Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Book of the Organics

lacrima97 - 25-1-2006 at 06:12

I am really getting to where I am interested in organic chemistry, and I am thinking of purchasing a a book related. I have come across many titles that I found interesting, but I am hoping that someone can recommend a first organic chem book for me. I am very sorry if this is the wrong forum for this question, but I would greatly appreciate any suggestions. :D

sparkgap - 25-1-2006 at 06:20

May I suggest either McMurry's or Carey's books? I have found them to be novice friendly. :)

I do remember that PDF versions of those books are stashed somewhere here or on the FTP, so maybe you don't need to buy the book(s) except if you're the kind of person who doesn't feel comfy unless s/he has pages to riff. :D

sparky (^_^)

lacrima97 - 25-1-2006 at 06:23

Yes, I do prefer to buy the book so I can take them to school and read in my spare time, thanks for the suggestions.

Nick F - 25-1-2006 at 07:28

I recommend "Organic Chemistry" by Clayden, Greeves, Warren and Wothers.

It's 1490 pages of well written, well organised stuff presented in an informal yet informative way, with practice questions at the end of each chapter (although if you want answers, you will have to buy the answers book too).
It really is a first rate book, and follows quite closely the Cambridge University organic chemistry courses (Warren and Wothers lecture here), and I seem to remember it being reasonably priced (less than £50). Buy it, especially if you can find one second-hand on ebay or somewhere.

Edit: yeah, it's available on amazon. Go read some of the reviews, I'm not alone in my opinion of it!

[Edited on 25-1-2006 by Nick F]

Sergei_Eisenstein - 25-1-2006 at 09:16

Carey is good, but for a real introduction into organic chemistry, you need Clayden. It really is what a textbook should be.

Darkblade48 - 25-1-2006 at 11:03

I've used McMurry for my introductory courses to organic chemistry and found it to be well written and coherent. In addition, you can buy an answer book (that is about as thick as the textbook!) which has all the answers to the questions in the book.

crankyperson - 25-1-2006 at 13:25

i don't know whether this book is available in english,but in german chemnistry the "organikum" is known as THE cooking book of organic chemnistry.maybe you should think about buying (or downloading) this book....

lacrima97 - 25-1-2006 at 16:38

Thank you all for your opinions. From looking the book by clayden does look nice indeed, and I will check on it.

edit: I found a used paper back "organic chemistry, clayden" book, for about 45 dollars, and it doesn't seem in too bad shape. I read a few pages of the book and i really like it. Now I can have something to do in my classes besides look at the wall and my girlfriend (which isnt a bad thing). (excluding chem class)

[Edited on 1/26/2006 by lacrima97]

Very awesome

lacrima97 - 4-2-2006 at 13:19

Man, I wish I had known about the "organic chemistry-clayden" book sooner. I reccomend to anyone.

yeti - 8-3-2006 at 17:27

Quote:
Originally posted by lacrima97
Man, I wish I had known about the "organic chemistry-clayden" book sooner. I reccomend to anyone.


Just bought that one myself, and I believe it was money well spent!

It'll be some time before I get around to read it though. I am in the middle of reading McMurry's "Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry", which is definately a book I can recommend too, if you are in the process of learning the basics. He doesn't dig as deep as Clayden et al, which IMO is fine for a beginner... I'm getting a basic understanding of the subjects from McMurry's book, and I believe I'll learn a lot more of the delicate details from Clayden.

Oh well, I'm just rambling here. But I'm seriously considering to cut the pages out of McMurry's "Fundamentals" so I can make a good scan, but that's not until I'm done reading it ;)

/edit: Damn, this is my first post? I could have sworn I had posted a few times before... oh well, hello there, fellow madmen :D

[Edited on 9-3-2006 by yeti]

Flip - 8-3-2006 at 18:11

I've got McMurry's Organic Chemistry, 6th ed., and I can recommend it highly to anyone just starting out in organic chemistry. I also have Carey's book and imho the Mcmurry book is superior. It has a way of introducing concepts and ideas at just the right pace, and the practice examples hammer down the information. It's about 1200 pages, but it's such an easy read that I never even took notes.

lacrima97 - 8-3-2006 at 19:24

I had to take notes heavily in order to finish the questions in the chapter in claydens book...Im not sure if this is a bad thing, but from what I have read, the writers assume you already know what they are talking about, when some of the time I really don't, and I wish the subject had been covered more thoroughly. I mean, a VERY key piece of information is just hidden in the middle of a piece of text, while something not so important, is highlighted and has its own little box. I think that this book of clayden's is possibly a second read after the basics are learned.

Just my opinion.

JohnWW - 9-3-2006 at 00:46

How about posting links to them, especially to ones not previously posted in the New Books Thgread in Miscellaneous?

lacrima97 - 9-3-2006 at 05:49

I don't think that these books have pdf's. I may be wrong, but I havent come across any. I purchased my book.

yeti - 9-3-2006 at 14:10

Quote:
Originally posted by JohnWW
How about posting links to them, especially to ones not previously posted in the New Books Thgread in Miscellaneous?


Quote:
Originally posted by jester in the new books thread!
Jonathan Clayden, et al - "Organic Chemistry"


http://rapidshare.de/files/3365752/J.Clayden_-_Organic_chemi...

Password: www.AvaxHome.ru


Seems nobody is interested in natural product chemistry these days

[Edited on 21-2-2006 by jester]


If this is the version I have as pdf(nope, not going to dl just to check :P), it misses a few chapters. Still worth downloading, if you don't have it already that is!

Flip - 9-3-2006 at 16:42

And let's not forget to mention Vogel's and March's, once you have a firm grasp of the basics, these books are extremely helpful in the more advanced methodology and practice of organic chemistry, and are pretty much required reading for anyone who aspires to go into the field.

Clayden book

Flip - 9-3-2006 at 16:50

Hey yeti,

I'm getting an error message when I try to open the .pdf that says
Quote:
"There was an error opening the file, the file is damaged and cannot be repaired."
Is this a problem on my end, or yours? I tried the password three times.

yeti - 9-3-2006 at 17:09

Quote:
Originally posted by Flip
Hey yeti,

I'm getting an error message when I try to open the .pdf that says
Quote:
"There was an error opening the file, the file is damaged and cannot be repaired."
Is this a problem on my end, or yours? I tried the password three times.


I don't know, I didn't upload the file. I just found the link in the book thread and found that it was not expired before I posted the link in this thread.

You sure your setting are correct? Perhaps you're using an older version of acrobat that wont display that file? I wont mind uploading the book on rapidshare for you, if you're don't think the error is at your end.

Xque - 10-3-2006 at 00:17

Quote:
Originally posted by yeti
It'll be some time before I get around to read it though. I am in the middle of reading McMurry's "Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry", which is definately a book I can recommend too, if you are in the process of learning the basics. He doesn't dig as deep as Clayden et al, which IMO is fine for a beginner... I'm getting a basic understanding of the subjects from McMurry's book, and I believe I'll learn a lot more of the delicate details from Clayden.


That's the way they're used at university too. At least where I'm studying. McMurry is used for the organic chemistry curse, Clayden is used in advanced organic chemistry.

CherrieBaby - 10-3-2006 at 15:38

Another vote for McMurry here. It may not be the thickest undergraduate level book but it sure reads well - so makes a nice introduction. After you've been introduced to the subject by reading McMurry then you can advance to more detailed books. I think McMurry and March's Advanced Organic would make a nice combo.