Organic Chemistry I For Dummies (1st Edition) (6.8.2005)

This book is helpful as a preview before taking the class. I would recommend getting this book and reading it before starting O chem to get and idea of what is coming up so that when you start the class you don't feel overwhelmed.

Yeah...Organic Chemistry is just one of those subjects...If you don't know it or can't get it...you probably won't. And no book or prayer can help very much. (Could just be me!) But the book does a good job of breaking it down and making it less like rocket science. If you need a bit of help, this will work for you.

Yeah...Organic Chemistry is just one of those subjects...If you don't know it or can't get it...you probably won't. And no book or prayer can help very much. (Could just be me!) But the book does a good job of breaking it down and making it less like rocket science. If you need a bit of help, this will work for you.

I bought this book thinking it might be helpful over the course of my Orgo I class, however, this book turned out to be way tooooo Basic to be of any help at all. I also thought that the order and ways which the reactions and concepts were not done well at all. Poor coverage of electrophilic addition.

Horrible book! This is my 3rd week in Organic Chemistry 1 and this book is no help!!! If anything, this book is getting me even more confused than I already am. This is not for "dummies." This book complicates organic chemistry. It has way too much writing and does not get to the point. It's good for people who already understand the basics. If you are not confident with chemistry, I do not recommend this book. If I could get a refund I would. This book does not provide "clear explanations of organic chemistry principles."

Great book to go along with the course. I recommend to read the major of the first several chapters before the course and before you professor lectures. This way all the information is very fresh and not new to you when the professor discusses. I used this book in the summer to learn Organic Chemistry along with StudyOrgo.com. I found that StudyOrgo.com was awesome when it came time to study the reactions and that Organic Chemistry Book For Dummies was perfect for all the theory. I used the Mobile App for my iPhone from StudyOrgo.com when studying on the go and I aced my exams.

The explanation of hybrid orbitals was flatout excellent. I don't think I have seen a better explanation written anywhere. I just wish the rest of the book was written as clearly.

I do not expect the 'for Dummies' series of books to provide indepth coverage of a subject or to provide me with quizes at the end of the chapters to make sure I understand the material. What I do expect is a decent overview of the subject written in language that is easy to understand (maybe with a little humor). This book did not achieve that goal.

After reading this book I still don't know 'WHY' different aspects of organic chemistry are being explained to me. Nor do I know 'HOW' all these different aspects of organic chemistry fit together. Worst of all is that I don't have a clue how the things I have learned apply to the physical world (i.e. in the lab). Everything is still very abstract. Parts of this book can get so abstract that it becomes difficult to determine the point the author is trying to make. Other areas of the book leave you with a feeling that large sections of material concerning a topic have been omitted.

If you read the 'for Dummies' series of books to get a basic understanding of a subject then do not buy this book. I suspect this book is a paired down version of a college textbook, but if that is what you are after then I recommend something like a Schaum's Outline.

I discovered this book last week, and I only wish I had found it earlier in the term! The book is broken down into easy to understand sections and is written so that you can skip around to whatever chapter you need. The author explains the basic organic terms in the KISS method (keep it simple stupid) which is much less overwhelming than my textbook. He also approaches the subject matter with humor, and doesn't patronize.
I wouldn't say to use it instead of your textbook, but it's definitely a useful supplement. Too bad my instructor didn't have it on her 'recomended reading list' a few months ago when I was buying the necessary books for the class.
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This book is FANTASTIC. I taught myself organic chemistry from this book. And you must understand...I am chemistry-challenged. I had general chemistry in high school, and I did not recall a thing. I vaguely knew what an atom was, that it has protons and neutrons and electrons. That was it. Nothing about resonance structures, valence electrons, eloectronegativity, how to calculate a formal charge....

Then I picked up this book for fun. Suddenly, I was smart! I knew everything! It was amazing! There is no math in this book, and no problem sets. But after reading just a few chapters, I picked up my best friend's college-level textbook in o-chem, and I was able to read it, understand it, and do the problem sets! No problem! It was amazing!

I! LOVE! THIS! BOOK!

PS. If it has been 20 years or never since you've had General Chem, some parts of the book might throw you a bit. Luckily my best friend was taking her final in o-chem, and my college roommate is now a PhD in chemistry [and a professor], so I was able to email them stupid questions like, why does the Nitrogen have an extra electron here??? and get some answers.

I have always been wary of chemistry, regarding it as a foreign language I could never learn. I am not fluent in it, but I know it well enough to explain it to others now, and my Chem-geek friends are all tickled to death by what I have learned. This book truly is for "Dummies" and it really works GREAT.

I actually enjoy reading this book. It is cleverly written, and makes difficult concepts clear. It teaches without oversimplifying---not easy to do. And the humor helps me remember the concepts. ("How ethereal!!") I wish I had had it as a student.

An excellent book

I saved myself many hours by reading this book. This book cuts through all of the countless details that fill up my million-page organic chemistry book and gets right down to the stuff that you really need to know for a test. I learned more from this book than my $100 textbook. The writing is even very funny at times, but the humor never comes at the expense of providing information.

Thankfully, this book is very easy-to-read. The writer addresses the reader directly, and the language is both simple and clear. Our class had already covered a lot of the material before I bought this book, so reading through the whole thing took me only about a week. Still, after reading through this book, all the concepts that confused me initially really started to make sense. The concepts and the connections between the different reactions and ideas clicked. In any case, the problem-solving guides, particularly on nomenclature, resonance, and spectroscopy are worth the cost of this book alone. Once I had worked enough problems using them, I found myself miles ahead of the other students in class.

I think if you read the chapters in this book before going to your class, work a lot of problems in your textbook, you will do well.

I'm just entering into Organic Chemistry this fall. This book is a great review for the college student worried about organic chemistry. The author writes with a good sense Humor that keeps me interested in organic chemistry(I mean,would anyone take organic chemistry if they didn't have too?) and he also has a website that allows you to talk to other org students across the world (...) I can't say wheter or not this book is an over simplification of organic chemistry, but I will use this book as a reference to the "long and tedious" organic chem text books...In conclusion,I would recommend this book to anyone preparing for O.Chem I

This book is very helpful in breaking the big things down and explaining it in a way that the textbook has a hard time with or skips over. This book has definately helped me through OChem so far this semester and hopefully will get me through to the end. Definately a supplement though, don't depend on it exclusively as it is more of an overview than indepth.

I purchased this book for my daughter who was taking Organic Chemistry in college. Recently I asked her if the book helped. She affirmed this as she expressed that basic concepts were explained well. Her only criticism was that the book lacked enough problems and solutions to be more useful.

In spite of this complaint, she recommended this as a useful tool.

Had been a while siince i took general chemistry and so found organic a little hard. My professor suggested buying this book it was the best $19.99 that i ever spent. Too bad there was no guide for Organic 2!

Very good explanation of the BASICS in Orgo I. It will not go into detail and you will need the book and not all will be there. A better book for more information would be Organic Chemistry as a Second Language. It has the second semester in another book if you need a continuation. These are expensive, but worth it. This book has better explanations though, in what it does have.