The Reviews
Science
We often frame our understanding of what the space telescope will do in terms of what we expect to find, and actually it would be terribly anticlimactic if in fact we find what we expect to find. ... The most important discoveries will provide answers to questions that we do not yet know how to ask and will concern objects we have not yet imagined. --John N. Bahcall, on the Hubble Space Telescope's capabilities for the advancement of science, quoted in his obituary at CalTech (7 September 2005)

 
Textbook: Calculus-Based Physics I & II

Author: Jeffrey W. Schnick
Textbook URL: http://www.anselm.edu/internet/physics/cbphysics/index.html
Reviewer: Dr. Mei-Ling Shek, Adjunct Faculty, Santa Clara University

*Average of all chapters. Maximum rating is 5.0

Reviewer's Comments This is a basic text covering the essential topics in a coversational, engaging style. I would recommend this book to be used for the first semester of a first-year physics course. While this is best suited for students who are taking calculus concurrently, basic ideas in calculus are also covered for the students who have less mathematical background.

 
Textbook: Chem1 General Chemistry Virtual Textbook: a reference text for General Chemistry

Author: Stephen Lower
Textbook URL: http://www.chem1.com/acad/webtext/virtualtextbook.html
Reviewer: Peter Hamlet, South Florida Community College

*Average of all chapters. Maximum rating is 5.0.

Reviewer's Comments I recommend this textbook for any major that requires general chemistry. This text, though a reference-type work, can be used as a primary text if the instructor provides problems from elsewhere. Some chapters have a much greater scope than most texts, covering a broad range of topics. It has helpful color illustrations and concept maps. Each chapter ends with list of "What you should be able to do.” The authors make many connections between text topics and phenomena familiar in everyday life, plus there are many links to supplementary material.

 
Textbook: The Chemistry of Health

Author: Alison Davis
Textbook URL: http://publications.nigms.nih.gov/chemhealth/
Reviewer: Dr. Gary B. Fisher, Professor of Chemistry, De Anza College

*Average of all chapters. Maximum rating is 5.0.

Reviewer's Comments I recommend this as required supplementary material for community college allied health professions such as nursing, dental hygiene, physical therapy, and radiation technician chemistry. This book is simply too well done and contains too much essential information to motivate allied health professional students to not make it required. It is very clearly and concisely written, presenting highly interesting and relevant topics, with mostly excellent illustrations. It is easy to navigate between sections.

 
Textbook: The Chemistry of Health

Author: Alison Davis
Textbook URL: http://publications.nigms.nih.gov/chemhealth/
Reviewer: Grace Lasker, Faculty, Lake Washington Institute of Technology
Review Date: January 2012

*Average of all chapters. Maximum rating is 5.0.

Reviewer's Comments This text is recommended for first year students at all levels in health, chemistry or biology-related majors. It is a 15-page pamphlet with short, lightweight articles appropriate as a supplementary text. The book succeeds in showing the relationship of chemistry to everyday life in a light, topical way. Several “Meet the Scientist” sidebars are less successful, and most of the featured scientists are male. The section that emphasizes that “you are what you eat” is especially strong. This book would benefit from more hard information, and less of the underlying message that “chemistry is cool.”

 
Textbook: ChemWiki - Biological Chemistry

Author(s): Delmar Larsen. PhD., Director ChemWiki UC-Davis
Textbook URL: http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/biological_chemistry
Reviewer: Anu Suresh, Biotechnology Instructor, Mission Valley ROP

*Average of all chapters. Maximum rating is 5.0.

Reviewer's Comments I recommend this book for chemistry, biology, or biotech classes at high schools, community colleges, or trade schools. For biology and biotech it can be used as a supplementary textbook and or reference. For chemistry it is suitable as a primary textbook. All of the sections had reasonable content. Some of the sections were adequately elaborate, and others were too a bit too short. Some contained interesting information discoveries while others helpfully reiterate lab techniques.

 
Textbook: Concept Development Studies in Chemistry (2007)

Author: John S. Hutchinson
Textbook URL: http://cnx.org/content/col10264/latest/
Reviewer: Dr. Mei-Ling Shek, Adjunct Faculty, Santa Clara University

*Average of all chapters. Maximum rating is 5.0.

Reviewer's Comments I recommend this book. It is suitable as a primary text for first-year community college students. It is a very well-written introductory general chemistry textbook. This book is especially well suited for students who intend to take more advanced science courses. Each chapter develops a key concept from experimental observations and inductive reasoning. There is a preface that explains the motivation for this approach, and an index of key words and terms.

