Chemistry: A Very Short Introduction

Elementaire Deeltjes #34

by Peter Atkins

In this Very Short Introduction Peter Atkins inspires us to look at chemistry through new eyes. Considering the remarkable achievements chemistry has made, he presents a fascinating, clear, and rigorous exploration of the world of chemistry - its structure, core concepts, and contributions to the material comfort and culture of the modern world.

Genres: Science, Chemistry, Nonfiction, Medicine, School, History, Popular Science

128 pages, Paperback

First published March 19, 2013

About the author

Peter William Atkins is an English chemist and a Fellow of Lincoln College at the University of Oxford. He retired in 2007. He is a prolific writer of popular chemistry textbooks, including Physical Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, and Molecular Quantum Mechanics. Atkins is also the author of a number of popular science books, including Atkins' Molecules, Galileo's Finger: The Ten Great Ideas of Science and On Being.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Roya · Rating 4 out of 5]

نشر مازیار یکی از نشرهای موردعلاقمه 😍
اما تنها کتابی که راجع به شیمی از این نشر منتشر شده همین کتابه و خیلی وقت بود دوست داشتم بخونمش. از اونجایی که نتونستم در برابر کتاب نخوندن مقاومت کنم، برای اینکه از عذاب وجدانم کم کنم این کتاب رو شروع کردم😂😅
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پیتر اتکینز رو بیشتر به کتاب معروفش در حوزه شیمی فیزیک میشناسن و بیشتر کتاب هایی که نوشته هم راجع به ترمودینامیک و شیمی فیزیکه که غالبا به عنوان مرجع مورد استفاده قرار میگیرند. اما این کتاب برای مبتدی ها نوشته شده. نویسنده سعی کرده یک دید کلی از گرایش های مختلف شیمی به عموم بده به طوری که هر فردی با هر سطح آگاهی نسبت به شیمی بتونه این کتاب رو درک کنه. برای همین زیاد به جزئیات پرداخته نشده و دورنمایی از اصول و فرایندها و آینده ی شیمی ارائه داده شده. کتاب ابتدا از مسائل بسیار ساده (در حد شیمی دبیرستان) شروع میکنه و کم کم به مسائل مهم تری مثل طیف سنجی ترکیبات، سنتز و تولیدات صنعتی می پردازه.
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شاید با شنیدن اسم شیمی، جنبه های تاریک این علم رو که منجر به نابودی انسان ها به وسیله سلاح های شیمیایی، نابودی محیط زیست و ... شده رو به یاد بیارین اما باید یادآور شد که اگر شیمی نبود، زندگی هم نبود.🙂
ظروف، پوشاک، داروها، همین صفحه ی نمایش و هرررر چیزی که فکرشو بکنین مدیون علم شیمیه. حتی علوم دیگه هم به شیمی وابسته اند. حتی اینکه بتونین از اینترنت 5 جی هم استفاده کنین بستگی به شیمیدانان داره!!!
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شاید براتون جالب باشه که بدونین برخی از سنتزها کاملا اتفاقی بوده و شیمیدان هیچ برنامه ای برای سنتز اون ماده نداشته. مثلا زمانی رنگ ها به صورت طبیعی تهیه می شدن. بنفش تیران از مخاط غددی نوعی حلزون دریایی تهیه میشد که برای تهیه یک گرم از اون، 12 هزار حلزون له می شدند که کفاف رنگ کردن لبه شنل ثروتمندان رو هم نمی کرد. بعد ویلیام پرکین زمانی که تلاش می کرد تا کینین رو (اون هم بدون دونستن ساختارش) برای نجات ارتش و بورکرات های امپراتوری بریتانیا از مالاریا، سنتز کنه، به طور اتفاقی رنگینه ای به نام موآوین رو سنتز کرد. درسته که نتونست جونِ سربازا رو نجات بده ولی حلزون ها رو تونست نجات بده :)
اینجوری شد که شیمی به دنیا رنگ بخشید. نه تنها رنگ به لباس هامون، بلکه با چراغ های نئونی رنگ به شهرمون، با لوازم آرایش رنگ به چهره مون، با صنایع پتروشیمی رنگ به در و دیوار خونه مون، با صنعت شیشه گری رنگ به ظروف و شیشه های رنگی خونه و به طور کلی رنگ به دنیا بخشید
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البته این کشف ها و سنتزهای اتفاقی همیشه سودمند نبودند. مثلا یک بار با ورودِ {ظاهرا} اتفاقیِ بیش از حد آب به مخزنِ ترکیب متیل ایزوسیانات که حدواسطی در فرایند ساخت نوعی حشره کش است، جان نزدیک به 4 هزار نفر به طور مستقیم و 8 هزار نفر طی دو هفته گرفته شد و بیش از 500 هزار نفر مجروح شدند. به کار گیریِ عمدیِ جنگ افزارهای شیمیایی هرگز چنین کارآمد نبوده است
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نمیدونم چند نفر ریویوی به این بلندی رو میخونن اما دوست داشتم چند پاراگراف راجع به شیمیِ عزیزم بنویسم و بگم شیمی واقعا شیرین تر از چیزیه که فکرشو میکنین. خیلیا فقط به خاطر چهره ای که از شیمی توی دبیرستان بهشون نشون داده شده ازش فرارین ولی وقتی وارد دنیای شیمی بشین متوجه میشین که چقدر دنیای رنگارنگ و قشنگیه 😍

