aug 2008
I was glad to see some other commentators unhappy with this book. The strange and wonderful behaviour of our universe (on very small scales) can be described mathematically. At these scales however, our macromolecular philosphies fall far short of a common sense description. The really odd thing is why these seeming contradictory mathematical equations yeild such accurate results!
It may well be that no short introduction would ever be capable of doing any justice to the subject, or maybe I'm missing the elegance of the writing through too much ignorance on my part. (I'm not yet fully competent with the maths of the Quantum world, but I'm getting there.)
There are many fine texts on this subject. The Oxford publication Great Physicists gives wonderful inshights into the thinking that led to Quantum physics (and most other aspects of physics) as well as giving explanations of the mathematical logic (illogic?) in a way accessable to all.
Physics is for all and is a lot of fun. There is no way to simplify the maths for Quantum physics and it doesn't make any sense in the conventional way, but don't let that put you off trying some. Good luck. An excellent introduction to quantum theory, 25 May 2007
There seems to be some mixed reviews regarding J.C. book. Well, personally I feel that it offers a very broad and clear description to the overall structure of quantum physics. The book attempts to arouse the reader's interest through a 'storytelling' of historical facts and explains some of the fundamental problems in quantum theory.
Even as a physicist, I find some aspects of the book quite difficult to comprehend, especially the last part which discusses the philosophical aspects of quantum theory. To non-physicists, this book may seem all the more difficult. But from all the books I have read, this book gives the most simplified description of quantum theory. Highly recommended for readers who want to know what quantum theory is all about and what every physics student has to go through to earn their degree! Brilliant - and I've read a few books on this subject..., 19 Jan 2005
I have read a quite few 'pop science' books on this subject and this is the most lucid and enjoyable I have read. It encapsulates the main ideas so clearly and for once I understood the central mystery of quantum behaviour. I don't care about the error that another reviewer got excited about as it doesn't make any material difference to the level of understanding I wanted to get to. And, unlike another reviewer, I find Mr Tomkins both dull and patronising. This book, in contrast, is extremely well written and never patronising. I was extremely impressed and awed by the mastery of the subject the author has and that was demonstrated by the fact that he could explain the subject to a mathematical cretin like me...
A Misleading Introduction to Quantum Theory, 20 May 2004
Having previously read the Mathematics book in this series (which I highly recommended), I was looking forward to reading this. First the good points: This volume is fine for the non-technical reader, but as an added extra for the brave, does contain some nice appendixes giving extra mathematical detail. It is ok as a general introduction to the history of early quantum theory and its main creators, though in part looks like a fanzine for Paul Dirac (a former tutor of the author). Now the bad: Any lack of real technical depth is forgivable for a book aimed at the general reader. What is NOT forgiveable is that the author's explanation of the nature of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle is plain wrong. He falls for the classic mistake of thinking this arises from momentum transfer between interacting particles during measurement. Heisenberg himself originally thought this, but later corrected himself. I can't believe the author would repeat this error - although this is a book for the non-technical reader, I still expect it to be technically accurate.
Very short, but not all that lucid, 05 Dec 2002
This is a short book, and that is its only advantage, unfortunately. Granted, that the author is eminent in this field and was himself a student of the great Paul Dirac. However, this book does not sit easily in a series designed to make a subject approachable to the novice. It has far too much esoteric maths than is good for a book of this genre. An ever stronger criticism is the fact that instead of keeping to basic physics ideas such as the double slit experiment (which this book does well!) and then developing the ideas of atomic structure, and the uncertainty principle, it dwells on things like operators and such like. If you want a good introduction to Quantum Theory, look no further than the books by George Gamow's "The New World of Mr Tompkins" or "Mr Tomkins in paperback", or, "Uncle Albert and the Quantum Quest".
Not for the faint hearted..., 04 Jan 2009
I like this textbook - it goes in to quite some depth, answering questions that other authorive tomes I've read won't touch. But I would recomend reading the apendices (particularly the one about mathematics), otherwise you are liable top get lost as certain points.
I quite liked the way that it can be read as both a traditonal physical chemistry textbook and a molecular physical chemistry textbook - and the flow charts ploting each course.
Overall, better (by that I mean less boring) that expected.
