Chemical Forums
Chemistry Forums for Students => Inorganic Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: wus on January 29, 2007, 01:50:06 AM
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I am currently a junior as a chem/math major. I am enrolled in inorganic chemistry and physical chemsitry at the moment. I have only had a few class sessions but already I can tell that my inorganic teacher is severely lacking in teaching ability. Since I plan on continuing my education beyond the undergraduate level I want to supplement what we are doing in class. We are using the 3rd ed. of the Miessler/Tarr inorganic book. So far I have not found it to be terribly enlightening. I don't expect to be handed the answers but on many of the assigned problems portions are not at all addressed in the book, and unfortuneatly thus far the teacher can't help me much either. I was wondering what your thoughts were on how to fix this issue. Do you think it is worth buying a second book or would the solutions guide be sufficient. I would buy them and test them out myself but I don't exactly have money laying around.
So to summarize I was really just wondering if anyone has the Miessler/Tarr soultions guide to see if they thought it was terribly helpful... is it a basic soln. guide or does it try to give insight into the problems. Also does anyone know of any great conceptual inorganic books (once I get the concepts the math usually isn't an issue).
Disclaimer: I realize my grammar and spelling is poor.
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I would just go to your schools library, or search the catalog online for various Inorganic books. They might even have the solutions manual. Check them out, and if they seem useful enough to have your own copy, get it. If not, just use the resources of the library.
I have read 3 different undergrad/graduate inorganic chemistry books, and I have yet to find one I actually like or thought was all that good.
*edit*
That is to say I have read 3 modern Inorganic chemistry books, and none I thought was good. I have read some older ones that I thought where great, unfortunately they are lacking some fairly important information.
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Sounds like a good plan to me... thanks.
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I used it for a coursebook in intermediate inorganic chemistry, it is OK, some chapters for in it are not all that great, like kinetics and symmetry/group theory. I personally found the spectroscopy and ligand field theory part of it to be the most well written (and this is what I can recall in detail from it).
A book that I've also used which I find a lot more consistent and more valuable as a reference is:
Inorganic Chemistry: Principles of Structure and Reactivity by James E. Huheey