Chemical Education Today
Book & Media Reviews
Chemistry: The Central Science, 8th Edition (Student Edition with Media Companion) by Theodore L. Brown, H. Eugene LeMay, and Bruce E. Bursten Prentice-Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2000. xxxiii + 1026 pp. Figures, appendices, and tables. ISBN 0-13-010310-1. $105.00. reviewed by Wheeler Conover
This textbook is now in its 8th edition since its release in 1977. This review is the fourth, following reviews of the second, third, and sixth editions in earlier issues of this Journal ( J. Chem. Educ. 1982, 59, A174; 1987, 64, A173; 1995, 72, A107). The latest edition includes more conceptual questions, step-by-step problem-solving strategies, and eMedia exercises that take advantage of 3D media such as found on the Internet and CD-ROM. The authors prefer to introduce chemistry in the first five chapters through the macroscopic concepts of stoichiometry, nomenclature, and thermochemistry, as do many general chemistry authors. The artwork, like that in many textbooks today, includes figures that provide a microscopic view of reactions. Considering the number of these figures, it strikes me as odd that the authors would start with a macroscopic picture of chemistry. Chapters 6–9 focus on the microscopic concepts of atomic structure, electronic structure, and bonding. It makes more sense to me to place Chapters 6–9 after a discussion of Chapter 2, “Atoms, Molecules, and Ions”, not only to lead the student into stoichiometry and naming compounds by more than rote memorization, but also to keep the student from becoming bored with a review of concepts commonly found in high-school chemistry. No matter—the material is presented in such a manner as to allow the microscopic material or later material such as kinetics (Chapter 14) and radiochemistry (Chapter 21) to be transposed this way. Unlike many general chemistry texts, the treatment of gases is in Chapter 10, which places it before the discussion of solids and liquids (Chapter 11). To me, it makes sense to group the phases of matter together, with modern materials (Chapter 12) and solutions (Chapter 13) neatly tying them together. Chapter 17, “Additional Aspects of Aqueous Equilibria”, discusses the concept of solubility and pH in a much more simple and straightforward manner than several other textbooks that I checked. The traditional discussion of qualitative analysis is limited to a couple of pages, which makes me happy, as I feel that it gets more than its due in general chemistry lab. (Besides, when was the last time you separated the ions from groups I–IV?) Chapter 25, the chapter concerning organic chemistry, introduces the concepts of reaction mechanisms
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edited by
Jeffrey Kovac University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN 37996-1600
and electron pushing; however, beyond one example, the discussion is nonexistent. More classes of simple reactions have been included in the chapter, such as the formation of esters and ethers. Overall, the chapter provides a good introduction to organic chemistry and biochemistry, though more 3D structures would help. The authors also take the traditional approach by introducing redox equations at the beginning of the electrochemistry chapter (Chapter 20); however, they mention in the preface that this section can be moved to allow coverage of redox during a discussion of balancing equations. The reviews at the end of the chapter seem unnecessarily detailed and don’t offset the important equations from the rest of the text well enough. On the other hand, the homework problems have always been excellent, relating the questions back to the material in the chapter and writing them so that they can be understood by the ordinary freshman chemistry student. I frequently pull their homework sets to give extra help to students. There is a Media Companion that includes access to their Web site and Central Science Live, a CD-ROM that seems to be the successor to the LOGAL Run-Time Chemistry that was available on 3.5-in. disks for the 6th edition. Minimum system requirements using Windows include Internet Explorer 5.0, QuickTime 3.0X, and Chime 2.0.2, which are all installed on the CD, and 100 MB of free hard-drive space (quite a bit, if you ask me). The Web site allows a student to access a syllabus and links to tools for visualizing molecules (2D and 3D) in the text, a table that includes figures commonly used to teach VSEPR theory, and quizzes/exams/homework that can be scored and results sent to the instructor via email. Also, the Web site includes the “Current Topics in the News” that used to be available in a newspaper format and was generally outof-date before reaching the student. Through the courtesy of Amina El-Ashmawy at Collin Co. Community College (TX), I was also able to take a look at an online WWW course using WebCT/Prentice-Hall materials specific for the book’s 7th edition. The course is absolutely superb, with Web tools, online slides, an online textbook, practice quizzes and exams (using questions that I recognize from their multiple-choice test bank), and common tables found throughout the textbook. Any person who takes a course based on this textbook cannot complain that there is neither enough material on the Web site nor enough explanations to aid with mastery of the material. It has to be a good textbook, or it wouldn’t have been published for 23 years in eight editions. I have seen schools go away from this book, try something else, and then return. I believe that Chemistry: The Central Science is among the two or three best-written general chemistry texts and will be a good resource for students to keep on their shelves. Wheeler Conover is in the Department of Chemistry, Southeast Community College, Cumberland, KY 40823;
[email protected].
Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 77 No. 9 September 2000 • JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu
