This is undoubtably the worst text I have ever seen used at the freshman chem level. It is poorly organized, does not give the student a good grounding in the basics before moving on to more detailed areas and printed with ink and glossy paper that makes reading very difficult. The margins are cluttered with distracting diagrams, flow charts and pictures that have little relavance to what is being discussed in the text. As to organization, it is absurd to introduce thermodynamics in chapter 6, discussing only enthalpy,leaving out entropy and Gibbs free energy, placing them piecmeal in later chapters. This fragmented approach only confuses the student when they can't see the interrelationship between entropy, enthalpy and free energy. The same applies in discussing molarity at the end of chapter 3 instead of leaving it with acid-base and solution chemistry. The fragmented approach is very distracting for both student and instructor. This is my first and hopefully last semester to use this text. For a good text use McMurry-Fay or Davis, Whitten and Galey. Don't use this text if at all possible. I gave it one star because that was the lowest available.

This is a very useful chemistry textbooks for a science student who studies independently. I like this book for several reasons: (1) It is comprehensive, (2) It contains detailed explanatins of WHY and HOW things happen,(3) The book includes numerous worked-out problems, and (4) The book is written in a very readable manner, containing straight-foward language and excellent graphic explanations. I am studying biochemistry now, and I go back to this text very often for the explanation of certain topics, eg. buffer problems. The coverage of organic chemistry is very basic in Silberberg's book. For in-depth coverage refer to Organic Chemistry: Structure and reactivity by Seyhan Ege (ISBN 0395902231), a very good book that emphasizes understanding, not memorization. A note: solutions to all problems in Ege's book are in the study guide.

While I would hesitate to recommend this to someone who had never taken high school chemistry, as a second year high school book and a science majors' level college text, this book is fantastic. Comparing it to an old version of Brady & Humiston, and Zumdahl's Introductory Chemistry, Silberberg wins hands down. Fantastic layout and detailed explanations of most topics. Not good for the most basic topics (don't even think about learning oxidation-reduction reaction balancing from this text).

The Old Curiosity Shop certainly displays the hallmarks of the unstructured, free-flowing make-it-up-as-you-go-along type of story characteristic of Dickens's early novels. Indeed, it is rather generous to call it a story, and it's difficult now to understand the sensation it caused when it was first published. However, if a page-turning plot was all there was to it, very few of Dickens's novels would be readable at all. As ever with Dickens, the pleasure in reading this book comes from the comedy, diversity and richness of the characters, as well as the sheer mastery of the English language which came so naturally to him.

The central characters are old Trent, his granddaughter Nell, the moneylender Daniel Quilp, young Kit and the wonderful Richard Swiveller. Of these, the spotlessly pure Nell and the irredeemably evil Quilp are the moral opposites around which the book revolves, old Trent is rather a pathetic figure, while Kit's sturdy progress from poverty to respectability makes for happier reading. However, it is the moral journey of Swiveller, which perhaps reflects the geographic journey undertaken by Nell and her grandfather, which is the real joy of this book. He enters the book in the guise of a rogue, involved in dubious intrigues with Nell's no-good brother and also with the repulsive Quilp. However, from the time that Quilp gets him a job as a clerk in the office of Samson Brass and his sister, the awful Miss Brass, Swiveller's basic decency and natural good humour begin to reveal themselves, and his soliloquies and dialogue provide many hilarious moments from that point on. The Dick Swiveller who subsequently meets up with the hapless young girl kept prisoner by Miss Brass is funny, considerate, charming and kind, and a long way from the doubtful type of character that he at first appears to be.

The book proceeds along two different narrative lines; one which charts the progress of Nell and her grandfather on their long journey, and the other revolving around Swiveller, Quilp and Kit, and to a lesser extent the families of these latter two, as well as "the single gentleman" and the little girl memorably christened "The Marchioness" by Swiveller. One of the big faults I found with this dual structure is that the characters of one plot line have no contact with those in the other plot line for most of the novel, and it is left to the Quilp, Swiveller and Kit to act out most of the drama. Nell and her grandfather spend most of their time journeying through various scenes of early nineteenth century life in England. Nonetheless these all make for enjoyable reading. One particular scene where Nell and her grandfather sleep beside a furnace in the company of a wretched man who watches the flames is particularly memorable.

All in all, it's not exactly a page-turner, and the ending is not a happy one. I would not recommend this book as an introduction to Dickens, and is best read by people, like myself, who have already decided that anything by Dickens is worth reading. Also it focuses less on London than many Dickens novels, and gives an interesting view of rural, village and town life outside London in those times.

