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Ask HN: General chemistry book recommendations

26 points by chadcmulligan ↗ HN
I'm interested in reading some generalist, non academic, chemistry books. I had a browse on Amazon but couldn't find any, except a few cooking ones. Things I was thinking - industrial chemistry what the different processes are for things like Oil, Soap, plastics and so on. Same for pharmaceuticals and Molecular biology. I've done a few classes back in the day at Uni but I was thinking books for a general audience, there's stacks for maths and physics (e.g. Godel, Escher, Bach) are there the same for chemistry? not my field and would like to read some.

Edit: e.g. a layman's summary of 'Analysis, Synthesis, and Design of Chemical Processes' https://www.amazon.com/Analysis-Synthesis-Design-Chemical-Processes-ebook/dp/B07DPTVPPF

or this 'Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering' https://a.co/d/5rdKgub

12 comments

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caseyf7
Isaac Asimov‘s book on chemistry is on my to read list. Chemistry lab books can also be more fun than general lecture textbooks.
thewizardofaus
"The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements" by Sam Kean
rsfern
Not quite chemistry, but “Stuff Matters” by Mark Miodownik is a really good accessible introduction to a lot of foundational materials science ideas
fiftyacorn
The books you listed are more chemical engineering than chemistry - so its stuff like rates of reaction

Id consider something like -

https://amzn.eu/d/h7wwIuk

To read up on physical, organic and inorganic

chadcmulligan
Thanks, I did do an organic chemistry class, but a long time ago. I was interested in production - the life of oil for example, It's dug up, goes here, refineries make this from it. Same for other things - plastics, pharmaceuticals etc. Doesnt seem to be much on this, except text books. I suppose its more chemical engineering.
is_true
I remember having used a book by Raymond Chang in chemistry in college
billfruit
"General Chemistry" by Linus Pauling.
gpa
I would like to suggest Nikolai Glinka's "Problems in General Chemistry," of which I have the original Russian edition but I see that it's been translated in English (https://www.amazon.com/Problems-General-Chemistry-Nikolai-Gl...). Reasons for my recommendation is that first, it's interesting, and second, every time I have used this book, all chemistry concepts made sense, unlike in the manuals we had to use in school. To rephrase MiB, this would be the final chemistry book I ever read if I decided not to pursue my studies in the subject further.

Also, I did not know much about the Glinka himself, but from what I've found from a quick web search was quite interesting: a representative of an ancient noble family, honored scientist, largest teacher-methodist, whose books for decades, determined the level of chemical education in non-chemical and chemical technical institutes of the USSR...