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Title: Chemical Applications of Group Theory, 3rd Edition by F. Albert Cotton ISBN: 0-471-51094-7 Publisher: Wiley-Interscience Pub. Date: 02 March, 1990 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $115.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.9 (10 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Good Reference, Poor Textbook
Comment: This book is a double edged sword. As a reference textbook for a person who has already had a significant introduction to group theory and chemical applications of it, this book can't be beat. It provides some very detailed mathematical derivations of the theoretical formulas used within group theory which one may not find in an elementary inorganic text which skims over group theory. Additionally, Cotton covers organic, organometallic and inorganic examples which allows the reader to have a broad spectrum of systems to learn from. The blurbs about molecular vibrations and crystallography were nice too. Finally, Cotton does not lack in providing journal references to the original research that he covers in the text.
In lieu of all that, this book is a bain to use in order to learn the principles of group theory. Cotton, in his typical fashion, assumes that the reader is well-versed in linear/matrix algebra (and has a very condescending comment for anyone who MIGHT have to read the matrix algebra appendix he has in the back of the text) and that the reader can visualize symmetry operations readily in their head. There are places in the text where he should go into more detail and provide further examples, but he does not. Lastly, anyone who knows anything about group theory knows that it is a pretty dry subject matter. Cotton doesn't enhance the excitement of learning group theory with his dry, humor-less approach to writing the text (not to mention that this 3rd edition is already overdue for another overhauling being over a decade old!). In case you have insomnia while taking your group theory course, attempt to read a full chapter in one sitting, you'll be out cold by the second paragraph!
My final verdict, if you are a graduate student in chemistry who already knows something about group theory and its application, but needs a text to jog your memory now and again, this book is worth your money, but if you have to learn the basics of group theory from this book, RUN! Run as fast as you can! Or if you can't do that, buy this book, but buy another book and learn from that one rather than this one.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good book for its intended purpose and audience
Comment: Professor Cotton's book is a well written introduction to the theory of group representations for chemists. It is appropriate for chemical experimentalists and beginners with a more thoeretical bent. It was NOT INTENDED to be a book of algebra for mathematicians or physicists interested in Lie groups. The pure rotation group is not covered, representations of space groups are not mentioned, ray representations are not used, etc. Many of the reviewers below seem to think they will need one and only one book that deals with applications of group theory - not likely! For a beginner with a background typical of a 1st year grad student in physical or inorganic chemistry at an American university, the book is good. If the complainers below ever tried to teach a course to such students using the more rigorous books they are clamoring for, they would be hung in effigy (if they were lucky).
However, even for the intended audience, there are things that could be improved. Most glaring in my opinion is the treatment of electronic states, as opposed to orbitals. Even "mathematically-challenged chemists" have to face up to Slater determinants as basis functions for multi-electron wavefunctions. The spectroscopy and ligand-field theory topics are obscure if you don't introduce this concept. Symmetry with respect to interchange of particle labels is not that difficult to teach, and is essential for understanding the symmetry requirements that must be placed on electronic and vibrational wave functions.
Rating: 4
Summary: Bad expectations => Bad reviews
Comment: So if you are a mathematician or a physicist, don't whine if this book isn't for you. It's for chemistry, specifically inorganic ones, who use group theory to analyze ligand chemistry and spectroscopy. It is also useful for those who utilize computational chemistry programs like Gaussian and need to know the basics of orbital and molecular symmetry. I'm an organic chemist by trade, and this book is the gold standard for my field.
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Title: Symmetry and Spectroscopy: An Introduction to Vibrational and Electronic Spectroscopy by Daniel C. Harris, Michael D. Bertolucci ISBN: 048666144X Publisher: Dover Publications Pub. Date: 01 January, 1990 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Group Theory and Chemistry by David M. Bishop ISBN: 0486673553 Publisher: Dover Publications Pub. Date: 01 January, 1993 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Quantum Chemistry (5th Edition) by Ira N. Levine ISBN: 0136855121 Publisher: Pearson Education Pub. Date: 26 July, 1999 List Price(USD): $96.00 |
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Title: Quantum Chemistry (Physical Chemistry Series) by Donald A. McQuarrie ISBN: 093570213X Publisher: University Science Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 1983 List Price(USD): $80.00 |
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Title: Modern Quantum Chemistry : Introduction to Advanced Electronic Structure Theory by Attila Szabo, Neil S. Ostlund ISBN: 0486691861 Publisher: Dover Publications Pub. Date: 02 July, 1996 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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