10-31-03 23:00
No 468072
I was cruising through one of my favorite bookstores the other day, a store whose 'Science' section consists of the whole range of books, from Harley-Davidson to combat robots, astronomy, biology, theoretical physics, and cryptology. Considering my latest interests, I was disappointed to see nothing on chemistry. Checked the medical section, nothing more exciting than Merck. Remembering that I had failed H.S. Chemistry, I checked the 'Study Aids" section. And there she was...
Barron's "Chemistry The Easy Way", fourth edition. Packed with charts, tables, diagrams, and illustrations, I flipped it over to check the price. The book, in it's preface, explains that the material is primarily for H.S. students. And so is the price: 15 USD. I let the book lounge for a week or so, but cracked it today, only to find that one of the appendice's has a nice, graphic series of diagrams depicting microscale, basic lab techniques and equipment, such as :
Titration ; Gas Generation ; (basic) Chromatography ; Distillation ; and, Gas Drying
I nearly wet myself. Pictures are worth a thousand words, and suddenly a lot of posts I read make significantly more sense. I now have winter reading material, and would highly recommend this book for anyone who has trouble understanding some of the moderately technical posts, or wish to make up for lost time in H.S.
(I hated homework. But I had an eye for detail, and pointed out a safety flaw in our H.S. Chem. Lab Bunsen burners, was asked to give a short presentation on it, which was why I was allowed to finish the course.)
"You prefer another target, a MILITARY target? Then name the system!!" -Tarkin
(Newbee)
10-31-03 23:32
No 468075
Once you have finished that, you should pickup Organic Chemistry by Carey, 5th edition.