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List Price: £12.99
Our Price: £6.60
Author:
Judy Hall
By Godsfield Press Ltd
 A worthwhile resource, 2008-04-06
All crystals seem to have some sort of hidden healing power, this book helps you select the one that is right for you. A real treat to even read about the obscure cystals, too. Well worth the invetment if you want to learn about these magical stones of life.
List Price: £12.99
Our Price: £5.93
Author:
John Emsley
By Oxford University Press
A True Joy To Read, 2008-01-05
Natures Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide To The Elements, is an outstanding book, and quite possibly the greatest science book I've ever read. It is filled with countless fascinating facts, such as why an octopus has blue blood and why some people can consume more than twice the lethal dose of Arsenic and live. It really is an excellent reference book for anyone interested in chemistry, biology, nutrition, medicine, or history, and you'll find yourself going back to it time and time again. It does get `slightly' scientific in places such as when it starts to talk about the various isotopes of an element, so some basic knowledge of chemistry is recommended. But it is not overly technical so it's not essential. The sections I enjoyed the most were the `medical elements' which I found extremely interesting. The book is very well structured and easy to follow. This is the kind of book that makes you feel smarter, a true joy to read and I recommend to all. No one could possibly be disappointed.
List Price: £19.99
Our Price: £15.75
Author:
James Keeler, Peter Wothers
By Oxford University Press
why you should buy this book, 2003-05-23
This book is salvation for us poor chemists who spend hours looking in four thick chemistry text books for one snippet of information. It provides a good overview of all the topics and manages to link them all in a coherent manner. It is very well laid out and easy to use, and is cheaper than the average textbook.Overall, despite the black and white illustrations, this book is anything but overbearing and would make an excellent introduction for any chemist or potential chemist.
List Price: £13.95
Our Price: £5.66
Author:
Moore, John T. EdD
By John Wiley & Sons
 Does what it said on the tin , 2007-10-25
The other day, Perkins, a chemistry student of mine at Ashted Wood Grammar school for boys, said to me "Dr Vass would you recomend the book 'Chemistry for Dummies'?", I told him that because he had clearly showed compentent IQ level to be accecpted in to a grammar school, of high repute, than he should not be reading tomes, whos target audience was that of "dummies", which suffice to say produced a laugh, as good as you would get from the well sized A2 Class. However, later on the deputy head boy, perversly called Simkins, and of good chemistry grounding, recomended the book as good for light reading of an evening,thus, we have an explanation: this book is useful for all those who want a light read a nought else, In internet and science, Dr. T.G.C.S.A.Vass, PhD, M.A, B.A, M.chem,M.phys, L.LB, P.G.C.E, E.T C.E.T.R.A.
List Price: £14.99
Our Price: £6.80
Author:
George Johnson
By The Bodley Head Ltd
How to Produce Thought-Provoking Evidence of the Way Nature Works, 2008-05-30
If you like those wonderful articles in the science section of The New York Times, you've undoubtedly read Mr. Johnson's writing before. Reading this book is like gaining access to a whole collection of the best of such articles.
I've always preferred experimental evidence to theorizing as a way to advance knowledge. Many things can be better understood, both in and out of scientific fields, if thoughtful experiments can be designed and properly measured.
Many science courses emphasize what the law of physics is or whatever is being studied and provide little perspective on the evidence for that law or natural function. That's too bad: In the process, those who are interested in the subject miss the chance to gain a deep appreciation for the subject.
George Johnson does an excellent job of providing pithy, clear, and interesting histories of the scientists, the problems they addressed, and the experiments they used to advance knowledge. Some of these stories were more compelling than any television drama I've ever seen.
Prior to the rebirth of inquiry in the Renaissance, Greek theories about how the world works often dominated. Those theories had to be overcome. In some cases, equally arbitrary theories were proposed by more modern scientists. The search for new knowledge almost always began with observing something in nature that didn't follow the "rule" that everyone else believed in.
The section on Galileo will quickly get your attention because Mr. Johnson dispels the notion of dropping weights from the Leaning Tower of Pisa in favor of describing how an inclined plane was used by Galileo to measure acceleration of a rolling ball. The most fascinating part of the work is how Galileo used his experimental results to derive a theory of what was really going on. Very nice!
The chapter on William Harvey nicely explains the prior view that there were two types of fluids, one in veins and a different one in arteries, rather than one quantity of blood circulating throughout the body. The evidence that this idea was silly is pretty clear, but the challenges of figuring out how the blood circulated are nicely explained here.
The chapter on Isaac Newton requires a strong stomach as Mr. Johnson describes how Newton put a probe into his own eyes to see what the effects would be. The experiments that showed how colors are contained in light are quite interesting.
My favorite chapter, however, is the one on Luigi Galvani in which he sought to demonstrate that animals use electricity to move. Galvani faced a persistent critic in Volta who conducted experiments to disprove Galvani. In the best scientific tradition, both men were right in defining different qualities of how electricity works.
I was almost as intrigued by the chapter on Pavlov that explained a fuller range of his experiments with changing reflexes. It made me want to read more about Pavlov.
The chapter on Millikan was uniquely intriguing, as Mr. Johnson explains through his re-creation of the experiment that Millikan used to measure electron movement that experiments can be almost as much of an art as a science.
In some cases, the personal details of the scientists' lives were almost as fascinating as the science such as Lady Ada Lovelace's single-minded pursuit of the much older, married Michael Faraday who outlived her by many years.
List Price: £13.99
Our Price: £5.71
Author:
Arthur Winter
By John Wiley & Sons
Ought to be a recommended text for my OU course, 2006-02-16
I bought this as someone else on my Open University course suggested it.Absolutely brilliant book. It is written from the perspective that one has studied some chemistry, but that it is rusty. Best of all is the comment that organic chemistry is understandable, provided you don't start on the premise that you have no chance to understand it. I would recommend this book for anyone struggling with organic chemistry.
List Price: £18.99
Our Price: £18.98
Author:
George Facer
By Philip Allan
The bible for A2 Edexcel Chemistry students!, 2007-08-28
For anybody taking Edexcel Chemistry at A2-level, this book is a must-have. The standard issue NAS books (those skimpy green things) are awful: they are full of incoherent detail and poor explanations. This book, by George Facer, is clear and concise and sticks exactly to the Edexcel A2 syllabus (there are some areas in which Facer goes off-syllabus but this is indicated in the text and can be easily ignored). I appreciated how the book was organised in sections which complemented the syllabus, making revision effective and easy. George Facer uses model-answer definitions and provides down-to-earth and easy-to-understand explanations of all the key concepts. The sample questions and mock exams are perfect and accurate of the actual difficulty found within the exam papers. The full colour and user-friendly layout make this the best Chemistry book produced. Boost your A2 grade and get this book! Don't waste your time with the NAS books unless you can understand their awful style.
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