anyone recommend any supplemental organic chem texts?

[abcxyz0123]

I'm taking organic chem starting this fall, and was wondering if you guys found any specific textbooks/books helpful for the class. One book I heard of was "organic chemistry as a second langauge", which I already ordered last night. Do you guys know of any other books that have either loads of challenging problem sets or unique ways of explaining concepts?

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[waterlily]

I used Barron's OrgoCards. They're flashcards but they're super. It is SO comprehensive that it makes making your own flashcards obsolete. I bought mine on half.com for cheap.

 

[DrBowtie]

I hear "Organic as a second language" is good.

 

[krasnayana]

I'm taking organic chem starting this fall, and was wondering if you guys found any specific textbooks/books helpful for the class. One book I heard of was "organic chemistry as a second langauge", which I already ordered last night. Do you guys know of any other books that have either loads of challenging problem sets or unique ways of explaining concepts?

I found Bruice's 4th edition/or higher exceptionally well written and easy to follow.

 

[jc11011]

I don't know...I feel like if you've got a good teacher and a good text book (you're using McMurray, right? It has another book that comes along with it that has a whole bunch of practice problems...), you won't have time for other books.

 

[DrHopeless]

I think Fifth Ed of L.G. Wade Jr is pretty good

 

[gujuDoc]

I think Fifth Ed of L.G. Wade Jr is pretty good

Wade's book is exactly what I was about to recommend. This book was even recommended by all my professors and TAs at USF. The problems in it are really good, and their explanations were better then the book we used at USF.

I think you can check this book out from your school library. They had it in our library anyhow.

 

[CD]

I'm taking organic chem starting this fall, and was wondering if you guys found any specific textbooks/books helpful for the class. One book I heard of was "organic chemistry as a second langauge", which I already ordered last night. Do you guys know of any other books that have either loads of challenging problem sets or unique ways of explaining concepts?

The McMurry book is a great book. Pretty comprehensive though. I ended up using it as a reference when I got to graduate school. The McMurry book was the only one that had some of the reactions that we used in grad school. My fellow graduate students used my McMurry book when theirs failed to have the "undergraduate reactions we should have learned years ago" (quote from my graduate studies advanced organic professor) The McMurry book was easy to follow too! I also has a study guide that is at least as thick as the text and works out all the problems in GREAT detail! A real lifesaver.

CD

 

[mstann]

I used McMurry 5th ed. with the complete study guide. EXCELLENT review questions. READ THE CHAPTER AND DO every problem at the end of each section and you'll be golden for orgo + the mcats.

 

[jon stewart]

I found Bruice's 4th edition/or higher exceptionally well written and easy to follow.

haha really?

we are going to use that for our school. isnt it the one with the black cover and o chem wrriten in orange color?

i want to get it online, but im not sure if i buy it new from a online store like those amazone merchants that i will get the solutions manual. Iv looked at the new book descriptions and it doesnt say anywhere solutions manuel included......?

I know that if i get it at my school bookstore, it comes with the solutions manuel...but its $ $$ there.....

 

[samenewme]

haha really?

we are going to use that for our school. isnt it the one with the black cover and o chem wrriten in orange color?

i want to get it online, but im not sure if i buy it new from a online store like those amazone merchants that i will get the solutions manual. Iv looked at the new book descriptions and it doesnt say anywhere solutions manuel included......?

I know that if i get it at my school bookstore, it comes with the solutions manuel...but its $ $$ there.....

Look at the ISBN number in the bookstore and online and you'll be pretty sure of getting the same edition.

 

[jon stewart]

Look at the ISBN number in the bookstore and online and you'll be pretty sure of getting the same edition.

im sure of the edition, its the 4th edition. My worry is the solutions manual, im not sure if it comes with the book if i buy it online, i know it comes with the book if i buy it at my school bookstore beacause it specifically says so.


Does the solutions manual have a isbn too?

