Chemical Kinetics and Reaction Dynamics - Dover Books on Chemistry | Essential Textbook for Students & Researchers | Perfect for Lab Studies & Academic Research

This book provides a very thorough introduction to chemical kinetics at an almost rigorous level. The mathematical derivations are given direct physical interpretations (something that is missing in many physical chemistry books) that are on par with physics books. Its introduction states that a full year of calculus is all that is required. I totally disagree. At the very least, the math requirements are multivariable calculus (double and triple integration appear through out the text; vector calculus {gradient , divergence, & laplacian}; partial derivatives), methods of approximation (power series & Taylor expansions), & working knowledge of ordinary & partial differential (Fick's second law of diffusion) equations are helpful in understanding how the solutions are determined. Moreover, the homework exercises present problems where Laplace transforms (small section is provided for Laplace transforms) are needed to solve the D.E.'s and P.D.E.'s. What is most surprising is that from the first page the author directly dives into kinetics with clear & precise definitions without getting sidetracked or giving any unwanted wordiness or jargon. In no way is this book what I call difficult but very accessible. The author never makes any of the subjects more difficult than they have to be in understanding the material. Mr. Houston's book stays focused to kinetics and its outcome is a book with few pages but dense & rich with material, a welcomed addition for anyone in the fields of theoretical, physical chemistry, or chemical physics. In addition, a plethora of homework problems are presented. However, it has been difficult to find the solutions manual for the problems in the book.