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Editorial Review Product Description
Explains the basics of inorganic chemistry with a primary emphasis on facts; then uses the student's growing factual knowledge as a foundation for discussing the important principles of periodicity in structure, bonding and reactivity. New to this updated edition: improved treatment of atomic orbitals and properties such as electronegativity, novel approaches to the depiction of ionic structures, nomenclature for transition metal compounds, quantitative approaches to acid-base chemistry, Wade's rules for boranes and carboranes, the chemistry of major new classes of substances including fullerenes and silenes plus a chapter on the inorganic solid state. ... Read more Customer Reviews (9) 
good introductory text
This book can be regarded as a good review of all elements and their properties.
This is also a good introduction to an inorganic chemistry for the first years chemistry student.
good review of all elements
This book can be regarded as a good review of all elements and their properties.
This is also a good introduction to an inorganic chemistry for the first years chemistry student.
Mixed Feelings
I had this book for Inorganic I at Northern Illinois University.
While it did a good job of describing the chemistry of the various groups, it did a poor job of systematizing reactions (such as classifying them as Lewis Acid/Base or Hard Acid/Base reactions.
It had a good explanation of VSEPR but totally botched MO theory.
A decent text. I hope better ones exist.
Best overall text
I had the first edition of this book as a student and used it my firstyears teaching inorganic chemistry before I tried other books.The reason I left this text to try others is that there is just so much information here and not the best organization for the order in which I teach inorganic.However, that being said, I am now returning to this classic from Cotton, Wilkinson & Gaus.The main reason being I had fewer student complaints about the text when I used this book vs. the others.As other reviewers mentioned, the text is encyclopedic!And you end up jumping around to find what you want; however, Cotton et al. has the most complete volume for the undergraduate & beginning graduate course, so that you can pick & choose what you want to cover without much problem.For those with a descriptive bent, there are many descriptive chemistry chapters.For others who have a bit more physical inorganic bent, there is good coverage of those topics.I've used texts on both ends of the spectrum, and I found they only pleased a small portion of the students, while others struggled.This book has everything you want in a beginning course, and more (!) while being flexible enough that you can design your own course by picking chapters to cover.Finally, for the student, it is an excellent reference to keep for the future.
Good Reference and well written, BUT....
Presents a good overview on most of the elements. The basic edition is realy the same as the Advanced edition but with some of the Transition Metal stuff tossed out... I wouldn't buy the Adv. Edition, unless the school was shoving it down my throat... Not that this is bad, but I think that there are WAY WAY WAY better books on the subject of Trz. Complexes and Mechanisms (Spessard comes to mind in the fantastic "Organometallic Chemistry"). It is undeniable that FA Cotton can really write well and that the man is a genius on the subject, hell the guy lived through the glory years of Inorganic, but the book never really shows people what really happens mechanistically in the book... Everything is presented in an encyclopedic fashion, which sometimes makes things ambiguous...I think that this is a landmark of a book, but one that is really a first reference on a particular subject...
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The best Inorganic Book
Disappointing
Not as good as expected