The Nuts and Bolts of Organic Chemistry: A Student's Guide to Success Reviews

• A WAY to LEARN (not memorize) Organic Chemistry

  
  By A26LKD7UHJSKD0 on 2007-04-19
  I am a College Professor in Biology and I simply cannot tell you how many of my students consider Organic Chemistry to be the make-or-break course heading toward their degree. With stacks of note cards each with an organic chemical reaction neatly upon it so go most students in their quest to 'study' organic chemistry-and that means one thing, memorize. Guess what? They hate the course, and more often than not do miserably. I simply can't tell you how many students change their entire life plans all because of this course. There is a better way.
  
  Organic and for that matter most science classes are puzzles, if you think about them that way. What Karty does in this book is give students the tools to approach organic from that perspective. I was fotunate as an undergraduate to 'discover' a similar paradigm to study organic chemistry which I then used it as a way to appoach almost all my science courses (ok, I did have to do some memorizing). I have to say it really helped make me a true scientists. Learning how to approach and think about a reaction is the key to mastering this topic which is EXACTLY what he passes along.
  
  I would highly recommend this book to those students who are actually trying to become scientists (not just exam-crammers) and those who are looking for a better way to learn organic. There simply is no other book that I have seen that does it as well as "The Nuts and Bolts of Organic Chemistry". I tip my hat to Dr. Karty for developing and offering such a valuable resource.
  
  

• Fabulous!

  
  By A3KZEGBTPH6MMF on 2007-01-05
  I really can't say enough good things about this book. For starters, it is the first chemistry book that I couldn't put down and didn't fall asleep after reading it for about 20 minutes. It covers all the pertinent general chemistry topics for organic and is designed to be read BEFORE you start organic. But don't worry, its the perfect companion for use throughout the year of Orgo1/2 as well because it teaches you how to make complicated problems very easy WITHOUT MEMORIZING any reactions or formulas. I had an A+ in general chemistry and I thought I had all those topics down to a tee--- this book showed me new ways to look at concepts and easier ways to solve. It really is a must have. If you plan on taking the MCAT, don't review without this book! It's brilliant!
  
  

• A must-have for organic chemistry students

  
  By ARHKCPPAP2CMG on 2006-05-11
  I have just finished taking a year of organic chemistry with Dr. Karty, and although I am not too fond of the subject, he is amazing. Karty is incredibly intelligent, but he has become a master at passing along this difficult material on to the us less genius people. This talent shows through in his "Nuts and Bolts" book. He breaks down the concepts into simple terms and helpful pictures. The main reason this book is so successful is that it really stresses the actual comprehension of the concepts rather than memorization of millions of little facts, and it becomes more and more apparent that this study technique is crucial to your own success in organic chemistry. I would recommend this book to any student going into an organic class, from the chem whizzes to the chem idiots.
  
  

• Organic in human language...

  
  By A2XUGX58EJLGE6 on 2006-05-11
  This book is the perfect preparatory tool for ogranic chemistry and, in particular, mechanisms. When I entered organic, I struggled with the course because I was trying to understand what the professors and textbooks were trying to say. With this book you don't have to struggle to figure out the meaning; the author uses simple terms to describe complex problems, in a way that anyone can understand the material.
  
  To put it simply, this book = understanding organic.
  
  

• The Nuts and Bolts is exactly that

  
  By A3J28FSVLVVWK1 on 2006-05-19
  Before I took Organic Chemistry I was told it was going to be the hardest class I would ever take in my life. I was told it was a ton of memorization and most of it didn't make sense. I used Dr. Karty's book to learn Organic chemistry and for me Organic Chemistry was more fun than it was hard. The class was difficult but his book teaches you to learn Organic by the concepts and mechanisms which in turn makes it so you don't need to memorize anything, you just LEARN Organic chemistry. If you are taking Organic and are worried sick about it, get Dr. Karty's book and let him make a year of Organic Chemistry fun to learn rather than miserablely depressing.
  
  
• Two Words.... "Pure Genius"
  By AOY8N1U9I3UEX on 2006-06-04
  Dr. Karty does an excellent job of organizing organic chemistry by its fundamental topics! His method makes learning organic chemistry very feasible and provides the student with effective stratagems for solving problems. As a pre-medical student who constantly worries about doing well, I am glad to have been exposed to such a useful tool that gave me confidence and helped develop a clear understanding of such a complex topic. Thank you Dr. Karty!
  
  
• a simpler pedagogy?
  By AG35NEEFCMQVR on 2005-07-25
  Conventional organic chemistry texts involve a fair amount of memorisation. You could fill a wall chart with the reaction mechanisms given in some texts. But Karty takes a different view in this short book. He focuses on the main concepts in organic chemistry, and eschews mass memorisation. This will undoubtedly comfort some readers who do poorly at the latter.
  
  It might even work. These days, any practising chemist would surely have easy, immediate access to any number of reference texts with the reaction diagrams. Actually, this has been true for decades. So perhaps Karty's emphasis may be a simpler pedagogy.
  
