Organic Chemistry: A Very Short Introduction

Bought for my nephew who is incarcerated and requested.

Organic chemistry is one of those "gate keeper" college classes where the professors want to cut out as many weak students as possible. So the textbooks they write cram as much information as possible into the books and present the material in as abstract and boring a manner as possible. The student has to be able to memorize a ton of apparently random unrelated stuff or he will drop the class.This book on the other hand is very well written with lots of examples and applications to make the subject interesting. If you just want to find out what organic chemistry is about, this is a good book to start.

Required of pre-meds it combines the rigor of chemistry with the arbitrary memorization of biology – but the latter is without the simple mnemonics possible in that subject. But “Organic” is so central to so much important science – tucked just below molecular biology – that I wanted to learn more. But (there’s that word again) perhaps no other subject hits the wall of diminishing return faster – unless you are going to be a practicing chemist, learning about all the different molecules is really pointless (and hopeless). Anyway, that’s the motivation for giving the Very Short Intro a try.So how well does it succeed? Maybe a B. Not so bad as to sink your med-school hopes, but not enough to make you consider doing and MD/PhD either.The first parts are the strongest and I wish they made up most of the book. There is the briefest review of chemistry proper. By far the most interesting part is on synthesis. How to get from building blocks from finished product is really amazing. Like writing a project plan for a complex building – parts, scaffolding, equipment, place holders, removal, adding new pieces, etc. etc. But instead of mechanical properties you need to think about the chemistry. The second half of the chapter on analysis was also fascinating, although more from the point of view of limitations and instrumentation than from the chemistry itself.Most of the rest of the book – at 162 pages hardly “very” short – is OK but a bit more problematic. Perhaps there is no other way to do it. The author has made the decision that the reader wants to know about the real world, like where DDT and PVC fit into it. So it meanders into related fields like chemical engineering, ecology, and medicinal and biochemistry. At its worst it is a catalog of names. Much better would have been to include a bunch of that stuff in tables and concentrate on a few underlying principles.

This book is like a TARDIS, tiny on the outside but so much information on the inside. The book covered a vast array of topics and managed to relate them to real world examples. I now regret not taking organic chemistry in college. This is among my favorite science Very Short Introductions.I would caution that this book may be difficult for people who have not had at least a semester of college level inorganic chemistry.

There is a lot of material which may be difficult for those who have not had some formal education in organic chemistry. For those who have not had organic chemistry, the author reminds me of one of my professors who obviously loves the subject and has the ability to present it in a way that allows others with less skill to grasp the importance and some of the detail of the subject.

A great introductory book on organic chemistry. While the first few chapters are on the very basics of organic chemistry, it gets really enjoyable to read starting from the chapter on medicinal chemistry. I highly recommend it to those who are new to organic chemistry as well as to others more experienced in this area.

Good introduction to Organic Chemistry Highly recommend.