General Chemistry – Ralph H. Petrucci – 8th Edition

While there is a great deal of convergence about the concepts taught in a one year general chemistry course, the way those principles are taught, to what depth, and the kind of vocabulary used in teaching them varies from text to text. This allows the authors to focus their teaching in ways appropriate to different kinds of students.

This text is geared towards a one year course in general chemistry for students going on to careers in engineering, biology, and other technical fields. The vocabulary of the text is adapted to build up comfort with the technical terms of chemistry and familiarity in working with formulae rather than being content with intuitions about chemistry. It also has a nice addition of the actual people whose names are given to various laws and concepts in chemistry. When the name is presented there is also a picture and a sentence or two about who they were. I enjoyed this a great deal because it brings the text to life a bit more.

This is an excellent text for students who have had at least a bit of chemistry before tackling this course. And for technical students it will be more rewarding than other more basic texts even though they both cover similar ground. The more technical approach taken here will be more enriching to them.