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Rating: 
Summary: A must for pre-med students
Review: After using this book for two quarters of organic chemistry at UCLA I am confident in entering my third quarter using this same book. Not only is it vital in order to understand the basics of organic chemistry it is also a great study tool for the MCAT. Solomons presents the material in a matter fact way that is easy to understand. If you are going to study organics this is the book to have!
Rating:
Summary: Got me through undergraduate Organic Chemistry
Review: I found this textbook to be an easy read and explains the basic concepts of undergraduate organic chemistry very well. The diagrams are very thorough and help explain the concepts. Also, the CD is an excellent tutorial for those who are visual learners. Overall - an excellent textbook. Hey, I got a A+ in the course with this textbook!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Very complete and to the point
Review: I used Solomons for my undergraduate organic chemistry class. I felt that the book presented all the information that we were expected to know in a clear and concise fashion. All the reactions had mehanisms written out, and key reactions were highlighted at the end of each chapter. I felt they could have done a bit better with the nucleophilic substitution and elimination chapter because this is the first time students have to understand reaction mechansims and I didn't think there were enough examples. All in all though, its a good textbook, definately suitable for a first year course in organic chemistry.
Rating: 
Summary: Not worth it
Review: Re: Solomons, "Organic Chemistry", 6th ed. (Wiley 1996) (I am Italian, sorry about any mistakes.) Are you a freshman chemistry student? Do you plan to become a researcher in a quantitative and/or theoretical field and/or do you "just" want a quantitative, complete understanding of what you are doing all day? Then read on!\\ The present book is a complete clone of the other available textbooks on the subjects; McMurry, Schmid, Volhardt etc. can thus be treated as one single book and you can just pick one at random.\\ All present exactly the same bits of information from an actually endlessly varied field; they have nearly identical illustrations, nearly identical exercises, present identical, absurd falsifications of atomic and molecular structure; the exact same substances are discussed (=solid evidence of plagiarization; the substances are "classical" only to the aged authors and you are not likely to meet the majority of them again), the exact same explanations are given, everything is repeated four times making most of the text mass redundant; overall the books are criminally incoherent, much due to that substance classes rather than reaction classes form the "basis" of the chapter division [note: NOT "...the basis of the `organization'...", since organization can only exist when the reaction classes are the basis for the discussions, the one thing that brings order to organic chemistry!]; never does anyone take a more "holistic" or just "passioned" view, to actually demonstrate the monumental versatility of the concepts discussed - and exactly the same highly vital information is left out, about how to interpret or control all the hundreds of written consecutive equillibria, or what difference it makes to use the methoxide rather than the ethoxide, or why 70% phosphoric acid is used (or, indeed, what is meant by 70%), or why precisely 780K and not 775Kis needed, or how you actually carry out a single reaction and what apparatus should be used, or how you handle and isolate the substances; or how you name those compounds that show up later than the first few chapters (when all the authors suddenly forget the previous efforts of showing completeness in presentation).\\ The overall impresssion is that of a book from junior high that is just terribly overgrown.
Rating: 
Summary: Borderline to desinformation from a present-day perspective.
Review: Review by Dr Giovani Bassi, Rome/Torino, Italy. [M.A. Music, B.Sc. Physics, M.Sc. Chemistry, Ph.D. Physical Organic Chemistry (thesis: general theory of synthesis of kinetically stabilized high-energy compounds). Lecturer on graduate-level quantum mechanics, applied maths, enzyme mechanics (my chief research area), relativistic biophysics etc.]Re: Solomons, "Organic Chemistry", 6th and 7th eds. (I am Italian, sorry about any mistakes.) Are you a freshman chemistry student? Do you plan to become a researcher in a quantitative and/or theoretical field and/or do you "just" want a reasonably complete understanding of what you are doing all day, regardless of what your profession will be or is already? Then read on! The present book is a complete clone of the other available textbooks on the subjects; McMurry, Schmid, Volhardt etc. can thus be treated as one single book and you can just pick one at random. (One exception is the text by Whitesell and Fox, which is fabulous in that it is completely oriented around mechanism, which is the perspective used by every professional. However, even that book - like those mentioned here - suffers from being directed at students without any background knowledge of math and science. I am now planning to write a book for Wiley on basic organic chemistry, that assumes knowledge of calculus and physical chemistry. The demand seems to be enormous for such a text, not least since tens of thousands of scientists in the physical sciences are now turning their focus towards biology. The text should appear within the next few years and suggestions can be mailed at will.) All texts present exactly the same bits of information - chosen from an actually endlessly varied field; they have nearly identical illustrations, nearly identical exercises, present identical, absurd falsifications of atomic and molecular structure; the exact same substances are discussed (=solid evidence of plagiarization; the substances are "classical" only to the aged authors and you are not likely to meet the majority of them again), the exact same explanations are given, everything is repeated four times making most of the text mass redundant; overall the books are criminally incoherent, much due to that substance classes rather than reaction classes form the "basis" of the chapter division [note: NOT "...the basis of the 'organization'...", since organization can only exist when the reaction classes are the basis for the discussions, the one thing that brings order to organic chemistry!]; never does anyone take a more "holistic" or just "passioned" view, to actually demonstrate the monumental versatility of the concepts discussed - and exactly the same highly vital information is left out, about how to interpret or control all the hundreds of written consecutive equillibria, or what difference it makes to use the methoxide rather than the ethoxide, or why 70% phosphoric acid is used (or, indeed, what is meant by 70%), or why precisely 780K and not 775Kis needed, or how you actually carry out a single reaction and what apparatus should be used, or how you handle and isolate the substances; or how you name those compounds that show up later than the first few chapters (when all the authors suddenly forget the previous efforts of showing completeness in presentation). The overall impresssion is that of a book from junior high that is just terribly overgrown.
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Summary: Best Orgo Book Ever
Review: Solomons is like a bible to me as a lab tech. I had it for my undergrad course in orgo and found it to be very thorough. It is a good resource, clear and to the point. The mechanisms were very nice. I TAed for orgo afterwards and they used a different book called Jones which was alot more confusing. I was thankful that I had Solomons becasue the Jones book rambles and tells you things that aren't even true after going on for like two pages.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: The book starts out by doing a thorough review of the basic general chemistry, since grasping the basic is essential to advance. The book is organized, as the reader proceeds,in order to give the utmost coherency to the reader. Along with the book comes a CD ROM which allows the readers to better comprehend through the stunning, almost real animations of the compounds, orbitals, etc. Kudos to the author for making organic chemistry simple, and extremely helpful.
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