Although this is only the second edition, this book has its roots in the textbooks by Brady and by Brady and Gerald Humiston that first appeared over twenty years ago. It remains largely in the tradition of the major textbooks of that era in its order and style of presentation. Organic compounds are treated very briefly in two places before the main organic chapter near the end of the book, which emphasizes IUPAC nomenclature rules. Descriptive inorganic chemistry is dispersed through the book but a three-chapter supplement on descriptive chemistry of the elements is available. There are no separate chapters on materials or the environment. The appearance is clean and easy to read, with few extraneous figures and boxes. There are some places, however, where an additional figure would help the reader, such as at the first discussion of calorimetry. In the initial chapters there is some emphasis in the example problems on checking answers for reasonableness; but this is almost completely abandoned in the later chapterseven in examples, such as the Clausius-Clapeyron equation, where it is important. The solution of stoichiometry problems emphasizes the factor-label method; oddly, this material precedes the section on balancing chemical equations. This book does rather less than many others in relating chemistry to the "real world". The standard industrial polymers are mentioned but the student is not told about the recycling codes on the bottoms of plastic containers that identify the material.

This edition retains many of the positive features of its predecessors. It is, on the whole, clear, well-balanced, and free of excessive historical and technical detail. It has changed less than most other general chemistry textbooks and remains a good choice for those who want a traditional treatment of general chemistry.