EvilClone - 10-5-2004 at 13:35
I was wondering if anyone can suggest any books that a newbie whom is looking to tinker in organic chemistry should read. Preferably books that would
be availble cheap or in an e-book format as my budget is limited(especially since I would like to save for glassware 
). Basicly what I'm asking is out side of $150+ latest edition stuff at the
college book store, what is there that is worth looking at.
I have found so far 2 e-books, Practical Organic Chem by Vogel from 1948, and a Practical Organic Chem, by Mann and Sunders from 1978.
BromicAcid - 10-5-2004 at 13:48
At half.com or other sites you can get college text books only a few years out of date for very cheap prices, the orgo book from two years ago that I
bought for $145 my college wouldn't even buy back from me and I eneded up only selling it for $12 at half.com so if you're a newbie you can
get a good current orgo book cheaply designed for you to learn the subject and from there you can go towards books more specifically geared toward
your intrests in orgo.
DDTea - 10-5-2004 at 18:22
Morrison and Boyd makes a pretty good Organic Chem textbook... I never got through it fully, because I used it as a reference before I had to return
it to its owner. But it gave nice explanations, and wasn't too wordy.
If you're looking for a quick overview, I would suggest the Cliff-notes on Organic Chemistry I and II-- they are $11.95 USD each, and are very
helpful. The Organic Chemistry book that I currently use is by McGraw-Hill and its simply called "Organic Chemistry." It's a
Paper-back, and I picked it up for $20. It has a lot of diagrams and such, and is arranged in question-and-answer format, so it's also an
interesting read... As for me, I don't like the very wordy books--they put me to sleep, even if it's on a topic I love.
But if you don't mind a bit of wordiness, Zumdahl makes an excellent General Chemistry book, which goes into superb detail. This is the textbook
my AP Chemistry course uses. Even if you're interested in just Organic Chem, this one is very nice--though a bit pricy ($100 USD).
jimwig - 30-5-2004 at 15:05
Bromic Acid - you just saved me mucho dinero. I am entering Chem1211 after about 30 years absence and the prices at the book made me crap my pants.
I have been all over the rather large city looking for anything even close.. Half.com is the way.
Now I gotta find out if they take money orders. And ship quick.
Oh yeah I am looking for
General Chemistry 8th ed.- Petrucci
Solution manual for above 8th ed.- Petrucci
Chemistry-Central Science - latest edition
Solution manual
Peer led (forget the rest) chemistry
Norton Anthology - anyedition paperback
Critical Thinking -
Precalculus - redent edition
Anyone got any of these?
[Edited on 30-5-2004 by jimwig]
S.C. Wack - 30-5-2004 at 16:14
abebooks.com has a lot of very desirable chemistry books, and even journals. More than the local state university. Even if this site doesn't help
the posters, it's still worth mentioning, even for those of you in Europe.
ebay has a surprising number of recent textbooks, of course.
[rant] It seems that every chem prof in the country has published a textbook. Do they really have anything to add? Was there anything wrong with
everyone else's textbooks? What's up with that? [/rant]
Geomancer - 31-5-2004 at 15:34
I wouldn't mind everyone publishing a text if there was a bit more variation between them. In fact, this seems to be a problem with all the high
volume textbook markets, not just chemistry. Why? Does anyone have a favorite really innovative or unusual text?
Two non-chemistry texts I like and that are somewhat unusual are Fermi's Thermodynamics (short on exercises, though), and Linear
Algebra Done Right. I'll need to check in the library to see who the algebra book's author is.
unionised - 31-5-2004 at 15:52
The organic chem lab survival guide (James Zubrick)
IvX - 22-6-2004 at 04:47
For maths in general try the NCERT series.I got maths for class X and it's excelent.
CommonScientist - 7-8-2004 at 14:49
I presume that most of these books are in Axehandle's FTP. I would get the ones that samsa mentioned, as I do not need a really advanced book,
mainly the basics of it, but not a childrens kitchen experiments guide. 
You NEED this book.
Democritus of Abdera - 8-8-2004 at 16:24
Unless you already have your degree in Chemistry and aced the labs.
Because every other textbook deals with chemical theory and assumes that you will learn the actual processes from doing the labs.
This is the nuts and bolts of using the equipment....
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0471215201/ref...
BromicAcid - 8-8-2004 at 18:59
Also try "Chemical Technicians' Ready Reference Handbook" which has plenty of photographs and descripitve information regarding
chemistry and chemical procedures.