Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments: All Lab, No Lecture (DIY Science),   ISBN:9780596514921

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Very useful book for teachers who love and enjoy making experiments not only in a laboratory but also in a theoretical class of chemistry.
The instructions are so0 clear and the ilustrations are so good.

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This book is some solid science! It's more for the home-school crowd than the dilettante who just wants some party tricks. Granted, some of the experiments are pretty darn cool (copper ore comes to mind), but you're not going to be blowing stuff up like on YouTube - hopefully - you're just going to be doing some basic (dangerous) experiments.

This book is NOT for kids under 12 or so to use alone. It involves acids and bases of strengths which can cause burns. Which is half the fun, of course, because the book has a comprehensive safety section.

You will need some lab equipment to get more out of this book than just "hey, you can do that?" You'll need someplace that sells chemicals and someplace that sells beakers, etc. Fortunately, the book tells you how to find these sorts of retailers.

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This is a dream come true -- a home chemistry book that is not just a bagatelle, but a full-sized lab manual and reference book (412+ pages). It's a serious book. Sadly, it will also be an historical publication, I predict, the cornerstone of all real chemistry of the future. Why? Because of the Culture of Fear: fear of chemicals, fear of glass, fear of litigation, fear of terrorism, fear of druggies (see Thompson's note about iodine on page 65). Already that culture has resulted in the death of the chemistry set, as noted in his Preface. In the near future, that same culture will result in the death of the chemistry class, too, which can easily be "replaced" by computer simulations and labs equipped with timid fake nonsense. (As much as I admire many applets that simulate reactions, as miniature works of art, I also find them disturbing as harbingers of the chemistry pseudo-lab of the future.) As that transformation continues, the day will come when KMnO4 has been replaced on the lab bench by a lookalike that pretends to do a few limited KMnO4-esque tricks and can optionally be sipped as imitation grape juice. At that point, home chemistry will be the ONLY chemistry, the only game in town. Then millions will thank Robert Thompson for having shown them a way back to the real thing.

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This is an excellent book. The author is very knowledgeable, and the book is well written. It is a must for anyone who is interested in amateur chemistry.

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At first I picked this book to help with home-schooling, but it's a bit over my son's (and my) head. It also does not explain the theories as well as a plain school textbook. That said, this book is AWESOME! Every page made me want to go buy more chemisty stuff and try things. The experiments cover safety and post experiment waste disposal; things parents are concerned about.

Whether or not my son chooses to join me in "the lab", I can see several months of fascination and pure joy of learning ahead.