Helpfull book, 18 Jul 2007
This book is excellent for chemistry undergrads and postgrads. It is quite a hard read and you need to pick out the small part that you need to know about because it is written in detail. However the small details you select from this book aid your overall understanding of physical chemistry and is very helpfull. I think this book is written to a level which is higher than a chemistry degree. I used this book in my first year at university as an chemistry undergrad and found it extremly helpful. It is one of the core texts required for chemistry students at the university of manchester. If i found this book helpful so can you
Not for the complete novice, but invaluable for everyone else interested in the subject, 20 Jun 2007
Let's start with saying that the authors pull no mathematical punches. They assume a fair amount of maths and use it throughout, and not in the watered-down fashion, so often seen.
Optically, the book is a gem, and the authors have gone to great pains to use all the tricks at the modern printer's disposal.
Despite being, perhaps, somewhat heavy going if you lack the prerequisites, they manage to clarify almost anything for the reader willing to spend the effort.
One amazing thing is, that one does not require a stiff background in chemistry itself. Possible stumbling blocks lie in the maths, and the autors are extremely generous with worked examples and justifications.
A very useful feature is that the reader can cover one of two tracks, the traditional approach and the molecular approach in either order he or she chooses. The molecular approach doesn't start until chapter 8, but if you wish, you can jump in right there and hardly feel a loss not having read the previous seven. (It is heartily recommended that you do anyway -the classical approach is a beautiful subject in its own right.)
So, Mr. Atkins and Mr. de Paula, continue improving your shining work, if you can come up with ways to do so. As the book is now, I imagine new ideas are getting hard to come by, but if someone buys just one book on physical chemistry, this should be it.
An excellent text for the undergraduate, 09 Mar 2005
The fact that I've had the author as a lecturer for part of my physical chemistry course is helpful enough, but every topic that an undergraduate may requuire for their physical chemistry course should be found in here, and in my opinion, all are represented in reasonable detail. Occasionally, you may need to consult a more specialist textbook on a particular sub-topic, but even if you were to soley use this book as a guide, you could expect a comfortable pass. Probably the only physical chemistry textbook you should consider.
Classic case of quantity of quality, 12 Feb 2004
I won't deny that this book covers a phenomenal range of topics, but this isn't necessarily a good thing. In so many subjects it just doesn't contain enough material to be useful in preparing for undergraduate exams or workshops. If your lecturers follow this text closely then fine, this will probably be a very sensible buy, but otherwise look elsewhere. That this is, as another reviewer pointed out, the de facto undergrad physical chemistry text is a problem because there isn't really a widely-available alternative. Lazy lecturers just recommend this book if their course is in physical or physical inorganic chemistry as they seem to assume it will contain everything their students need. Sadly this is rarely the case (in my experience). It may be worth obtaining some of the OUP primers for some of the more specialist topics or trying to find some more specific texts in your university library. I feel that the mathematics in this book is too advanced. Many of my undergraduate colleagues struggled to understand the derivations and justifications, for example. But I suppose this depends entirely on your mathematical background; I came to university with A-level Pure Maths and had few problems. Those who had only AS Pure (or A-level Pure/Applied) seemed to find the material far more challenging. In the book's defense, the topics on quantum theory are far more rigorous and thorough than most of the other material covered. If you are on an undergrad chemistry degree you probably won't do that much quantum mechanics though, so (as stated above) you may want to just find a dedicated book in the library. There are some very clear colour diagrams in this book which can help to augment the text on a few topics (again, particularly the chapters on QM). I found the practice exercises fairly useless as they were, generally, more advanced than anything covered in my lecture courses. (This will, of course, depend on what is covered at your university.) By the way, don't buy the solutions manual. Complete waste of money which doesn't come close to explaining clearly what's going on. Concluding, it's difficult to either encourage or dissuade anyone from buying this. Wait until you get a little way into your course and have a flick through it in the library. If it looks like your physical lectures and problem questions are basically being copied from it (apparently quite common...), then by all means take the plunge and buy it. Just give it some thought and don't buy it without reading it first.
Excellent, 12 Nov 2003
I use this book for my AS Level chemistry. It is not suitable for use on it's own but is an excellent supplement to a textbook. It has all the information you need, but not in as much detail as a main textbook.
Easy to understand, 01 Sep 2002
This is the best AQA revision book available. The rest of the books in the series are also worth buying. They contain a large amount of content but are small enough to read through for last minute revision. They helped me to get a grade A in my chemistry AS. I would definitely recommend these books to anyone studying the AQA syllabus.