[Mae]

روند و موضوع شیرین ولی ترجمه‌ش چندان خوب نیست. کاش ترجمه نمی‌خوندم.

[Elle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, it definitely explained some concepts in a couple of sentences that took a whole paragraph in my textbook so I did like that. A few pictures would have been helpful and I could have probably done without the last couple of chapters but that's probably just me just wanting the facts and not the commentary since I read it to help me with my final. Overall, the book is just as it claims to be: A very short introduction to the world of chemistry. I kind of wish I read it at the beginning of the semester as opposed to now though

[Brandon Bier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Atkins does a great job in his overview of this vast discipline. This is definitely one of the better books in the ‘A very short introduction’ series. The book is concise and to the point without sacrificing detail. His goal is twofold; to remove the overwhelming high school-inspired disdain for this subject, and to then supplant this feeling with a curiosity to learn more about chemistry.
I think he succeeds in both these goals.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found his tone a bit patronising. And the chemistry interesting but not thrilling. Perhaps a little bit more star but while it was a good recap to bring me up to speed 40 years after chemistry A-level, there wasn't really the wow factor I get from physics books.

[Lauren Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great living book for high school chemistry at home. We are pairing it with Napoleon's Buttons and a local chemistry lab taught from a Christian perspective.

What Is Chemistry? provides a principled explanation of chemistry and how it works in its various fields/disciplines and in the world as we know it, from past to present and even into the future. My language-loving son who isn't very interested in invisible things like atoms is nevertheless enjoying this well-written book. 😊

FYI: It's written from a secular evolutionary perspective. Our family is comfortable sifting through a worldview that is not our own. We find it to be good practice in the teen years.

[Lauren Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy Peter Atkins' 'what is chemistry' and the perspective that he revealed. It is a good book for learning all about the school subject while he encourages the rare enjoyment it provides.
I like how he included the definitions of some terms and concepts and their derivatives; I think that will really help me at school this year. I will definitely be using his book for assignments, study, and referencing this year!
Give it a go if you are keen for a bit of Chemistry! :)

[Ryan Hoyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent addition to the series. Obviously chemistry is an enormously broad subject and can only be skimmed over in 100 pages. But what better person to pick the highlights than Peter Atkins, who apparently wrote all of the chemistry textbooks anyway.

The author does a really good job of breaking down the reader’s misconception of chemistry (if you stopped at school then you almost certainly misconceive it) and rebuilding a much more beautiful view of the subject.

[sahil · Rating 4 out of 5]

last minute interview prep panic read

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Atkins delivers a fine (and very short!) introduction to chemistry, originally published as What is Chemistry? (2013) before joining Oxford's VSI lineup. The book is a nice refresher if you haven't thought much about your high school and/or college chemistry in a while. You might need to think about it, as chemistry keeps intruding into the news (pandemics, wars, climate change, other environmental calamities, medicine, genomics, etc.). It's hard to understand what's going on in the world without at least some familiarity with the subject.

This book is a good place to start before you plow through the other chemistry-related VSIs, as each of those titles goes into more depth on topics touched on in this book.