 
Textbook: Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection

Author: Dr. Sarma V. Pisupati
Textbook URL: http://www.e-education.psu.edu/egee102
Reviewer: Dr. Mei-Ling Shek, Adjunct Faculty, Santa Clara University

*Average of all chapters. Maximum rating is 5.0.

Reviewer's Comments I recommend this online textbook for first-year community college students. The material is well organized, and presented with superb illustrations and animations, as well as creative demonstrations. There are numerous questions and exercises that encourage students to actively participate in the learning process. This text covers topics in energy resources and environment, and energy conservation methods most relevant to the residential and commercial sectors.

 
Textbook: Getting Started: Stuff You Should Know Before Delving Too Far into Chemistry (2009)

Author: Stephen Lower
Textbook URL: http://www.chem1.com/acad/webtext/pre/
Reviewer: Dr. Mei-Ling Shek, Adjunct Faculty, Santa Clara University

*Average of all chapters. Maximum rating is 5.0.

Reviewer's Comments I recommend this book for community college first-year students as a supplementary textbook. It is for students who wish to catch up with, or review, the essential background needed for an introductory chemistry course. It is a well-written, lively textbook with ample explanations and examples. I especially recommend this text for general science, chemistry, physics, biology, engineering majors.

 
Textbook: Inside the Cell

Author: National Institutes of Health
Textbook URL: http://publications.nigms.nih.gov/insidethecell/
Reviewer: Grace Lasker, Faculty, Lake Washington Institute of Technology
Review Date: January 2012

*Average of all chapters. Maximum rating is 5.0

Reviewer's Comments This textbook is recommended for first and second year students at all levels in health or biology-related majors. It is a well-written publication and useful as a supplementary text. The articles augment subject matter (such as mitosis) found in primary texts. The clarity of the information helps students learn these topics. Comparisons of microscopic pictures to drawings are especially effective – they illustrate the frequent shortcomings of drawings. Students using this text love the article on regeneration of the salamander. There is an online version that has movies and interactive components that is excellent for classroom use.

 
Textbook: Introductory Chemistry

Author: David Ball
Textbook URL: http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/catalog/editions/p417188
Reviewer: Grace Lasker, Faculty, Lake Washington Institute of Technology
Review Date: January 2012

*Average of all chapters. Maximum rating is 5.0

Reviewer's Comments This textbook is recommended for Community College and High School AP. It is appropriate for Allied Health and science-related majors. The book is excellent, of sufficient quality to be used as a primary chemistry text. The book's overall approach is that "Chemistry is in everything" which is very true. The author uses language to explain Chemistry, not so much mathematical equations, so the book is better suited to Intro/non-major students than chemistry majors. The flow can be improved by moving Chapter 8 after Chapter 3, and Chapter 10 after Chapter 6. The final Chapter 16 is a good introduction to Organic Chemistry, but could be removed for a General Chemistry course.

 
Textbook: People's Physics Book Ver. 2 (2010)

Author(s): CK-12 Foundation - original authors - James H. Dann and James J. Dann
Textbook URL: http://www.ck12.org/flexbook/book/1231
Reviewer: Erik N. Christensen, Professor of Physics, South Florida Community College

*Average of all chapters. Maximum rating is 5.0.

Reviewer's Comments I not only recommend this book, but plan to adopt it for my classes. The beauty of this book lies in its brevity with completeness. It was written with the intention that it would be a component of an overall strategy of developing both conceptual and mathematical understanding of the principles of physics. When supplemented with in-class discussion, laboratories, and problem-solving sessions, this would be ideal textbook in an active peer-learning classroom for non-science majors. This CK-12 Flexbook is modular, which enables any instructor to customize it for their classes.

 
Textbook: Virtual Textbook of Organic Chemistry

Author(s): William Reusch
Textbook URL: http://www2.chemistry.msu.edu/faculty/reusch/VirtTxtJml/intro1.htm
Reviewer: Peter Hamlet, South Florida Community College

*Average of all chapters. Maximum rating is 5.0.

Reviewer's Comments I recommend this textbook as the primary text for community college year-2 students. I also plan to adopt this book for my classes. It covers all the core reactions studied in one-year organic courses and has excellent color figures, reactions, and animations. For example, it illustrates application of IUPAC rules with color to show connection between name and structural feature. An extensive index has interactive links. The textbook offers interactive problems and links to several sources of problems.