A far cry from modern books on molecular quantum mechanics which (rightly) use actual physical tools to interpret bonding, this book's conceptual arguments and prose explanations nevertheless had a big influence on me when I cracked it open in grad school.

This was an excellent back when it was printed, and Linus Pauling actually won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the sorts of things discussed within this book. However, most of the material this book can now be found in organic/inorganic chemistry textbooks as well as physical organic chemistry texts. So, if you have taken organic or inorganic chemistry, then much of this is an expanded version of that material. This book does however historical significance as a precursor to modern-day physical organic chemistry texts. ( )