My Favorite Chemistry Books

I'm not making the claim that any of these are the best books to own in a particular area of chemistry. But with regard to volumes in my personal library, these have stood the test of time and are the ones that I have relied upon the most. So in no particular order we have...

Merck & Co., Inc. The Merck Index. 5th ed. Rahway, N.J.: Merck & Co., Inc., 1940.

This is the pride and joy of my professional library! We have a copy of the latest edition (13th) that we use at work. The newer ones don't even begin to compare with the all-around utility of the early versions. I found this one in a used bookstore in Terre Haute when I was an undergraduate and snatched it up. It came from the estate of a fellow Rose-Hulman alumnus that had lived in town and had passed away.

From the Title Page: An encyclopedia for the Chemist, Pharmacist, Physician, Dentist and Veterinarian containing useful scientific data and other information on the physical, chemical and medicinal properties, as well as the various uses, of chemicals and drugs; also more than 4500 chemical, clinico-chemical reactions, tests and reagents; formulas for preparation of culture media, fixatives and staining solutions; useful tables; antidotes for poisons; literature references.

Morrison, Robert Thornton, and Robert Neilson Boyd. Organic Chemistry. 5th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1987. (ISBN 0-205-08453-2)

The Bible of Organic Chemistry! It would probably be easier to make a list of chemists that haven't used some version of Morrison & Boyd as undergraduates in the last 20-30 years than those that have. This one is a 5lb 11oz behemoth with 1434 pages not counting the index. I didn't particularly like organic when I had the class but it has grown on me later in life.

Daintith, John, ed. The Facts On File Dictionary of Chemistry. Revised and Expanded Edition. New York: Facts On File, 1988. (ISBN 0-8160-2367-0)

I've found this little dictionary very useful for quickly refreshing my memory when I come across terms and concepts that I don't see very often.

Shriner, Ralph L., et al. The Systematic Identification of Organic Compounds. 6th ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1980. (ISBN 0-471-78874-0)

This is one of the books that we used in a senior level class called Organic Structure Determination. There is lots of practical information on laboratory techniques in this one. If the power fails, the instrumentation won't run and you just have to have information about a sample turn here and you might be able to figure out how to analyze it the old fashioned way. I paid $48.49 for it in 1990.

Ingle, James D., Jr., and Stanley R. Crouch. Spectrochemical Analysis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1988. (ISBN 0-13-826876-2)

This is a large (almost coffee table size) attractively bound book that I used in graduate school. The text and paper are also very nice. Most of all the content is very readable and useful. The sections of the book that I use the most are:

Chapter 1 Spectrochemical Information
Chapter 2 Spectrochemical Measurements
Chapter 5 Signal-to-Noise Ratio Considerations
Appendix A Statistical Concepts
Appendix E Sample Preparation Methods
I've also used much of the book's information on calibration curves although it is scattered throughout the text.

Skoog, Douglas A., Donald M. West, and F. James Holler. Fundamentals of Analytical Chemistry. 5th ed. New York: Saunders College Publishing, 1988. (ISBN 0-03-14828-6)

I've had this one since my sophomore year's Analytical Chemistry class. (There was always something faintly humorous about Skoog...West...Holler. Almost reminds me of the Bud...weis...er frog commercials.) This really is a readable textbook and full of great information in a number of different areas. The sections of the book that I use the most are:

Chapter 2 Evaluation of Analytical Data
Chapter 26 The Analysis of Real Samples
Chapter 27 Preparing Samples for Analysis
Chapter 28 Decomposing and Dissolving the Sample
Chapter 29 Eliminating Interferences
Chapter 30 The Chemicals, Apparatus, and Unit Operations of Analytical Chemistry
Chapter 31 Selected Methods of Analysis

Jolly, William L. Modern Inorganic Chemistry. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1984. (ISBN 0-07-032760-2)

The last two books on my list were both used in Inorganic Chemistry class my senior year. Dr. Erwin's excellent teaching did a great deal to restore my flagging interest in chemistry during that year. This is simply an elegant book both to look at and to read. The binding, paper stock and printing are all rich - nothing gaudy - just tastefully and wonderfully put together. The physical and academic quality of this book hasn't ceased to impress me since the first time I ever saw it. I paid $45.95 for it in the Rose-Hulman bookstore.

Greenwood, N.N., and A. Earnshaw. Chemistry of the Elements. New York: Pergamon Press, 1989. (ISBN 0-08-022057-6)

This is simply my favorite chemistry book of all time. It has a heavier emphasis on descriptive chemistry than theory. This one is a great reference or you can just sit down and start reading. I have the flexicover edition that's 4lb 11oz and 1542 pages including the index. I paid $44.50 for it in the fall of 1990.

Well that's all of them. Regardless of the high initial cost that some (most!) of them had they have all been good investments. However, that darn book on Differential Equations that I still have lying around is an entirely different matter.