Atkins extols the benefits of chemistry while not shying from its costs, insofar as humans have seen fit to apply it. On the benefit side of the ledger, chemistry is essential for providing almost all of our technological goodies, including the computer and Internet that I'm using to post this review, and the meal that powers my thoughts and fingers. Without the science of chemistry, there is no modern life, and few people would give that up willingly. But on the other hand, humanity's sometimes questionable use (or misuse) of chemistry has led to a litany of environmental problems, occasional mass death (see: Bhopal), the odd medical mishap, and ever-more-lethal weapons. But on the other-other hand, the solution to every problem caused or enabled by chemistry appears to be more chemistry! The challenge for humans is whether we can acquire enough additional knowledge of science to fix the problems we created with our earlier knowledge of science. Atkins doesn't mention that some of those solutions may lead unexpectedly in turn to more problems requiring yet more solutions, in a turtles all the way up kind of way.

Atkins mentions an odd tidbit about the smallest possible ice cube: it takes about 475 water molecules before the collection can become truly ice. Although Atkins doesn't mention it, readers of philosophy may recognize a similarity to the ancient Sorites paradox, the question of how many grains of sand make a heap. While the sand pile may still be challenging philosophers, it's interesting to know chemists nailed down the answer for water molecules joining together to make ice. Although not much hinges on the precise definition of a sand pile, similar questions reverberate throughout philosophy, the sciences, and human affairs, whenever boundaries between sets or properties are vague. For example, at what precise age does a child become an adult? The more you think about it, the sillier the question becomes, as there is no precise age, and every child matures at a different rate. Rather, the maturing child becomes gradually less childlike and more adultlike. But we find it convenient to pick an arbitrary age to demarcate the start of adulthood, so the legal system can allocate adult rights and responsibilities to people. Similar difficulty attends the start of a human life: is it at the moment of conception? Birth? The quickening? Given that people are a bit more complex than ice cubes, an easy answer from chemistry does not appear imminent.

In such a short book, Atkins can't cover everything about chemistry. But while he finds the space to mention the prospect of fossil fuel depletion, he never explicitly mentions climate change. (To be fair, he does mention "damage to the atmosphere" from combustion products, which could refer to either "traditional" air pollution or global greenhouse gas pollution.) It's almost as if Atkins implies that the greatest threat posed by fossil fuels is that we will eventually run out of them. While fossil fuel exhaustion is a concern, Atkins doesn't mention that by the time that happens, humans will have driven atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration from the current ~415 ppm (already up from the ~280 ppm pre-industrial level) to ~2000 ppm, an atmosphere not experienced on Earth since dinosaurs roamed the then-ice-free polar regions. (See the book Understanding Earth's Deep Past: Lessons for Our Climate Future.) While life wasn't bad for the dinosaurs on a hothouse planet, they and all other living things had had millions of years to adapt to it. Today's creatures, including ourselves, are adapted to a very different world, a world that has been slowly cooling for tens of mllions of years. Much if not most of the planet's living cargo probably won't respond well to a drastic change in climate over just a few centuries, to say the very least.

Given that climate change is a chemistry problem, perhaps the greatest one confronting humanity, Atkins' silence is curious. Fortunately there are other VSIs for that, such as Climate: A Very Short Introduction and Climate Change: A Very Short Introduction both by Mark Maslin.

Man-made climate change, along with the "traditional" pollution problems that Atkins mentions, are examples of collective action problems. Although Atkins doesn't use that specific term, this is what he refers to when he discusses the pollution problems lurking in the embarassing corner of chemistry. We have pollution for the simple reason that somebody is making money or otherwise benefiting from it - typically by dumping negative externalities onto somebody else. How do you motivate people - and for the bigger problems like climate change, the vast majority of people - to sacrifice some of their immediate monetary wealth to pay for technologies such as "green chemistry" that ultimately make life better for everyone? Here we leave the traditional realm of chemistry (and this book) and enter the complex, baffling, and still-emerging behavioral sciences.

Atkins hints at a possible way forward when he mentions that all aspects of humans, even our thoughts, are chemical at their roots. Brevity prevents Atkins from exploring that idea further, but the behavioral sciences already provide interesting clues about why some people are more prone than other people to cooperate for mutual benefit. For example, individuals with higher IQs tend to be more cooperative (see Hive Mind: How Your Nation's IQ Matters So Much More Than Your Own and The Neuroscience of Intelligence). Someday chemistry, perhaps via gene editing techniques such as CRISPR, might enable everyone to become as smart as the smartest people alive (or even smarter) - and therefore probably more conscientious, cooperative, and responsible, both environmentally and socially.

[Shams Alkamil · Rating 3 out of 5]

My four years of chem, organic chem, biochem, genetics in 100 pages.

cool facts: yellow stoplights are the result of sodium absorbing the light that’s produced when electrons bounce off. Basically, spectroscopy.

