Quantum Chemistry

Unlike Atkins, this text does not oversimplify things, and unlike Levine it doesn't make them heavy going. Rather this work is probably the best introduction to Quantum Chemistry that any undergraduate can ever have. The historical background of the discoveries, the eloquent description of the methods employed, the necessary justifications to help you understand the subject and the often annoying presence of Dirac's vector notation being ommited whenever possible all contributes to boost your interest in the subject. This is the perfect launch pad for the early classics such as Pauling's 'Introduction to Quantum Mechanics with Applications to Chemistry' or Murrell, Tedder and Kettle's 'Valence Theory'...

I'm not going to repeat what other reviewers have said other than to note that this book covers the mathematics of quantum in sufficient detail so that you're never lost. Quantum is hard enough as it is without authors skimping on explictness.

Other books for undergrad quantum chem:

Quantum Chemistry (5th Edition) by Ira N. Levine. 6th edition coming soon. This book is also strong.

Molecular Quantum Mechanics by Atkins, Friedman. I used an earlier version of this book and found it very confusing. Skips lots of steps in the math and writing as not as clear as it should be.

But you should get the dictionary by Atkins entitled "Quanta: A Handbook of Concepts". very helpful.

Can also try the classic "Introduction to Quantum Mechanics with Applications to Chemistry" by Linus Pauling, E. Bright Wilson, Jr. First published in 1935 but still viable after 70 years!

If you want to start with some simpler books look at:

Introduction to Quantum Mechanics (2nd Edition) by David J. Griffiths (ISBN 0131118927) first and then you may want to pick-up:

Quantum Mechanics for Chemists (Tutorial Chemistry Texts, 14) by David O. Hayward, ISBN: 0854046070
Quantum Mechanics 1: Foundations (Oxford Chemistry Primers, 48) by N.J.B. Green
Quantum Mechanics 2: The Toolkit (Oxford Chemistry Primers, 65) by N.J.B. Green

Look at my other reviews for other chemistry books.

I disagree with the above assertion that this book is suitable for a graduate course. This book is the strained peas of the electronic structure library and is unsuitable for anyone with experience in the field or basic math. Levine's book is a better place to start, but far too thorough on the math. McQuarrie is at best 'cute', and certainly not worth more than $40.

I personally think the ESQC Summer School course books are the best thing available for learning quantum chemistry. Ultimately, though, all roads in QC lead through Ostlund and Szabo. If you want to learn ab initio, get Ostlund and Szabo, then read Parr's book on DFT. That should get you up to speed.

This is an excellent introduction to quantum chemistry. Mcquarrie writes clearly and makes quantum chemistry almost easy. It's not a graduate level text and any graduate courses using it will have to be heavily supplimented due to the limited range of subjects in the book. I have three quantum chemistry books: this, Levine, and Atkins (molecular quantum mechanics). Of the three this is the easiest to understand, followed by Levine and then by Atkins. My two gripes with this text is the limited range and the heavy skipping of derivations. Mcquarrie tries to baby-step the reader through his text but sometimes totally skips some derivations. Levine becomes easier to understand in that respect. I don't mind it if the author sometimes skips steps during a derivation, but when he leaves everything out, that doesn't help with the understanding. He states that they're easy and rightly, they are. But assuming too much about the ability of the student is not the hallmark of a teacher. Intro to quantum chem is simple enough a subject to not have to make such an assumption. Recommended for any undergrad chem/biochem/biology majors.

Granted this book is geared toward chemists, but the quantum principles described in the book apply to everyone. The author is very clear, thorough, and easy to follow. Highly recommended for physicists, chemists, and materials engineers alike.

This is a great introduction for Quantum Physics. It is not nearly as rigorous as the Physics books, and is actually enjoyable to read. I recommend reading this before taking quantum physics, or concurrently.

This is my first time writing a review and I hope a rookie like me can appropriately describe this book's excellence. It's a very suitable textbook for chemistry students as it takes in account the math background of a normal chemistry student and developed the math derivation based upon this background. As quantum mechanics is in nature mathematics (this was said by Linus Pauling in his book on "introduction to quantum mechanics and its application on chemistry"), math is something that we cannot avoid to understand quantum mechanics itself. Donald's book excels in very clear math derivation which helps to unveil the myth of quantum mechanics as well as interpreting the physical meaning of math derivation which is directly related to practical applications. In that sense, this book is also good for students who have other majors but want to study quantum chemistry as the book is faithful to the idea of applying quantum mechanics to chemistry problems.

it is a good item

This is an excellent book by mquarrie. Unlike his statistical mechanics book, I enjoyed reading it and benefited from the content.
I recommend it for studying quantum chemistry ( the Pchem course).