  
• Who knew that you could understand organic chemistry
  By A2OZEP8LUG3EBI on 2006-05-25
  Before taking this course i knew it was going to be difficult, i am not telling you that it won't be. I am hear to tell you that Karty's nuts and bolts book makes organic more understandable. It helps to understand the concepts and the methods behind mechanisms, and put them together to predict the correct out come. I bought this book and a text book. I sold the text book back quickly, but i kept this book because i know that i can reread the material and be able to understand what i am dealing with again.
  
  
• Superb!
  By A2BUK4YKE1L3GF on 2007-01-02
  Without a doubt, organic chemistry is probably one of the most exacting and challenging courses out there. I studied Dr. Karty's "The Nuts and Bolts of Organic Chemistry" the summer before taking the actual course in the fall. I just received my grades for organic chem and got A's for both the lecture and the lab. I attribute my success to Dr. Karty's book, for it provided me a solid foundation on how to tackle problems in organic chemistry.
  
  
• Joel Karty for president
  By A126YDMCNN6KLC on 2006-05-09
  Toss out those flash cards and make room for The Nuts and Bolts of Organic Chemistry: A Student's Guide to Success. Professor Joel Karty is on to something with the rejection of conventional organic chemistry teaching methods.
  
  Organic chemistry is arguably one of the toughest courses for students to fully understand. First and foremost, Karty shows that by truly understanding the fundamental concepts students will have a better ability to tackle the more difficult problems later in the semester. This course has its fair share of difficulties however by following Karty's tips for success this dreaded course can be enjoyable.
  
  After completing the book and much later the course I can say with confidence that without Karty's helpful hints I would never have made it.
  
  
• It's Pretty Much The Best Book Ever Written
  By A1OC0WLOZQ585R on 2006-05-08
  The majority of people taking organic chemistry in today's society fail to grasp the key concepts, to understand the fundamental basis for all that is organic, because they are too focused on memorizing the information. Joel Karty shatters the belief that one must memorize organic in order to succeed in his new book, The Nuts and Bolts of Organic Chemistry: A Student's Guide to Success. Here, Karty's priceless explanations bring organic chemistry down from its pedestal to the reader so that they may understand the fundamentals. Before the reader knows it, they will be able to reason their way through any mechanism or synthesis problem that is thrown at them. Karty's Nuts and Bolts is a priceless treasure-trove of information that everyone should own.
  
  
• Great!
  By A1BKTFCUFG9UD3 on 2007-01-19
  This book is perfect for those scared college freshmen who are afraid to take organic chemistry. The author is straightforward and concise. He is also very understanding, and his goal is to calm the reader's fears about organic chemistry. I'm only in my first week taking organic chemistry, but so far, I feel that the book has helped to ease my anxieties about the course and has made me feel more confident about my ability to do well in the course. I recommend this to anyone who might be taking organic chemistry in college!
  
  
• Insightful and understandable. A good book to lay an incredibly firm foundation.
  By A3PDRS95I0WF2Z on 2007-05-30
  This book is wounderful. Joel Karty writes this book with an air of friendliness and assurance to the reader that he or she can indeed succeed in the feared course of Organic Chemistry. Karty does not try to intimidate the reader with intense scientific lingo, but rather puts things in more general terms in order to let a firm foundation be set such that those general terms can one day be easily translated into those scientific words. He also provides great analogies for concepts that will forever stick with the reader.
  
  Most in this book can stand alone. However, the chapter on isomerism can be difficult without a molecular modeling set. It is recommended that the reader obtain one.
  
  It should be noted that this book is designed to be read BEFORE your year-long course has begun.
  
  A must have!!
  
  
• Very disappointed
  By A1AK0QF8R327PE on 2007-09-05
  
  This book has obviously been of tremendous help to many readers, but I found myself becoming more confused about Organic Chemistry than when I started reading. I felt overwhelmed by a great deal of information that didn't seem to tie back to the Org class I'm currently taking. Perhaps my learning style is just different from others who posted. Or maybe this is a book that should be read over the summer ahead of the school year, when there's plenty of time to reread sections that the student doesn't understand on the first pass.
  
  With a full-blown headache, I'm packing this book up and returning it.
  The only reason that I didn't go with one star is that Dr. Karty writes well, which is always appreciated.
  
  
• Well written, thorough, and perfect for students
  By A34Y5JARAI7DNQ on 2007-06-29
  I've read many chemistry texts that were poorly written or lacked foresight when trying to address students' probable questions. This text, surprisingly, did a good job of addressing all my questions as I had them. The author clearly knows his field and at the same time understand where students make mistakes -- and provides answers at the appropriate places.
  
  In addition, this text is actually written in a way that is readable. The author presents clear and useful examples. The problems at the end of each chapter provide a good place to try out the concepts introduced in preceding sections. I highly recommend this text for anyone looking to understand organic chemistry instead of just memorizing it.
  
  

• Organic Chemistry I as a Second Language: Translating the Basic Concepts
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• Pushing Electrons: A Guide for Students of Organic Chemistry
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