As you’ve undoubtedly found out by now, organic chemistry can be a tough class. That’s why I’m getting straight to business with this posting and am giving you what I believe to be the four best books for learning organic chemistry. I’ve mentioned Pushing Electrons and Brown’s Organic Chemistry 5th Edition before, and they are indeed included in the list, but now I’m going to let you in on two more excellent texts: Organic Chemistry as a Second Language and The Nuts and Bolts of Organic Chemistry.
So without further ado, here are the top four organic chemistry books around.
1. Pushing Electrons
Pushing Electrons helps explain the concepts of resonance for beginning chemistry students and provides a foundation that will assist you greatly when writing out reaction mechanisms and the like. It explains a concept that they call “pushing electrons” that is used throughout the rest of the course.
2. Organic Chemistry I as a Second Language
Organic Chemistry as a Second Language is an often recommended guide that helps students understand the basic principles of organic chemistry in new ways. I recommend reading it before you even take the course so that you’ll have a foundation that other students probably won’t have. The book also has study tips to help you maximize your precious time and study as efficiently as possible.
3. The Nuts and Bolts of Organic Chemistry: A Student’s Guide to Success
The Nuts and Bolts of Organic Chemistry is in many ways similar to Organic Chemistry as a Second language. In fact, you really only need one or the other, they’re both excellent books and pretty comparable in material. What Nuts and Bolts does is approach organic chemistry problems as if they are puzzles and it takes a novel approach that many textbooks lack. It will help you think more like a scientist, a much needed skill for many pre-med and science majors taking the course.
4. Organic Chemistry 5th Edition (Brown)
Finally we come to Organic Chemistry 5th Edition by Brown. As I’ve posted before, this is one of the best organic chemistry textbooks around, and it is what got me through the class when I took it. From resonance, to reaction mechanisms, to synthesis, this book explains it all.
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