Got this older edition to supplement my OChem studies - also bought the solutions manual - it helps to clear up difficult to understand concepts. It is well written in easy to understand words and good illustrations.

It is a very good book for those who want to start to learn O. chem, the content is very detail and there are always problems right after each section so that you can practice to master your new knowledge. I really like this book.

I used an earlier edition of this book in an Organic Chemistry course in high school, and I LOVED it. The arrangement of the topics in each chapter made everything feel so organized and neat while studying. Chapters are devoted completely to either reactions, nomenclature, or spectroscopy (except the very early and the very late chapters).

This isn't like Carey's book (the one I used in college) in which the functional group is the basis for a chapter's organization, and a chapter can jump from physical properties, to reactivity, to spectroscopy, making the reading of the chapter feel like a mental rollercoaster. The information felt a bit too scattered and artificially gathered, which made it hard for me to be grasp and organize the material in my mind easily. I relied a lot more on rote memorization to do well in the course with Carey's book.

With Hornback's book, however, the information is a lot more manageable to me, since the theme of a chapter is intuitive and focused. For example, when I learn nomenclature, I know I'm just focusing on nomenclature, and I won't float to a completely different aspect of the subject, like spectroscopy or reactions, a couple of paragraphs down. I know that after I'm done with the nomenclature chapter, I will've learned enough nomenclature to be able to become competent and secure with naming organic compounds with any of the basic functional groups, and will be ready to move on to another aspect of this subject, like reactivity. It's hard to get that feeling of focus or thoroughness with Carey's book, where the author moves from one subtopic to another intuitively-unrelated subtopic in a chapter, leaving me struggling to organize this information clearly in my mind.

I really hope this book gets into more Organic chem classrooms. It's a neater, less stressful, and more exciting way to learn Organic chemistry. I highly recommend Hornback for self-study as well. 5+Stars.

I used this book a few years ago. Now that I'm in pharmacy school i realize my grasp of organic chemistry is excellent, but I don't think this book had much to do with it. I remember not being able to follow the book too well and depending a lot on my lecture notes. I had to have the solutions manual to even begin to do the more complex reactions. The book doesn't sufficiently teach you.

This was the wrong book. I e-mailed the seller to make an exchange and I never got a reply. So I basically wasted the money spent on this book.