General chemistry
by Linus Pauling · first published 1947
87% recommend7% neutral7% critical
Why HN recommends it
Theory-minded chemistry introduction that brings in enough physics to make the chemistry make sense. Suits self-learners and physics-minded readers who find glossy modern textbooks shallow. Includes exercises.
Common criticism: Some note it is dated
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
“The Dover Edition” A first-year chemistry text that revolutionized the teaching of chemistry by unifying principles instead of as a body of unrelated facts.
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…encounters in infinite-dimensional vector spaces. This book has some very intuitive explanations, e.g., why d/dx is not self-adjoint (i.e., Hermitian), whereas d^2/dx^2 is. For chemistry, I would recommend "General Chemistry" by Linus Pauling, even though it's a bit outdated.
on “Ask HN: Are there books for mathematics like Feynman's lectures on physics?” ↗* Linus Pauling's General Chemistry * Richard Dawkins' Ancestor's Tale * Stephen Wolfram's A New Kind of Science * Brian Greene's The Fabric of the Cosmos
on “Bill Gates: AMA on Reddit” ↗General Chemistry by Linus Pauling. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Philosophy).
on “Ask HN: Older textbooks/papers you consider classics still worth studying today?” ↗If you have a physics background you might find General Chemistry from Linus Pauling interesting and approachable: https://www.amazon.com/General-Chemistry-Dover-Books/dp/0486...
on “Ask HN: Good beginner resources to learn chemistry” ↗…cellular and chemically oriented (Curtis), but the difference tends to get lost somewhat with the need to cover everything, and the sheer mass of material each HAS to cover. You might try Pauling's "General Chemistry" text for a more theoretical treatment in chemistry. Both Kline's calculus and Pauling's chemistry texts were from the 1960s and reprinted by Dover in the 1990s; you might try checking the Dover catalog…
on “Ask HN: A good book on Calculus?” ↗I like "General Chemistry" by Linus Pauling, despite its age it is a nice introductory book.
on “Chemists Were Wrong About Splenda” ↗For chemistry, check out "General Chemistry" by Linus Pauling. Pauling had the same passion for chemistry that Feynman had for physics. He wrote General Chemistry with that passion, and it shows. It's a really engaging introduction to chemistry.…
on “Ask HN: Are there books for mathematics like Feynman's lectures on physics?” ↗…would have seemed like alien speak to me in HS, aspirational but probably too tough. Inside interesting integrals is cool if you want to go on a computation spree. My fave academic book from HS was General Chemistry by Pauling. IMO the best calculus/real analysis book is by Benedetto & Czaja. But HS age much better is Advanced Calculus by Fitzpatrick. Introduction to statistical learning is very readable at that…
on “Ask HN: Recommend a maths book for a teenager?” ↗Not such a bad idea, actually. Much of physics owes chemistry a lot. I find General Chemistry by Pauling a sort of a good book on physics (which has led to some complaints by chem students).
on “Ask HN: How to do self-study on Physics” ↗…texts of certain fields much more intelligible than the intellectually shoddy 56th iteration of some overpriced glossy Pearson textbook. Compare a typical chemistry textbook with something like Pauling's "General Chemistry" which you can get from Dover, modulo any dated information. You will walk away with a far more solid grasp of the basic principles. A lot of the failure of learning is a failure of teaching. Incompetent…
on “Learn Your Way: Reimagining Textbooks with Generative AI” ↗I don't know, I'm not very chemical, but fwiw: a friend and I were favorably impressed with Linus Pauling's general chemistry textbook. It tries to supply enough of the physics for the chemistry to make sense. We only studied for a few weeks before moving on, though, and it's a big fat book.
on “Einstein's relativity rules chemical bonds in heavy elements, new research shows” ↗…properties. I think i need to revisit these (and other books) to justify my degree in Chemistry :-) For background and inspiration, consult Linus Pauling's classics; The Nature of the Chemical Bond and General Chemistry - https://archive.org/search?query=creator%3A%22Pauling+Linus%... Linus Pauling (the only scientist in history to be awarded two undivided, unshared Nobel Prizes) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Pauling
on “Einstein's relativity rules chemical bonds in heavy elements, new research shows” ↗"General Chemistry" by Linus Pauling.
on “Ask HN: General Chemistry Book Recommendations” ↗if you want to cook a good meal you're probably better off with grandma's cookbook than the second edition of pauling's general chemistry
on “The Art of Electronics (2015)” ↗…collection of open-source chemistry textbooks, has a good overview of the physical-chemical applications. The site is kind of a mess but you'd want chapter 18.3: https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/General_Chemistry/Ma...
on “It took me 10 years to understand entropy” ↗