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Principles of Modern Chemistry, 3rd Edition David W. Oxtoby and Norman H. Nachtrieb. Saunders College Publishing: New York, 1996. xix + 848 pp. Figs. and tables. ISBN: 0 0300 5904 6. $91.
Like some classical music FM radio stations, Oxtoby and Nachtrieb play to a select audience. This is a general chemistry text designed for chemistry majors with at least some preknowledge of calculus. It presumes a rather strong chemistry background, condensing fundamentals and presenting them generally much earlier than other texts. Before Chapter 1 is completed, students will have used Avogadro's number, empirical formulas and percent composition, balancing by inspection, mass relationships, limiting reactants, and percent yields in chemical reactions. All this in the first 36 pages.
John Moore (Editorial, J. Chem. Educ. 1997, 74, 253) opines that many students are bored with college chemistry courses because they are largely a rehash of their high school...