Organic Nomenclature

Great update of a classic - my father in-law gave his grad-school copy (c. 1950s) to my daughter for her 1st semester Orgo class. The instructor required the current version for semester 2 and my daughter likes it as well.

Had to purchase for school. I think that it really helped. It is well put together and makes memorizing a cinch!

I first found this book in its first edition about 35 years ago and have never forgotten how easy it made getting an A in Organic Chemistry. It is my most memorable textbook of all time. All I needed then was this book and an understanding of positive/negative attraction, and I did not need to grind over every reaction type in study time. I examined the molecules on my tests and easily figured out what they would do. Today's Organic Chemistry is a larger, more techical subject, but the first key is still nomencalture. Now my child is grown and I'm back in college, taking a more advanced Organic Chemistry class to prepare for PhD study. I remembered the "programmed approach" and found the book again, delighted to discover a current edition. Once again, the book is enabling me to catch up quickly on nomenclature, the key to any subject. It is light-weight so it goes with me anywhere, so I can study on the train to school. It also has nice easy steps, so I find I can still work on this when my mind is too tired from other study to absorb anything else. The major key to this book's learning-accelerating power is its "programmed approach," emphasized in the first edition, but ignored in the current one, as the authors are used to it and have forgotten what a breakthrough this is. The "programmed approach" itself is something worth knowing about, as it is a real breakthrough in teaching, and should be applied to the rest of your subjects--especially the logical ones like mathematics and chemistry. A programmed approach teaches you one small thing in a short paragraph and then asks you to figure out the answer to a simple question or two as you go along. The answer is usually obvious so you get it right, training your mind correctly. The answer key is right there so you check continually and keep yourself on track. This makes learning fun and fast.

Practice, practice, practice from the book. Perfect complement.