An excellent guide-book for this module, 16 Mar 2002
The book covers the bare essentials for this chemistry module. Although it does not go into substantial detail, it is excellent as a quick reference and is also very useful for "last-minute" cramming
Small, concise and friendly looking but with plenty detail., 07 Mar 2002
The book is perfect for revision. I found it really great that it was specific only to my sylabus because it meant there were no extra pages to wade through. Although i am aware some books tell you which parts you need to look at for each specification i prefered a book catering for only one examining board because it kept content down to a minimum making it look less threatening and much more approachable! The modular format also really helped with this, i'd suggest you get the whole set! The content is easy to understand and in easily enough detail. The books do contain colour and highlighted text but not many different colours (generally just black, one bright colour and shades of gray) which i liked beaucse i find some revision books overwhelming and confusing due to them overdoing it on the colour! All in all, a very helpful revision aid.
Want to pass this exam? Buy this book!, 25 Feb 2002
It's official - whoever had the idea for this series of Collins revision guides is a genius. Why? Well, read on......
These guides are written specifically for the AQA Chemistry syllabus. Many revision guides are written for the general subject of Chemistry - however, there are differences between the different exam boards, and so using a syllabus specific revision guide ensures you are learning all of the material you need to know - and are not wasting time learning things not on your syllabus.
Plus, these provide clearly worked examples of the sorts of questions you get asked not only in exams, but also for your homework - which comes in useful! There is also a mock paper - taken form the AQA resource pack - and a detailed answer scheme, so you can really test your knowledge.
If that isn't enough to convince you that you should buy this immediately, this guide is also written really clearly, using bullet points, tables and margin notes to ensure you understand every topic fully, and each section is clearly referenced to the syllabus, so you can make revision notes really easily and quickly.
Still not convinced? Well - my chemistry teacher was so impressed with it, he's planning to buy a complete set for his class next year!
If you really want to do well in Chemistry......my advice? Buy this now!
An essential resource for making every word count, 25 Sep 2007
I am midway through an Open University degree course and have found 'Line by Line' to be an absolutely indespensible resource. Whenever an academic essay is required I find remaining within strict word limits to be one of the most taxing requirements. Using the simple, but effective, techniques in the book I am able to literally cut an essay word length in half without losing valuable content. Trust me, if you are about to embark - or are already engaged in - any type of scholarship, this is the book for you!
Good but a bit old-fashioned, 27 Jun 2007
I was lured into buying this book by the five-start reviews. It is thorough. It does the job. But I have read better.
Being 'old-fashioned' is not necessarily bad, but the parsing and anatomizing of each sentance feels laboured. I have a small Edwardian guide to grammar, sadly long out of print, that is beautifully clear without ever saying 'appositive', 'verbal' (a noun), 'copula', or words like that. These words are all explained in the book, but it does not make for easy reading.
For instance...
"I read the book" has a subject, predicate, and object. The subject of "The book was read by me?" is "the book". To newcomers, this might seem illogical - the subject is the thing that is , innit? Not with passive verbs, though. The rules for determining the subject are explained in the book. Once you understand them, they are unambiguous. However, even terms like subject, predicate, and object cannot be used unless you are sure your reader understands them. If they understand them perfectly, then they probably do not need the book.
In some cases, I find the terminology a bit suspect. She says the noun 'horse' has an 'adjectival form' in terms such as 'horse race'. maybe. How would you parse modern agglutinative horrors such as 'image stack operator syntax hierarchy'. We stuff nouns together in bunches to make different nouns. There aren't any clear rules; 'horse race' and 'human race' are not similar things. I remember having to parse some six-noun pile-up a bit like my invention above for a Japanese translator, who could speak engish beautifully, but could not pick apart stuff like this.
There is a bit in the introduction that suggests that computer programs may be able to check syntax. This dates the book to about 1985. I remember using an early style checking program from about then that was a great help. Style checkers still can convert a perfectly good sentance into rubbish by mindlessly applying rules, but they have a worthwhile contribution. I found the most helpful feature was something that highlighted any sentence over 24 words. I found any sentance that long can be broken into two shorter sentences, and shorter sentences have fewer ways of going wrong. If you find your longer sentence works, then you can always leave it alone. The passive voice is usually avoidable, um, you can usually avoid the passive voice, and the more familiar did to
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Customer Reviews
The unexplainable, unexplained., 13 Aug 2008
I was glad to see some other commentators unhappy with this book. The strange and wonderful behaviour of our universe (on very small scales) can be described mathematically. At these scales however, our macromolecular philosphies fall far short of a common sense description. The really odd thing is why these seeming contradictory mathematical equations yeild such accurate results!