The Nobel Prize was named after a dude who found out how to “neutralize” an unstable compound into a more stable product…. DYNAMITE. 🤡

[Bernie Gourley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lately, I’ve been reading several of these “A Very Short Introduction” [AVSI] books put out by Oxford University Press. They are a good way to take in the basics of a subject in a concise and layman-friendly manner—either as a refresher or introduction. And they are inexpensive both on Kindle and at my local book seller, Blossom Book House in Bangalore. There are 400 to 500 titles in the series (and growing) and they deal with topics as broad as… well, Chemistry, to as narrow as the Dead Sea Scrolls. They’re available for subjects in the sciences, art, social sciences, the humanities, etc. This book, like most in the series, is about 100 pages long, and includes a glossary and suggestions for further reading.

As is common across the series, the writing is approachable to a non-specialist, but don’t expect Mary Roach style popular science writing. The author doesn’t use interesting stories or colorful language to make his point. The trade-off for getting a concise explanation is that you may find the book dry. I won’t say that these books—and this one in particular—aren’t for pleasure readers, but they’re for readers who take pleasure in learning--as well as those who need to get a grasp on a subject quickly (e.g. your fiance’s mother is a Professor of Microbiology and her father is one of the foremost experts on the Norman Conquest—and you don’t want to seem like an idiot—OUP has you covered.)

As the common subtitle suggests, you will only get the bare essentials. That’s truer for books with a broad scope than those of narrow scope. That is, if you read the AVSI book on “Philosophy” you are going to get less of the full story of the title subject than you will of the one entitled “Heidegger.” Of course, Chemistry is broad.

There are seven chapters in this book. The first offers background information on the history of chemistry, its scope and where it fits with respect to related sciences, and how the subject has come to be organized into sub-disciplines. The second chapter explains the basic concepts of atomic structure and bonding. The third chapter offers the basics of thermodynamics, and the fourth describes the nature of chemical reactions. The fifth chapter describes the methods that are used in the study of chemistry. The last two chapters are a bit different. They tell the reader what chemists have produced (for good and bad) and what directions the discipline is likely to take in the future, respectively.

Many of the AVSI books contain simple, monochromatic graphics, but this particular one includes only a copy of the Periodic Table. There may be points in the book that would benefit from a graphic, but I can’t say that I noticed the absence when I was reading. Let’s face it; on the microscopic level of chemistry takes place, any graphic would likely be a greatly simplified abstraction any way.

I’d recommend this for those seeking a quick guide to the subject of chemistry for those who forgot or never learned the subject.

[Kayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

A VSI to Chemistry was very middle of the ground. There were aspects that were perfect for somebody that does not know a a lot about chemistry. However at time, there were extremely large terms that I could not wrap my head around which are not friendly to the average reader.

[John Kaufmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to tell what this book is. It covers the basics of atoms and bonding and molecules, but it doesn't have necessary graphics and it's not a detailed enough to be an instruction book. It's a little about what chemistry does and can do for society. It's a little about what chemists do. It's a little about future directions for chemistry. Atkins made all of it interesting. But something left me hungry for more. Maybe it was too much ground to cover for one book, let alone a short one - there was only enough information to whet your appetite, but not enough time to really get into it.

[Fernando del Alamo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro es una buena introducción a la química desde todos los puntos de vista. Al estilo del autor, que siempre hace las cosas agradables y fáciles. Da un repaso desde los átomos a los enlaces, a los materiales, a los peligros y a las cosas buenas que la química ha hecho en nuestra sociedad. Afirma que de no ser por los conocimientos en química que tenemos volveríamos a la edad de piedra. Creo que tiene razón.

Un libro muy cortito, muy ameno y muy informativo con algunos datos que sorprenden. Recomendado para todos los públicos.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

"People remember [chemistry] from their schooldays as a subject that was largely incomprehensible, fact-rich but understanding-poor, smelly [...]". Yes, yup, absolutely, indeed.

"I want to encourage you to look anew at chemistry, through modern unprejudiced eyes". Perfect! I now feel like I have some rough idea of the key principles and practices of chemisry.

[Sky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new light on chemistry

An informative and positive review of how chemistry affects the world and its inhabitants. Though there are negatives to chemistry — as there are in many thing around us — there are also many benefits. In the end, one is given a new perspective of this double-edged subject.

[Annika · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent introduction and an enjoyable read. For someone who didn’t do chemistry past year 10, it explained a lot of fundamental concepts that I gained great satisfaction from understanding. The book also covered the broad applications of chemistry and left me with a much greater appreciation for the field.

