Most **Intuitive** Organic Chemistry textbook?

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I've found a few threads on the best o-chem texts and it seems that Wade's Organic Chemistry text is the most talked about, so I ordered that one in addition to Organic Chemistry by Brown, Foote, and Iverson which has bad reviews but is required for my class.

My question is for you Intuitive learners out there - what textbook taught the approach to o-chem that requires the least memorization (aka which text is the most theory-based?)? Is taking a mechanism-based approach to learning o-chem easier if you loathe memorization and struggle with details? Organic Chemistry by Clayden, Greeves, and Warren looks like it has good reviews for its mechanism-based approach, but some say it's too advanced for intro ochem. Would it be way too in depth for a 6 week summer o-chem course?

It might seem like a minor thing but I'm doing GPA repair work and in the past, rote memorization has made it hard to stay focused since it's takes the fun out of the material and doesn't actively engage my ADD brain. Physics was the easiest premed subject for me because it was interesting and challenging and all fit together in a vast web of connections based on the theory once you got the gist of it. You could reverse engineer the details by understanding the "bigger picture". Thank you for any advice, fellow nontrads!

Organic Chemistry as a Second Language by David Klein is the one I used. It was great. It simplified everything for me and gave me most of what I needed for the first class. I didn't get his book for Orgo 2. I was cocky and didn't think I needed it. Probably coulda saved myself some grief this semester by looking it over at least. Oh well. Good luck with your class. Seems like you have plenty to read over.

I just finished the Organic Chemistry series using Wade's Organic Chemistry. It was a really good resource and I feel like it really helped me gain a solid understanding of Organic Chemistry. Wade's text follows a very intuitive presentation of the material with color-coded sections. The only memorization I did in the class were with reaction flashcards (so I could run through multi-step synthesis problems quickly and efficiently), and memorizing a few unique mechanisms (Hofmann rearrangement mechanism, Robinson annulation). I did almost all the problems in the text and it was actually really fun. It was really rewarding when I would work through the problems in a chapter and I could actually understand what I was doing. I would recommend also getting the solutions manual by Simek. The solutions manual has every problem in the text fully solved. It was very helpful when reviewing my homework.

Lastly I would recommend buying Organic Chemistry I For Dummies. It was helpful for a very basic introduction to Ochem and with IR, H-NMR, and Mass Spectroscopy.

Hope this helps

Originally Posted by ShoTyme

Organic Chemistry as a Second Language by David Klein is the one I used. It was great. It simplified everything for me and gave me most of what I needed for the first class. I didn't get his book for Orgo 2. I was cocky and didn't think I needed it. Probably coulda saved myself some grief this semester by looking it over at least. Oh well. Good luck with your class. Seems like you have plenty to read over.

This was also the book I used and got a A and A- in orgo. Its the best book, I got it the year it came out. It is simply the best book out there. When learning orgo, you dont need fancy 3D pics, you need to learn where the electrons will go when 2 molecules interact. Everytime a premed asks me about orgo, I tell them to get this book. One of the best books out there. If you use this book and go through the exercises (not a lot of them) I dont see how you can get less than an A or B+.

Originally Posted by Oxer45

This was also the book I used and got a A and A- in orgo. Its the best book, I got it the year it came out. It is simply the best book out there. When learning orgo, you dont need fancy 3D pics, you need to learn where the electrons will go when 2 molecules interact. Everytime a premed asks me about orgo, I tell them to get this book. One of the best books out there. If you use this book and go through the exercises (not a lot of them) I dont see how you can get less than an A or B+.

I also used klein's book for orgo 1. Worked great since I hadn't taken chem in a decade. the focus of the book is to do exactly what you're saying- minimize memorization and focus on the big picture, theory stuff. Since the vast majority of people taking that class resort to memorization, if you can stick with your strategy you'll be at a huge advantage when you get to more complex material.

Also heard "nuts and bolts of organic chem" is good. I forget who the author is but I believe it also had good reviews. I can sell you my stuff if you want, PM me if interested.

Originally Posted by Oxer45

This was also the book I used and got a A and A- in orgo. Its the best book, I got it the year it came out. It is simply the best book out there. When learning orgo, you dont need fancy 3D pics, you need to learn where the electrons will go when 2 molecules interact. Everytime a premed asks me about orgo, I tell them to get this book. One of the best books out there. If you use this book and go through the exercises (not a lot of them) I dont see how you can get less than an A or B+.

Another vote for Klein's book. Helped me on my way to A & A- in orgo I/II respectively.

Klein's "2nd language" booklet is amazing and intuitive. Has anybody used the actual textbook he recently wrote? I wonder if it is in the same style.

Def. get Orgo as a second language. Klein also just came out with a full Orgo textbook, which is supposed to be great. I haven't used it, but my orgo teacher from undergrad recently switched to using it and loves it.

I haven't read Orgo as a second language, but I don't think I've ever seen this much consistent support for an academic chem book. lol

I literally taught myself with Volhardt's Organic Chemistry as a sophmore in college.

It's very heavy on mechanism, which is the key to understanding organic.

Both OChem as a Second Language books are solid, another one that doesn't get talked about much that I found very helpful was "The Nuts and Bolts of Organic Chemistry" http://www.amazon.com/The-Nuts-Bolts...6319307&sr=8-1 I read this one first then used the Second Language books during the semester as a supplement and pulled A's in both OChem 1&2.