 

[mdille2]

There is an ISBN for the book itself, another for the solutions manual and yet another for the package. I looked online for mine, I found several that advertised the ISBN for the package, but when I emailed it was not including the solutions manual. After many attempts I did find a bok and solutions manual at ebay, I pais 130 of the set and that is less than at my bookstore. So just ask if it is included, and be patient, you can find it.
Marcia

 

[jon stewart]

There is an ISBN for the book itself, another for the solutions manual and yet another for the package. I looked online for mine, I found several that advertised the ISBN for the package, but when I emailed it was not including the solutions manual. After many attempts I did find a bok and solutions manual at ebay, I pais 130 of the set and that is less than at my bookstore. So just ask if it is included, and be patient, you can find it.
Marcia

did u get it new? wow thats a good price
i emailed them about the solutions manual like a week ago, still no repsonse.
time to go to ebay ...thanks!

is there any way i can buy the bundle the way my school bookstore gets it?
How do i search for it? Do i just type in bundle along with the book?

 

[CanIMakeIt]

"Pushing electrons" was one of the most valuable books that I could have studied for Organic. Our prof recommended we read it before we start reading our text book and let me tell it was PRICELESS

 

[emgirl]

For those that used McMurry, I'm just wondering what chapter you got through at the end of your chem sequence? I'm taking a 2 quarter sequence and it only goes through like chapter 18 I think so I will prob need to work more chapters on my own- how many more chapters should I do to get up to a full year's worth of topics? Thanks!

 

[DrBowtie]

Any comments on the Solomons text? I have yet to pick it up.

 

[tik-tik-clock]

I'm wondering, if any of you have heard of Vollhardt and Schore's fourth edition. Doesn't seem to be popular on SDN, I wonder why my school uses it?

 

[Overeducated]

I think Fifth Ed of L.G. Wade Jr is pretty good

 

[Dave_D]

Any comments on the Solomons text? I have yet to pick it up.

Some seem to like it but we're using it and I think it's one of the worst text books I've ever seen. I mean it doesn't help that he often finds the most complex way to explain something(The guy hates to use equations in an explaination which sucks for us algebra/calc people.) and often repeats easy stuff. (How many times does he cover protonation of alcohols anyway? I think I got it the second time.)

Then there's the homework at the end of the chapters. Unfortunately they're not split up by section at all so if you had trouble with one section you can't go to the additional problems section and concentrate on what gave you trouble. What's worse is that in latter chapters more and more of end of chapter problems are review problems.(I mean you'll have a multisection problem where 3/4 of it is reactions from a couple chapters back. I just found it annoying when I was trying to learn something new and though "no that's old, that one too, that one, ok here's a new one")

Hey you know what the worst thing of all is? The author on a couple of occasions expected you to know a concept BEFORE he introduced it. (For example one homework problem in chapter 12 required you to know that cyclopentane has an acidic hydrogen. I found this concept introduced and explained in chapter 14, it has to do with aromatics.)

I just wish the problems at the end of the book were largely broken up by section so I could practice the stuff that gave me trouble.(Oh, and the solution manual often doesn't explain the answer, for example the problem I talked about in the previous paragraph. If I hadn't read ahead I wouldn't have understood why the answer given was right.)

 

[DrBowtie]

Hmm that seems pretty screwy. I might have to invest in a simpler supplemental book.

 

[mdille2]

did u get it new? wow thats a good price
i emailed them about the solutions manual like a week ago, still no repsonse.
time to go to ebay ...thanks!

is there any way i can buy the bundle the way my school bookstore gets it?
How do i search for it? Do i just type in bundle along with the book?

I bought it asa package on ebay, but there are many places you can get them seperately too. This may even be cheaper this way. The books I got were used, but you can't even tell it. The binding is not even cracked. WooHoo for me. If they have not emailed you back, I would move on. You can go to google and do a search for Bruice Organic Chem, and you will get tons of results. Go to Amazon and Half.com etc. Amazon has new and used books. If you need help, just PM me and I can try to help.

Where are you? I am at UIC.

Marcia

 

[gujuDoc]

Any comments on the Solomons text? I have yet to pick it up.

We used the Solomon's textbook in my school, because he was from USF originally. I hated that book because I found parts of it just confusing and unbearable. Our TA used to complain about it and say that it was one of the worst books he'd seen because there were so many mistakes he'd seen in the book. He is the one that would always recommend Wade's book. I looked through the Wade's book on a couple occasions and it was soooooooooooooooooooooo much better then the Solomon's book both in terms of material and problems.

I'd stay away with Solomon's unless its the book your school is using.

If you just want a book for supplement only, I'd stick with a book like Wade's book.