I’ve recently spent a lot of time with this book, and I’m actually fairly impressed. It’s a general chemistry textbook that touches on both organic and inorganic topics, and while it does not delve too deeply, I think it does a pretty good job of teaching the fundamentals. The book did a good job of . . . → Read More: Chemistry by Julia Burdge – A Brief Review]]>

I’ve recently spent a lot of time with this book, and I’m actually fairly impressed. It’s a general chemistry textbook that touches on both organic and inorganic topics, and while it does not delve too deeply, I think it does a pretty good job of teaching the fundamentals. The book did a good job of explaining tricky concepts that were not covered so adequately in class, and it had some good chapters on Crystal Field Theory and electrochemical cells. The environmental chemistry section did leave a little to be desired, however. It’s understandable, though. Environmental chemistry, especially climate change related chemistry, is a rapidly growing field and there are new developments that are too recent to have been included.

All in all, I think Chemistry by Julia Burdge was a valuable addition to the course I took. Though I did sell back my copy to Amazon (couldn’t turn down the ~90 dollars that they offered in credit), I would recommend this book to new students. Plus the cover has a pretty cool hologram thing on it.

Quantum Mechanics and Experience by David Z Albert is one of the best books you can buy for learning quantum mechanics. It will help students and newcomers to the field learn the fundamentals of the topic and all of the biggest theories. I had to use this book for an introductory quantum mechanics class . . . → Read More: My Quick Review of Quantum Mechanics and Experience]]>

Quantum Mechanics and Experience by David Z Albert is one of the best books you can buy for learning quantum mechanics. It will help students and newcomers to the field learn the fundamentals of the topic and all of the biggest theories. I had to use this book for an introductory quantum mechanics class my Freshman year of college and it wasn’t too bad of a read. Sure it is kind of dry in parts, but you have to remember that this is physics. It’s not going to be an awesome spy thriller or Hemingway and it’s not noble prize worth. What it is worthy of, however, is recognition as one of the best quantum mechanics books around and if you are at all interested in the subject, I encourage you to check this book out.

Organic Chemistry I as a Second Language (ISBN: 978-0470129296) by David M. Klein is one of the best guides for organic chemistry around. It works not as a replacement for your class’ textbook, but as an repellent supplementary text that helps students grasp important chemistry concepts in three ways.

First, the book helps students master major . . . → Read More: Organic Chemistry I as a Second Language Review]]>

Organic Chemistry I as a Second Language (ISBN: 978-0470129296) by David M. Klein is one of the best guides for organic chemistry around. It works not as a replacement for your class’ textbook, but as an repellent supplementary text that helps students grasp important chemistry concepts in three ways.

First, the book helps students master major themes. It pieces major components such as resonance and electron movement together clearly and non verbosely to help you perform better on trickier concepts that are presented later in the course.

Next, the book’s problems will help to improve your chemistry problem solving abilities. They’ll give you additional practice and help hone the skills that will be required to perform well on exams and quizzes.

Lastly, the book offers study tips and advice that will help streamline your studying process. The new methods it presents for the different aspects of organic chemistry will make acing your next test a breeze.

The book itself is fairly small (well compared to those hulking textbooks at least), but its 336 pages do deliver. Organic Chemistry as a Second language does an excellent job of explaining resonance structures and electron movement — all in plain and simple English. Now while it won’t delve into reactions too much (you’ll still need your textbook for all of those), it does provide a solid basis for understanding the reaction mechanisms.

So basically, this is a great book which I recommend reading before you take the class. The concepts it clarifies may seem simple to you if you’re an organic chemistry god, but for all you normal students out there it is an excellent resource that should not be overlooked.

Check out my Pushing Electrons Review for another great study guide!

A high quality molecular model set can be an immense help when learning organic chemistry. Chemistry model kits help you visualize organic molecules in three dimensions, which can be very useful if your teacher requires you to do chair flips or find the most stable conformations. As you probably are aware by now, organic . . . → Read More: The Benefits Of A Molecular Model Set – Why Every Organic Chemistry Student Should Have One]]>

A high quality molecular model set can be an immense help when learning organic chemistry. Chemistry model kits help you visualize organic molecules in three dimensions, which can be very useful if your teacher requires you to do chair flips or find the most stable conformations. As you probably are aware by now, organic structures do not look like they do on paper. You have to take into account bond angles and strain, all that sort of stuff. The great thing about a modelling kit is that it will force you to build these molecules in their natural conformations, so you will witness firsthand how everything is bent and twisted. They really do go a long way towards helping you learn organic structures, and can even help you out with later concepts like reaction mechanisms.

They’re even fun just to play with sometimes. Kinda like Lego’s or Kinex for college kids. And if someone catches you playing with your molecular models, just tell them you’re studying. They’ll think you’re just really smart! It’s the perfect plan. Don’t let your friends get a hold of your kit though. I made that mistake and it was returned to me smashed and stepped on. It was very upsetting. That kit had served me well and then I lost him..

Oh well enough about me and my poor poor model kit. If you need a new method of learning organic chemistry, then a molecular model set just might be right for you.

Organic Chemistry 5th edition by William H. Brown is what got me through my C341 class in college, and I highly recommend it to all students of organic chemistry. Even if your class has a different textbook, it may help to pick up a copy of this. Buy it used, find it at a . . . → Read More: My Love Affair With Brown’s Organic Chemistry 5th Edition]]>

Organic Chemistry 5th edition by William H. Brown is what got me through my C341 class in college, and I highly recommend it to all students of organic chemistry. Even if your class has a different textbook, it may help to pick up a copy of this. Buy it used, find it at a library, I don’t care what you do just get it somehow.

Now resonance and all that jazz is pretty typical in the Brown book, it’s not much better than other textbooks in that regard so for the basics I’d still go with Pushing Electrons, or another specialty book. But when it comes to learning organic reaction mechanisms, I’ve found no better book.

This text book explains them step by step with detailed reaction mechanisms that show what is actually happening at the atomic level. It will clearly show molecular rearrangement in certain reactions and it does a great job of tying together reactions that are similar. Plus it often features handy tables that will help you make the choice between similar reactions (like nucleophilic substitution vs beta elimination).

Trust me it’s very helpful. I’d include a picture of my textbook on my MicroKorg, but alas I’m a poor college student and the bookstore offered me a good deal for it.

Learning to draw resonance structures is typically one of the first things you’ll do in a beginning organic chemistry class, and unfortunately for some, it is one of the most important concepts you’ll need to master. Now I’m ashamed to admit it, but I originally blew off actually understanding resonance structures, and instead just BSed . . . → Read More: How To Draw Resonance Structures With Pushing Electrons]]>

Learning to draw resonance structures is typically one of the first things you’ll do in a beginning organic chemistry class, and unfortunately for some, it is one of the most important concepts you’ll need to master. Now I’m ashamed to admit it, but I originally blew off actually understanding resonance structures, and instead just BSed them a bit. It worked at the time, but later as we got into more and more complex reaction mechanisms I realized how much easier they would be to predict if I actually understood resonance. So I finally broke down and bought Pushing Electrons, the book my professor recommended at the beginning of the semester (Chapter 2 is the chapter on resonance). Pushing Electrons helped explain resonance well enough that I could then do complex rearrangements during organic reactions with ease.

In fact, this book was so valuable to me I didn’t even see it back! Here’s a beautiful picture of it sitting on my MicroKorg as proof. Actually, this kind of just inspired me. I think I might create some organic chemistry inspired music with it. Who knows!