S205: Book 1 and 2

I have to say the chemistry books are slightly confusing at first.
Book 1 and 2 for this course are actually two sections of a single physical book.
Book 1 - or sub-book1 - is entitled "A prologue to the course" and is more or less what it says. Its presumably designed to suck you into the chemical world as it describes the great successes and progress that has been made in chemistry over the last few hundred years.
It covers diverse applications from forensics to ball lightning and mostly its just an enjoyable read - nothing too heavy anyway.

Then the second half of the book is "An introduction to the molecular world" gets into more details of chemistry. It looks at periodicity, electron configuration, VSEPR, bonding and reactivity. Its not too heavy, but the course has definitely begun in this book. Some of the topics covered, such as the VSEPR theory and the different types of bonding are useful. The idea that a noble gas configuration is not always required is a little disturbing in some ways, but one of the deeper truths that you have to contemplate.

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