Recommended Physical Chemistry Text

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers around the search for supplemental textbooks for a second-year Physical Chemistry course, which is primarily based on the professor's notes. Two recommended books are Ira Levine's "Physical Chemistry" and McQuarrie's textbook. Participants express varying opinions on Levine's book, with one user labeling it as the "bible" of the subject, suggesting it provides a solid foundation. However, another user critiques it for being overly verbose and lacking depth, stating that it left them with a shallow understanding despite engaging problem sets from the professor. McQuarrie's text is also mentioned positively, particularly for its potential benefits in future courses like statistical mechanics. Overall, while Levine's book is widely recognized, there are mixed feelings about its effectiveness in fostering a deeper understanding of the material.
ChaoticLlama
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Hello, I'm taking Physical Chemistry I in second year, and my prof does not have a required book for the course and everything will be based off his notes (which are very good by the way)

However, I would like a deeper understanding of the material, and the prof did recommend two books. What, if anything, do you know about their quality?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0072534958/?tag=pfamazon01-20

https://www.amazon.com/dp/013027805X/?tag=pfamazon01-20

here is the course description:

http://www.ucalendar.uwaterloo.ca/0607/COURSE/course-CHE.html#CHE200S" -- Look for CHE 230

Thanks
 
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Levine's book is the bible. You wouldn't error if you chose it.
 
hi
any one has this ebook?

Physical Chemistry by Ira Levine
i need it ,please help me
 
McQuarrie's new textbook on Physical Chemistry is a great text. And if you take stat. mech. later with McQuarrie's legendary Statistical Mechanics textbook, you will have quite the advantage.
 
chemisttree said:
Levine's book is the bible. You wouldn't error if you chose it.

I just finished a course with it, I wouldn't call it the bible. Its way to verbose and muddled - and the questions are very basic. Had it not been for my profs interesting problem sets and lecture notes, Levine would have left me with a shallow knowledge.

Unfortunately, I don't know anything better.
 
The book is fascinating. If your education includes a typical math degree curriculum, with Lebesgue integration, functional analysis, etc, it teaches QFT with only a passing acquaintance of ordinary QM you would get at HS. However, I would read Lenny Susskind's book on QM first. Purchased a copy straight away, but it will not arrive until the end of December; however, Scribd has a PDF I am now studying. The first part introduces distribution theory (and other related concepts), which...

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