There are extensive introductions for students and instructors at the beginning of the textbook stating the rationale used in preparing the text and providing suggestions for alterations in the order of presentation should a different sequence of topics be desired. The instructors' edition contains extra marginal notes throughout the chapters, with helpful suggestions and references for supplemental background material. Numerous references are made for the instructors to an available CD-ROM supplement. The authors' comments and presentation reflect a thorough understanding of the needs and abilities of students. The text material is clearly written with detailed explanations and interesting, current examples familiar to students. There are numerous sample problems and practice problems interspersed within the body of the text. End-of-chapter exercises are extensive and subdivided into sections of additional practice problems, problems which tie together various topics within a chapter, applications-type exercises drawing upon common everyday life, and a self-test section. In total there is an average of 115 end-of-chapter exercises for each chapter plus the self-test questions. Approximately 15% of the exercises are new, not in the first edition. The text makes extensive use of color both in its molecular diagrams and in color-coding problems for which answers are available. A one to two page summary at the end of each chapter contains new terms in bold type and their definitions. When new terms appear in the body of a chapter their definitions are incorporated into the paragraph in italic type for emphasis. A unique feature continued from the first edition is at the end of each chapter a personal reflection by an individual scientist, teacher, student, or person in a related field discussing how chemistry impacted upon him or her and the importance of chemistry as a part of their vocation. There are some omissions of material found in most current textbooks. Graham's law of diffusion is not discussed nor is the concept of overall reaction rate order. References are cited for the instructor, justifying these omissions.

This textbook is student-friendly. Although perhaps not as rigorous as some competing texts, it is worthy of consideration for a one-year general chemistry course. The usual supplements are also available to support the text material.