The only pleasure greater than discovering a new book
is rediscovering an old friend you haven't read for a while.
Many years ago I read all of Charles Dickens novels, but I
recently had occasion to re-read The Old Curiosity Shop, and
it is just as good as I remembered it the first time.

The story, like most of his plots, depends a great deal
on coincidences, so you have to suspend your scepticism to
enjoy it. Dickens begins by introducing us to one of the
most innocent little girls in literature, Little Nell, and
to her most unhappy grand-father. Quickly we discover that
instead of the old man taking care of the child, she is the
one responsible. We then meet one of Dickens' great villains
- the evil, corrupt, mean, and nasty Quilp - a man, if that
term can be used, who has absolutely no redeeming qualities,
one who finds pleasure in inflicting pain on all he meets.

Thinking that the old man has secret riches, Quilp
advances him money to support his gambling habit.
Unfortunately Nell's grandfather never wins, and the debt
grows ever larger. Finally Quilp forecloses on the curiosity
shop that the old man owns (thus the name of the book) and
tries to keep the two captive in order to discover the money
that he still believes is hidden somewhere. While the
household is asleep, however, Nell and her grandfather
escape and begin wandering across England in a search for
sanctuary.

On that journey, Dickens introduces us to a series of
minor characters who either befriend or try to take
advantage of our heroine. He's in no hurry to continue the
main story, so just sit back and enjoy the vivid
characterizations that are typical of any good Dickens
novel.

In the meantime, we follow the adventures of young Kit,
a boy who was one of Nell's best friends until Quilp turned
her grandfather against him. Here we find one of Dickens'
favorite sub-plots, the poor but honest boy who supports his
widowed mother and younger brother. Thanks to his honesty,
Kit finds a good position, but then evil Quilp enters the
picture and has him arrested as a thief!

Of course, we have the kind and mysterious elderly
gentlemen who take an interest in Kit and Nell for reasons
that we don't fully understand until the end of the book. We
are certain, however, that they will help ensure that
justice prevails in the end.

This is not a book for those in a hurry. Dickens tells
his stories in a meandering fashion, and the stops along the
way are just as important for your enjoyment as the journey itself. That can be frustrating at time, especially as you enter the second half and are anxious to see how things turn out. I try never to cheat by reading the end of a book before I finish, but it is tempting with Dickens. At times I wanted to tell him, "I don't want to meet anyone else; tell me what happens to Nell and Kit!" But I know the side journeys will prove rewarding, so I just have to be patient. Anyway, I am in better shape than his first readers; he wrote in weekly installments, so
they had to wait!

If you have and enjoyed other Dickens' novels, you will enjoy this one as well. If this is your first time (or perhaps the first time since you were in high school), you are in for a treat.

This edition of the Old Curiosity Shop is outstanding. It contains all the original illustrations drawn for the book, very helpful footnotes, a chronology of Dickens's life, etc. The book takes the reader on a wild journey through the English countryside with Little Nell, an angelic girl, and her troublesome grandfather, and features a host of amusing characters as only Dickens can draw them. While it was being written in serial form, it was so popular that sailors returning to port in England were known to shout to people on shore to ask what was going on with Little Nell. Today, however, you can miss some of Dickens's nuance and humor if you don't have good footnotes to turn to. The notes in this book explain obscure terms, references to contemporary popular culture, places where the action occurs, etc. If you are going to read this book, this is the edition to buy.

I am a sophomore in highschool and am learning Latin from this book. Let me just tell you, THERE MUST BE AN EASIER WAY TO LEARN LATIN!! I took Spanish for two years and thought it was boring, so I thought I'd take a more challenging class, well lets call it bitter sweet justice because this is unbelievably hard. Right now I'm trying to translate the part about the Gaulic wars, and that is honestly the most confusing, gramatically incorrect, and boring piece of work I've ever tried to read, much less translate. So I recomend you look for an easier book.

I am taking Latin 3 now out of this series. It is, in my opinion too hard, and not explained in an easily understood manner. I am a good student, I won two gold medals in the National Latin Exam, but I still find this book very hard. I agree with leigh.

This was my Latin book in high school for the second half of year 2 and year 3. I have very fond memories of the class (my first foreign language class), and learned quite a bit about grammar. I still remember some of the lessons.

The book is good. It is not always clear, and tries to explain things on the level of a high-school student. There are times that a linguistic explanation would be much simpler, but it's a school text book.

The second book seems a bit more rushed than the first. Much more grammatical "nitty-gritty" is in the second book. I think the author assumes a level of familiarity after one works through the first book, and picks up the pace a bit. Sometimes this leaves things a bit "less than excellently" described. However, overall, I think the book did a good job. I was very happy to find the series so I could start re-learning Latin (eventually...).