It may well be that no short introduction would ever be capable of doing any justice to the subject, or maybe I'm missing the elegance of the writing through too much ignorance on my part. (I'm not yet fully competent with the maths of the Quantum world, but I'm getting there.)
There are many fine texts on this subject. The Oxford publication Great Physicists gives wonderful inshights into the thinking that led to Quantum physics (and most other aspects of physics) as well as giving explanations of the mathematical logic (illogic?) in a way accessable to all.
Physics is for all and is a lot of fun. There is no way to simplify the maths for Quantum physics and it doesn't make any sense in the conventional way, but don't let that put you off trying some. Good luck. An excellent introduction to quantum theory, 25 May 2007
There seems to be some mixed reviews regarding J.C. book. Well, personally I feel that it offers a very broad and clear description to the overall structure of quantum physics. The book attempts to arouse the reader's interest through a 'storytelling' of historical facts and explains some of the fundamental problems in quantum theory.
Even as a physicist, I find some aspects of the book quite difficult to comprehend, especially the last part which discusses the philosophical aspects of quantum theory. To non-physicists, this book may seem all the more difficult. But from all the books I have read, this book gives the most simplified description of quantum theory. Highly recommended for readers who want to know what quantum theory is all about and what every physics student has to go through to earn their degree! Brilliant - and I've read a few books on this subject..., 19 Jan 2005
I have read a quite few 'pop science' books on this subject and this is the most lucid and enjoyable I have read. It encapsulates the main ideas so clearly and for once I understood the central mystery of quantum behaviour. I don't care about the error that another reviewer got excited about as it doesn't make any material difference to the level of understanding I wanted to get to. And, unlike another reviewer, I find Mr Tomkins both dull and patronising. This book, in contrast, is extremely well written and never patronising. I was extremely impressed and awed by the mastery of the subject the author has and that was demonstrated by the fact that he could explain the subject to a mathematical cretin like me...
A Misleading Introduction to Quantum Theory, 20 May 2004
Having previously read the Mathematics book in this series (which I highly recommended), I was looking forward to reading this. First the good points: This volume is fine for the non-technical reader, but as an added extra for the brave, does contain some nice appendixes giving extra mathematical detail. It is ok as a general introduction to the history of early quantum theory and its main creators, though in part looks like a fanzine for Paul Dirac (a former tutor of the author). Now the bad: Any lack of real technical depth is forgivable for a book aimed at the general reader. What is NOT forgiveable is that the author's explanation of the nature of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle is plain wrong. He falls for the classic mistake of thinking this arises from momentum transfer between interacting particles during measurement. Heisenberg himself originally thought this, but later corrected himself. I can't believe the author would repeat this error - although this is a book for the non-technical reader, I still expect it to be technically accurate.
Very short, but not all that lucid, 05 Dec 2002
This is a short book, and that is its only advantage, unfortunately. Granted, that the author is eminent in this field and was himself a student of the great Paul Dirac. However, this book does not sit easily in a series designed to make a subject approachable to the novice. It has far too much esoteric maths than is good for a book of this genre. An ever stronger criticism is the fact that instead of keeping to basic physics ideas such as the double slit experiment (which this book does well!) and then developing the ideas of atomic structure, and the uncertainty principle, it dwells on things like operators and such like. If you want a good introduction to Quantum Theory, look no further than the books by George Gamow's "The New World of Mr Tompkins" or "Mr Tomkins in paperback", or, "Uncle Albert and the Quantum Quest".
Not for the faint hearted..., 04 Jan 2009
I like this textbook - it goes in to quite some depth, answering questions that other authorive tomes I've read won't touch. But I would recomend reading the apendices (particularly the one about mathematics), otherwise you are liable top get lost as certain points.
I quite liked the way that it can be read as both a traditonal physical chemistry textbook and a molecular physical chemistry textbook - and the flow charts ploting each course.
Overall, better (by that I mean less boring) that expected.