[Kadir Mert · Rating 5 out of 5]

such an excellent choice for an introduction to chemistry

[Daniel Wrench · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely, clear, and witty writing style. Reminds me somewhat of Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything.
An excellent introduction to the principles and important, widespread applications of chemistry.

[Mritunjay Kumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome book

[Marco · Rating 5 out of 5]

A broad, if fast-paced, introduction to Chemistry, with clear prose and some great examples of the core concepts of the field.

[Toros Yesja · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a very general introduction to Chemistry the book is pretty decent, and I particularly liked the last chapter.

[Madelynp]

I read this as a teaching reference (just WHAT does Dr. Atkins consider to be the most important pieces of information for a well-informed reader?). Very useful!

[Alok Sharma]

The first five chapters are chemistry rest are essays.
short introductions are a good place to start a subject

[Mihai · Rating 4 out of 5]

A superb refresher to my high school chemistry knowledge, sparkled with some info about where chemistry stands today. A nice read

[Robert Høgh · Rating 4 out of 5]

»Kemi er alt«, siger nobelprisvinder Morten Meldal i et interview. Der foregår stort set ingenting i denne verden, som ikke er en kemisk reaktion. Det gælder, når du trækker vejret, når planterne vokser, og når regnen trommer mod dit vindue.

Peter Atkins er kemiprofessor på Oxford Universitet. I denne bog giver han en introduktion til faget. Bogen gør dig ikke til udlært kemiker, men den åbner dine øjne for, hvad kemi egentlig er, og hvordan atomer reagerer med hinanden, når de udveksler partnere og indgår i nye molekyler. »Alt handler om skilsmisser og nye ægteskaber«, står der på side tre.

Mine venner diskuterer kemikalier. De er unaturlige og dårlige for planeten, siger de. Sprøjtemidler og hormonforstyrrende stoffer. Kemien lærer os imidlertid, at alle stoffer er kemikalier. Vand, ilt, organiske molekyler. Desuden bliver kemikalier ikke »gode« bare fordi, de er naturlige. Tænk bare på den fluesvamp, du ikke måtte røre som barn.

Min bror og jeg serverede engang en giftdrik til min søster, så hun skulle på skadestuen. Den bestod af druesaft, et råddent æg, døde hvepse, alger fra søen og salt og peber. »Naturlige« stoffer, som kunne have slået hende ihjel i de forkerte mængder. Mine forældre opdagede det gudskelov i tide.

Peter Atkins taler om kemiens bidrag til den menneskelige verden. Uden den ville der ikke findes farver – for al maling fremstilles kemisk – verden ville være grå og sort. Der ville ikke findes rent drikkevand i store byer. Der ville ikke findes gødning. Der ville ikke findes computere. Der ville ikke findes medicin.

Kemien lærer os ikke blot at forstå verden omkring os, men også hvordan vi gør den bedre. Det er »den ultimative beskrivelse af verden«, siger Morten Meldal i samme interview.

[soph · Rating 1 out of 5]

L’ho dovuto leggere per scuola e devo dire che l’ho trovato davvero noioso. Credo che tutto il libro potesse essere riassunto in poche pagine e, inoltre, il suo scopo sarebbe quello di mostrarti il mondo delle fisica e di rendertelo più chiaro, mentre credo che abbia fatto tutto l’opposto. Io devo andare in terza liceo e la maggior parte dei termini e degli argomentari trattati non li avevo mai toccati a scuola, quindi forse è anche per quello che l’ho trovata una lettura pesante.

[Wing · Rating 4 out of 5]

This very short book demystifies chemistry nicely. Highlights include clear explanations of why there are just four classes of chemical reactions; why endothermic reactions can occur; and why chemical reactions occur at all. It shows how chemistry is seamlessly entwined in the other systems that undergird the workings of our universe, forming a bridge between physics and biology. The second half of the book informs the reader what chemists do and their tools of trade.

[Caner Ertay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Güzel bir giriş kitabı. Keşke biraz daha hikayeleştirerek anlatsaydı. Kimya alanı ile haşır neşir olmayan kişiler için bazı yerler lise kitabı gibi gelebiliyor. Bana öyle geldi. Okumak için kendimiz zorladığım anlar olmadı değil. Ancak genel olarak kimya ile bu zamana kadar ilgilenmemiş kişiler için güzel bir başlangıç olacaktır.