Organic Chemistry, Fourth Edition

Rating:
Summary: Excellent text but awful answer keys and Solution Manual
Review: I just finished taking my first Organic Chemistry course and got an A -- and this text was a huge reason why. Her organization and explanation of reactions and mechanisms was great and her graphics were very helpful. This text was a huge improvement over my General Chemistry textbook (Zumdahl's Chemistry) which was awful. This text made the course very comprehensible. Only two things kept me from giving this book five stars. One, the answer key, both in the text and in the Solution Manual, was completely unreliable and many of the answers were wrong. Prentice Hall must have used one of their editorial interns to check the answer keys. Very sloppy work. Two, the NMR and IR chapters (Ch. 12 & 13) weren't as clear and comprehensible as the other chapters. Other than that, however, an excellent text for the Organic Chemistry novice.

Rating:
Summary: Not the best book on Organic Chemistry you can find
Review: If you are looking for a book that will help you understand the basics of Organic Chemistry this is not the book for you. I'm a college student taking Organic Chemistry for the first time and found this book to be a poor learning tool. This is a tough course and this book lacks a good introduction that can make the student feel comfortable with the class. It may take you a while to get a hang of the teaching meathod used in the book and unfortunately it does not contain many sample problems which will help you in your study. I have to admit though that the course is very interesting specially the parts about Stereochemistry, Mechanisms and Synthesis. Overall this is not the type of book you can use to learn Organic Chemistry on your own so don't plan on missing any lectures if you want to pass the class.

Rating:
Summary: Not the best book on Organic Chemistry you can find
Review: If you are looking for a book that will help you understand the basics of Organic Chemistry this is not the book for you. I'm a college student taking Organic Chemistry for the first time and found this book to be a poor learning tool. This is a tough course and this book lacks a good introduction that can make the student feel comfortable with the class. It may take you a while to get a hang of the teaching meathod used in the book and unfortunately it does not contain many sample problems which will help you in your study. I have to admit though that the course is very interesting specially the parts about Stereochemistry, Mechanisms and Synthesis. Overall this is not the type of book you can use to learn Organic Chemistry on your own so don't plan on missing any lectures if you want to pass the class.

Rating:
Summary: grrrr Organic
Review: Orgo is tough folks! it just might keep me out of vet school. i believe msu was the first school to start using the third edition. it wasn't even printed when we started class! we were in class a week b4 they came out & it took another month to get the study guide. i still haven't gotten the cd rom that was supposed to be included with the book. i called the publisher & they were supposed to send it to me. bruice tries her best to explain a topic that makes absolutely no sense to me. if u buy this book, make sure you get one with the cd rom in it. and if you wanna wait another semester, you can have mine, slightly, and i mean SLIGHTLY, used.

Rating:
Summary: grrrr Organic
Review: Orgo is tough folks! it just might keep me out of vet school. i believe msu was the first school to start using the third edition. it wasn't even printed when we started class! we were in class a week b4 they came out & it took another month to get the study guide. i still haven't gotten the cd rom that was supposed to be included with the book. i called the publisher & they were supposed to send it to me. bruice tries her best to explain a topic that makes absolutely no sense to me. if u buy this book, make sure you get one with the cd rom in it. and if you wanna wait another semester, you can have mine, slightly, and i mean SLIGHTLY, used.

Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive, easy to read, good problems,
Review: The author de-emphasizes memorization and builds on fundamental principles. The book is easy to read, but at times uses silly imagery (e.g. unicorn). I was well enough prepared after 2 semesters with this book to do independent research in an organic lab. I would have liked to have seen more discussions on molecular orbital theory and maybe more on thermo.

Rating:
Summary: Errors run rampant
Review: This book details the mechanisms well but was their an editing process? Numerous errors are throughout the book. I am missing two pages from the book as well. The solutions manual is also poorly organized.

Rating:
Summary: Nice cover, but what happened inside?
Review: This book has it's own merits: an easy to understand aproach to some aspects of the organic chemistry, an understanding-instead-of-memorizing style, and everyday's life examples of organic molecules. Lamentably, the book gives the reader the idea that there was no proofread of it since ambiguity, errors, and contradiction can be easily found all across the chapters. The reader can't see to whom was the book written since sometimes it requires a profesor conference to understand some aspects, and sometimes it appears the the author want an 8-year-old child to understand other aspects. Errors in the mechanisms drawings (that could lead a student to serious misunderstanding) are found in every chapter. Even the student's guide is full of this kind of mistakes. Contradiction is also evident when explaning the method to assign the nomenclature of cycloalkanes: two absolutely contrary methods are described. I'm sorry to say that this book is unaceptable as a teaching tool...END

Rating:
Summary: Yes, but with restrictions
Review: This is an excellent book that uses illuminating diagrams and examples to explain fundamental concepts. It is by no means, however, an easy reader. To understand the concepts you must read the chapters and do the problems at least 3 to 4 times. (if not more). I worked very hard in orgo, which is one of the reasons why I did well in it. The only reason that kept this rating from being higher, was the solutions manual and the chapter on stereochemistry. The solutions manual is very selective in it's explanations. The solutions to the problems are not explained in a way that everyone can understand it. A solutions manual should always include detailed explanations of every problem, and this solutions manual certainly doesn't do that. Then, on the flip side, if you thorougly understand the chapter before attempting the problems at the end of each chapter, then the solutions manual is an excellent guide. Chapter 5, the stereochemistry chapter, at least all of it, except section 5.19, is extremely poorly written. Stereochemistry is a very tough and important subject, and although the chapter was 50 pages long, it was written very inadequately with examples that don't exemplify simple concepts. Get a model set to learn stereochem, I finally learned at the end of Ochem 2, but that was because I finally understood the basics, and understood that it was extremely easy. Overall, this book is not for someone that doesn't have an interest in ochem, but for someone that takes passion with the subject. I never went to class, but i loved the subject, so the book, for me was excellent. If you love chemistry-BUY THIS BOOK.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best available
Review: This is one of the best sophomore level o-chem text available. The explanation is clear and the writing style is straight-forward. The organization of the topics is somewhat different from the traditional functional group approach. This helps students to apply what they learn early in the course to the reactions in later chapters. I don't see how anyone who is ready to take o-chem can be confused by this organization unless his/her instructor takes a very different approach from the textbook itself. The answers to the problems are certainly not error free. But keep in mind, when you read anything written by today's college students, reduce the magnitude by at least 10 times to come even close to what they are trying to say. Our English language will soon lose any meaning if this trend of exageration doesn't stop soon. I am also not surprised that most students cannot learn organic chemistry on their own from this textbook. No other textbook would do either. Going to class is absolutely essential (if instructors can be understood by students) besides working lots of problems and learning to think.