Helpfull book, 18 Jul 2007
This book is excellent for chemistry undergrads and postgrads. It is quite a hard read and you need to pick out the small part that you need to know about because it is written in detail. However the small details you select from this book aid your overall understanding of physical chemistry and is very helpfull. I think this book is written to a level which is higher than a chemistry degree. I used this book in my first year at university as an chemistry undergrad and found it extremly helpful. It is one of the core texts required for chemistry students at the university of manchester. If i found this book helpful so can you
Not for the complete novice, but invaluable for everyone else interested in the subject, 20 Jun 2007
Let's start with saying that the authors pull no mathematical punches. They assume a fair amount of maths and use it throughout, and not in the watered-down fashion, so often seen.
Optically, the book is a gem, and the authors have gone to great pains to use all the tricks at the modern printer's disposal.
Despite being, perhaps, somewhat heavy going if you lack the prerequisites, they manage to clarify almost anything for the reader willing to spend the effort.
One amazing thing is, that one does not require a stiff background in chemistry itself. Possible stumbling blocks lie in the maths, and the autors are extremely generous with worked examples and justifications.
A very useful feature is that the reader can cover one of two tracks, the traditional approach and the molecular approach in either order he or she chooses. The molecular approach doesn't start until chapter 8, but if you wish, you can jump in right there and hardly feel a loss not having read the previous seven. (It is heartily recommended that you do anyway -the classical approach is a beautiful subject in its own right.)
So, Mr. Atkins and Mr. de Paula, continue improving your shining work, if you can come up with ways to do so. As the book is now, I imagine new ideas are getting hard to come by, but if someone buys just one book on physical chemistry, this should be it.
An excellent text for the undergraduate, 09 Mar 2005
The fact that I've had the author as a lecturer for part of my physical chemistry course is helpful enough, but every topic that an undergraduate may requuire for their physical chemistry course should be found in here, and in my opinion, all are represented in reasonable detail. Occasionally, you may need to consult a more specialist textbook on a particular sub-topic, but even if you were to soley use this book as a guide, you could expect a comfortable pass. Probably the only physical chemistry textbook you should consider.
Classic case of quantity of quality, 12 Feb 2004
I won't deny that this book covers a phenomenal range of topics, but this isn't necessarily a good thing. In so many subjects it just doesn't contain enough material to be useful in preparing for undergraduate exams or workshops. If your lecturers follow this text closely then fine, this will probably be a very sensible buy, but otherwise look elsewhere. That this is, as another reviewer pointed out, the de facto undergrad physical chemistry text is a problem because there isn't really a widely-available alternative. Lazy lecturers just recommend this book if their course is in physical or physical inorganic chemistry as they seem to assume it will contain everything their students need. Sadly this is rarely the case (in my experience). It may be worth obtaining some of the OUP primers for some of the more specialist topics or trying to find some more specific texts in your university library. I feel that the mathematics in this book is too advanced. Many of my undergraduate colleagues struggled to understand the derivations and justifications, for example. But I suppose this depends entirely on your mathematical background; I came to university with A-level Pure Maths and had few problems. Those who had only AS Pure (or A-level Pure/Applied) seemed to find the material far more challenging. In the book's defense, the topics on quantum theory are far more rigorous and thorough than most of the other material covered. If you are on an undergrad chemistry degree you probably won't do that much quantum mechanics though, so (as stated above) you may want to just find a dedicated book in the library. There are some very clear colour diagrams in this book which can help to augment the text on a few topics (again, particularly the chapters on QM). I found the practice exercises fairly useless as they were, generally, more advanced than anything covered in my lecture courses. (This will, of course, depend on what is covered at your university.) By the way, don't buy the solutions manual. Complete waste of money which doesn't come close to explaining clearly what's going on. Concluding, it's difficult to either encourage or dissuade anyone from buying this. Wait until you get a little way into your course and have a flick through it in the library. If it looks like your physical lectures and problem questions are basically being copied from it (apparently quite common...), then by all means take the plunge and buy it. Just give it some thought and don't buy it without reading it first.
Excellent, 12 Nov 2003
I use this book for my AS Level chemistry. It is not suitable for use on it's own but is an excellent supplement to a textbook. It has all the information you need, but not in as much detail as a main textbook.
Easy to understand, 01 Sep 2002
This is the best AQA revision book available. The rest of the books in the series are also worth buying. They contain a large amount of content but are small enough to read through for last minute revision. They helped me to get a grade A in my chemistry AS. I would definitely recommend these books to anyone studying the AQA syllabus.
