"The anthology Understanding Life presents an atoms-first approach to chemistry. Written for non-majors in chemistry, the text covers a broad range of topics and provides a clear, comprehensive overview. The selected readings recognize important changes that have taken place in the scientific world in recent years.
After a conceptual orientation to the subject, students will learn about the tools and origins of chemistry and the classical chemical paradigms. Other topics include modern bonding models, isomers, structures in organic chemistry and biochemistry, entropy, and metabolism.
The readings address the overlap between chemistry and molecular biology. They present crucial concepts from thermodynamics, chemical kinetics, and quantum theory, which form the foundation of modern physical chemistry. The text includes exercises at the end of each chapter and their solutions which allow students to practice their understanding of the material.
Understanding Life offers an informative and accessible alternative to standard chemistry texts which are often too long for a one-semester course. The anthology is an ideal text or supplemental reader for a one-semester course designed for the undergraduate non-major.
Ronald Duchovic earned a B.S. from the University of Notre Dame, an M.S from the University of Michigan, both in mathematics, and his Ph.D. in theoretical physical chemistry from Wayne State University. Dr. Duchovic is an associate professor of chemistry at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. Dr. Duchovic has received grants from the National Science Foundation, Argonne National Laboratory, and the American Chemical Society's Petroleum Research Fund. His scholarly work has appeared in the Journal of Physical Chemistry, the Journal of Chemical Physics, Chemical Physics Letters, Computer Physics Communications, the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the Journal of College Science Teaching, and the Journal of Chemical Education."
