Organic Chemistry [with InfoTrac Access Card]

by John McMurry

John McMurry's international best-seller is widely and consistently praised as the most clearly written book on the market. Why? In John McMurry's words: "I have been asked hundreds of times over the past ten years why I wrote this book. I wrote this book because I love writing. I get great pleasure and satisfaction from taking a complicated subject, turning it around until I see it clearly from a new angle, and then explaining it in simple words. I write to explain chemistry to students the way I wish it had been explained to me years ago." Through his lucid writing and ability to show the beauty and logic of organic chemistry, McMurry makes learning enjoyable for students. The highest compliment that can be given to a chemistry book applies to McMurry: It works! Mainstream in level, McMurry's coverage is concise yet doesn't omit any key topics. McMurry blends the traditional functional-group approach with a mechanistic approach. The primary approach, by functional group, begins with the simple and progresses to the more complex so that readers who are not yet versed in the subtleties of mechanisms are first exposed to the "what" of chemistry before beginning to grapple with the "why." Within this primary organization, the author places a heavy emphasis on explaining the fundamental mechanistic similarities. In this edition, McMurry retains his standard-setting features (including his innovative vertical format for explaining reaction mechanisms) while revising his text line-by-line to include hundreds of small but important improvements. For example, the Sixth Edition includes new examples, additional steps in existing examples, new problems, new phrases to clarify the exposition, and a vibrant new art program. In addition, new icons in the text lead students to a variety of new online resources. McMurry's text is in use at hundreds of colleges and universities around the world, from North America, to the United Kingdom and the Pacific Rim.

Genres: Science, Chemistry, Textbooks, Nonfiction, Reference, School, Biology

1176 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1987

Reviews

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

made me cry

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's okay as a reference, but there are some problems and discrepancies between the text (written by the author) and some of the text problems (written by the author's wife, who is also an organic chemist). Their biggest disagreement reveals itself in the section on substitution patterns and benzene rings. Thankfully, my professor gave us some absolutes about this topic, thus avoiding any possible confusion.

So if this textbook is required for your organic chemistry class, find a good lecturer and use this textbook with caution. Like other textbooks, mistakes and discrepancies like the one I mentioned above will transfer from edition to edition. I am thankful that I had an excellent lecturer who treated this textbook only as a reference and a source for practice problems.

[Hannsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate how McMurry explains the concepts of the book, although what I do not appreciate was the excessive details he needed to mention in each chapter. It appeared to me as if these unnecessary info were written there just to serve as fillers. I would've appreciated it if he wrote the concepts in a straightforward way. Details are good to serve as examples but unnecessary ones just make the text dragging.

[Álvaro]

yo creo q le gana a tan poca vida

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never been one to have the discipline to actually read textbooks, but for this class I turned to the text out of desperation. I was pleasantly surprised. Unlike most science texts, McMurray's Organic Chemistry is not a bad read. It is clear to understand, with good written, and visual examples of concepts. There are practice problems throughout the chapters, as well as a series of exercises at the end of each chapter. I found doing the exercises at the end of each section to be very helpful, and could use it as a check before going onto the next topic. If you don't need to know organic chemistry, then I can't really recommend this as a fun read, but if you do, this is a pretty good text to study from.

[Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

UBC, Chem 233 - Organic Chemistry for the Biological sciences. Easy read, easy concepts. Chem 233 is nothing in comparison to Chem 203 in terms of difficulty, depth of theory, required understanding, application in problems.

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

life is amazing!

[Mary Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't like this book, but it is the most popular book about organic chemistry so it is not like students all over the world have got any chance to choose sth else.

[ola! · Rating 4 out of 5]

i wont lie i liked the colourful diagrams and you don't get those often

[Elias · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is possibly the only textbook that I can say that I just about read cover-to-cover, as many undergrad courses rarely cover the entirety of a textbook (though I may be able to say the same about my biochemistry textbook ... I had to read the majority of that, for sure).

I ended up being a lab TA in the couple of years following my time studying with this book. The O-Chem courses on campus switched to a different book, and I always commented on how this one was the better book (more succinct, good-but-tough practice problems, etc.).

... and of course, I'm just adding this review to take some credit for having read just about the whole thing. It feels like an accomplishment, for sure! I was glad to be assigned this textbook for the course.

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought McMurry's book did a good job of teaching for self-study. It is more difficult for me to judge how well it would work for a formal course, but I think the textbook appears to cover the most common topics and has good graphics to help with comprehension. There's a lot of information here, and it is well-deserving of further review, though.

Overall, I felt like I learned a lot, and feel like I have some understanding of the basics of organic chemistry now.

[Originál · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally read and passed the exam 😄

[Viji]

Huckels rule

[KBPrajapat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nick

[Milli]

I'm moving and not moving this with me! I almost made it to the end of chapter six!

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great if you are an absolute beginner

[Ana Iljoska · Rating 5 out of 5]

🥲

[faarevalosg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me estresé y lloré :)

[Mambruw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es el libro para manipular la materia a tu antojó

[Emily Lyons · Rating 1 out of 5]

ew

[Ada]

Made me cry✅
Helped me pass✅

[The Raven · Rating 3 out of 5]

bienvenidxs a un diario de qué sí leer
pues, es un libro completo, pero como es muy usado por docentes, no habrá nada diferente o especial a lo de tu clase

[Hyang Magallanes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obligatorio para entender la vida.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ningún libro me ha lastimado tanto emocionalmente como el perro de McMurry

[Samuel]

((77))

[Belle Meade School]

547

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am taking credit for reading this thing. If I have to trudge through it 15+ weeks I am going to take credit for it.

So far it has been pretty good...as far as textbooks go. Explanations are clear, LOTS of exercises so I can work on things I'm unsure about & I got the study guide w/ it so I've got back up for the problems.

I'll let you know how it ends...haha.


12/12/14 End of the semester & end of my affair w/ O Chem. One thing I've learned about Organic Chemistry is...wait for it...Carbon is a whore!

I've heard from other people there are easier O Chem texts than this one. However, since it is rarely the student's choice which textbook he or she is going to use they'll have to make the best of it. It was fairly easy in the beginning & the explanations got more difficult to comprehend as time went on. I have to believe there are easier ways to deliver this info.

[Audrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Organic Chemistry 1 was absolute agony for me but completely necessary to understand most of Organic Chemistry 2, which was overall better. Spectroscopy and stereochemistry, die in a fire. Carbonyl and aromatic compounds are cool with me. But mostly Ochem and I have a very strained relationship, which is not really the fault of this textbook which is fine and more helpful than most of the organic chemistry supplemental texts that I've looked at. Hopefully by next week I never have to look at you again, McMurry, 7th edition!

[Iben · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Organic Chemistry on my first year studies of chemistry at the university.
It is a book that easily explains the basics of the organic side of the subject and then moves on to the uses of this basic knowledge.
It is a great guide to formulating synthesis of many compounds. The wast pool of things that are importent to know are easily found and easy to use in many situations.

This book made the choice between organic and inorganic chemistry an easy one. I chose organic.

I would definetly recomend this book to anyone who is a novice with an interest in chemistry.

[Rene · Rating 4 out of 5]

chemistry sucks, but if you read this text carefully, you'll get it.
Professors should be required to write a book before they teach. there will always be too much information to learn, and not enough time for the professor to teach it to you. But I don't know, I've come to rather enjoy this book :)