An excellent guide-book for this module, 16 Mar 2002
The book covers the bare essentials for this chemistry module. Although it does not go into substantial detail, it is excellent as a quick reference and is also very useful for "last-minute" cramming
Small, concise and friendly looking but with plenty detail., 07 Mar 2002
The book is perfect for revision. I found it really great that it was specific only to my sylabus because it meant there were no extra pages to wade through. Although i am aware some books tell you which parts you need to look at for each specification i prefered a book catering for only one examining board because it kept content down to a minimum making it look less threatening and much more approachable! The modular format also really helped with this, i'd suggest you get the whole set! The content is easy to understand and in easily enough detail. The books do contain colour and highlighted text but not many different colours (generally just black, one bright colour and shades of gray) which i liked beaucse i find some revision books overwhelming and confusing due to them overdoing it on the colour! All in all, a very helpful revision aid.
Want to pass this exam? Buy this book!, 25 Feb 2002
It's official - whoever had the idea for this series of Collins revision guides is a genius. Why? Well, read on......
These guides are written specifically for the AQA Chemistry syllabus. Many revision guides are written for the general subject of Chemistry - however, there are differences between the different exam boards, and so using a syllabus specific revision guide ensures you are learning all of the material you need to know - and are not wasting time learning things not on your syllabus.
Plus, these provide clearly worked examples of the sorts of questions you get asked not only in exams, but also for your homework - which comes in useful! There is also a mock paper - taken form the AQA resource pack - and a detailed answer scheme, so you can really test your knowledge.
If that isn't enough to convince you that you should buy this immediately, this guide is also written really clearly, using bullet points, tables and margin notes to ensure you understand every topic fully, and each section is clearly referenced to the syllabus, so you can make revision notes really easily and quickly.
Still not convinced? Well - my chemistry teacher was so impressed with it, he's planning to buy a complete set for his class next year!
If you really want to do well in Chemistry......my advice? Buy this now!
An essential resource for making every word count, 25 Sep 2007
I am midway through an Open University degree course and have found 'Line by Line' to be an absolutely indespensible resource. Whenever an academic essay is required I find remaining within strict word limits to be one of the most taxing requirements. Using the simple, but effective, techniques in the book I am able to literally cut an essay word length in half without losing valuable content. Trust me, if you are about to embark - or are already engaged in - any type of scholarship, this is the book for you!
Good but a bit old-fashioned, 27 Jun 2007
I was lured into buying this book by the five-start reviews. It is thorough. It does the job. But I have read better.
Being 'old-fashioned' is not necessarily bad, but the parsing and anatomizing of each sentance feels laboured. I have a small Edwardian guide to grammar, sadly long out of print, that is beautifully clear without ever saying 'appositive', 'verbal' (a noun), 'copula', or words like that. These words are all explained in the book, but it does not make for easy reading.
For instance...
"I read the book" has a subject, predicate, and object. The subject of "The book was read by me?" is "the book". To newcomers, this might seem illogical - the subject is the thing that is , innit? Not with passive verbs, though. The rules for determining the subject are explained in the book. Once you understand them, they are unambiguous. However, even terms like subject, predicate, and object cannot be used unless you are sure your reader understands them. If they understand them perfectly, then they probably do not need the book.
In some cases, I find the terminology a bit suspect. She says the noun 'horse' has an 'adjectival form' in terms such as 'horse race'. maybe. How would you parse modern agglutinative horrors such as 'image stack operator syntax hierarchy'. We stuff nouns together in bunches to make different nouns. There aren't any clear rules; 'horse race' and 'human race' are not similar things. I remember having to parse some six-noun pile-up a bit like my invention above for a Japanese translator, who could speak engish beautifully, but could not pick apart stuff like this.
There is a bit in the introduction that suggests that computer programs may be able to check syntax. This dates the book to about 1985. I remember using an early style checking program from about then that was a great help. Style checkers still can convert a perfectly good sentance into rubbish by mindlessly applying rules, but they have a worthwhile contribution. I found the most helpful feature was something that highlighted any sentence over 24 words. I found any sentance that long can be broken into two shorter sentences, and shorter sentences have fewer ways of going wrong. If you find your longer sentence works, then you can always leave it alone. The passive voice is usually avoidable, um, you can usually avoid the passive voice, and the more familiar did to | | |