Chemical Principles: The Quest for Insight

by Peter Atkins, Loretta Jones

Written for calculus based general chemistry courses, particularly honours level or accelerated courses, Chemical Principles helps students develop chemical insight by showing the connections between fundamental chemical ideas and their applications. Unlike other texts, it begins with a detailed picture of the atom then builds toward chemistry's frontier, continually demonstrating how to solve problems, think about nature and matter, and visualize chemical concepts in the same ways as working chemists. The new edition incorporates features that extend the book's emphasis on modern techniques and applications while strengthening its problem solving approach. Atkins/Jones is the only book for this course featuring integrated book specific media that provides students with effective study help via a variety of electronic tools. The website at has been developed simultaneously with the text and offers a range of tools for problem solving and chemical exploration.

Genres: Chemistry, Science, Textbooks, Nonfiction, School

738 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Peter William Atkins is an English chemist and a Fellow of Lincoln College at the University of Oxford. He retired in 2007. He is a prolific writer of popular chemistry textbooks, including Physical Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, and Molecular Quantum Mechanics. Atkins is also the author of a number of popular science books, including Atkins' Molecules, Galileo's Finger: The Ten Great Ideas of Science and On Being.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Chris Tong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely good introductory general chemistry textbook! Definitely covers most if not all the topics on the USNCO + even more advanced topics.

[Aslan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chemical Principles: The Quest for Insight, co-authored by Peter Atkins and Loretta Jones, is a highly informative, college level chemistry textbook, specifically catered to people who understand high level math in relation to the concepts presented in the book. A major theme that can be observed, specifically in the introductory letter by Atkins, is the principle that knowledge can be gained through personalized methods of learning and small steps that contribute to the whole. This is emphasized by Atkins in the introduction which outlines the goals of Chemical Principles and the methods used throughout. A major feature found throughout the book, specifically in places where complex mathematics is concerned, is the simplification of concepts to better deliver it to students. The knowledge gained from such a simplified version is then applied to more complicated questions and used in real-life application problems.
Chemical Principles is (quite obviously) a nonfiction text, specific for a classroom setting. Throughout the book, concepts are closely linked with their history, hence the integration of historical figures ranging from Amadeo Avogadro to Erwin Schrodinger. The text starts with a Fundamentals section in which it reteaches contents that students may have forgotten from their education on chemistry from high school. It reviews the basis of scientific processes specific to chemistry, as well as concepts such as the mole, nomenclature of simple compounds, and reactions. Following the establishment of a foundation, Atkins and Jones continue to the basis of much of atomic theory: quantum theory. Throughout this section, due to the extensive calculations involved, the concepts are explained on different levels based on the complexity of math. This ranges from a simplified view of the calculations to a college level explanation based on (very, very confusing) calculus. After the basis for atomic theory is established, the text introduces the concept of atomic orbitals, hybridization, and molecular orbitals. This knowledge is used throughout the book as it plays into the chemical and physical properties of a material which is discussed in depth throughout the second half.
I was captivated by the phenomenal explanations of complex topics provided by Atkins and Jones throughout Chemical Principles. One such method was the clear abundance of visuals, ranging from a complex solubility diagram for Na2SO4 ⋅ 10H2O to a photo of an unidentifiable “green thing". The methods found throughout the book that are implicated to teach such complicated topics are just as interesting, humorous, and captivating as those found in a real novel. One of my favorite examples can be found in the deep-dive the book takes into Schrodinger wave-functions. The book randomly, and out of nowhere, states that a billiard ball on a pool table has a “completely negligible zero-point energy of about 10^-67 J” just after demonstrating the complex (and completely incomprehensible) calculations for obtaining the zero-point energy of a subatomic particle. Furthermore, I highly enjoyed the entire section on Quantum Theory purely because it has absolutely nothing to do with everyday life. I also found the topic of phase diagrams and solubility diagrams particularly interesting due to the well structured, thus understandable, nature that the book takes in explaining such topics. Although I was completely confused by basically everything explained by Chemical Principles, I still was able to understand little bits of information scattered throughout.

Overall, I do not recommend this book to anyone who likes their brain the way it is. This book is sure to boggle the mind of anyone who is not specifically looking for complex chemistry. On the other hand, I highly recommend this book for use in classrooms and for weird people (my brother has well informed me of such a fact). However, I must admit, I enjoyed Chemical Principles: The Quest for Insight.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Atkins is a marvel to my mind .... in that he can actually improve my mind. I get what he writes, because of the way he writes. He sees the chemistry (a la August Kekule ... the atoms were gamboling in my mind....) and he knows his audience. He has a number of pieces out there for more popular consumption, in what I guess, is his drive to bring a seemingly vague topic, chemistry, to everyone. In this particular text however, he is all business and gives the first year student what s/he needs to get behind the reason for the chemistry. Other first year texts gloss over the "why" ...and urge the student to "just know it, 'cause I told you to know it". Atkins hold the student accountable for understanding the background .... building on rock ... not sand....(silly silicates)

[Danielle · Rating 1 out of 5]

PEACE OUT Chemistry!!!!!!!!!!!!

[winterwind · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book substantially deepened my interest in chemistry and sparked lifelong curiosity, even though at the time I did not have any access to physical laboratory space. I have reread it more than a dozen times, and at various points owned two physical copies of the books (both were quite the worse for wear when I was done with them, I lost one somewhere on the University of Illinois campus and another one in Chicago).

[Azizah Wk · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow, i knew something new

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good.

[Varun Varanasi · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to chemistry. Very thorough for a highschool-level text

[khalid qhanush · Rating 3 out of 5]

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[Maera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some chapters helped me to understand the concepts in my class but others only confused me more.

[Ratnalium · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was a great book. I love it.

[Caleb]

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/chemistry...

[Emiliano Garcia]

I think this book is amazing .

[Saira · Rating 2 out of 5]

Made my head hurt

[Mohammed Elshaer]

i expect much from it so let me see