Customer Reviews

Organic Nomenclature: A Programmed Introduction (6th Edition)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Note: All reviews before this review refer to the 5th edition, I have no idea why Amazon lumped both editions into one set of reviews. My review however is of the new (as of 2008) 6th edition.

This book has to be the authority on teaching organic nomenclature. I have just made it through the Alkanes and not only has this book taught me how to identify and name them, but it has given me a lot of confidence in a subject that is known to "weed" out pre-health students. Honestly after the first chapter I already feel like a genius.

There is one con:

Chapter 1 problems 21 and 22 there is an edition error. The structure these problems refer to is lacking an ethyl yet problem 22 thinks it is there as well as the answer section of the book thinks that 2-ethyl exists in the example structure. I checked out the 5th edition from my school library and discovered that both ethyls are there in the 5th edition. The 6th edition has decided to change the structures and layouts of their molecules on a lot of their examples, but they didn't make sure that the questions refering to those structures where still valid. So I came to the conclusion that Prentice-Hall rushed this edition without proper editing. Now remember I am only through the first chapter, so either this trend will continue, or it is an isolated mistake. This was easy to catch because Alkanes weren't so hard to identify (it did take me about 15min to make sure I wasn't crazy and then finally blame the book). However if this happens in more advanced chapters I may never catch it and thus learn a principal wrong or again go crazy and waste a lot of my time.

In conclusion:

This book is way too good at teaching nomeclature to pass up. If you are scared that the 6th edition may be full of errors I would recommend getting the 5th. The questions however in the 6th seem more straight forward and the chapter layout seems to make more sense on each page, but again what's the difference of you have to constantly worry about errors right? I will update this review if I find any further errors.

Just a quick note to the grad students or whoever was unfortunate enough to have to edit this garbage. Could you have perhaps tried filling out the book just once after your shoddy job putting it together? After filling out the first half of the book, I have FOUR WRITTEN PAGES OF ERRORS. How anyone supposed to learn anything about organic nomenclature from this half-a**ed attempt at a workbook is beyond me when you have to spend a significant time wondering whether you or the book is incorrect. Mr. (Dr? I hope not) Traynham, make sure it gets done right or take your name off of it. Peace.

As a previous reviewer mentioned there are errors in the answers to this book. But not just a few, there are over 100. My professor actually handed out a 3 page sheet of corrected errors that were sent to him by the publisher upon request. This is a good tool for learning, but I would recommend waiting for the next edition.

This book is horrible, it's full of errors. If you use this book you will probably become worse at organic nomenclature due to the fact that it gives many blatantly wrong answers.

This book is full of errors and poorly written material. I have ordered the other paperback book on Organic chemistry nomenclature by Hellwinkel, "Systematic Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry: A Directory to Comprehension and Application of its Basic Principles" and will post my review once I have read it.

Let us give credit where credit is due for the book by James G. Traynham:

Pearson Education of Prentice Hall

Editor-in-chief, Science: Nicole Folchette

Senior Editor: Andrew Gilfillan

Associate Editor: Jennifer Hard

I ordered this book as a requirement for a class. However, we ended up using the 5th edition because the newer 6th edition had way too many error (ex: 6 on a page) and almost every page had errors. Maybe this edition would be good for someone who already knows how to do nomenclature and just wants extra practice problems.

Had to purchase for school. I think that it really helped. It is well put together and makes memorizing a cinch!

This book was assigned as a supplement in my Organic class. In working through the first few chapters, my classmates and I noticed a few mistakes. My teacher was furious as he uncovered more and more errors. As it ended up, there were over four full pages of corrections to be made. My teacher ended up having us all used the 5th edition instead, which had less errors.

It seems awful to me that a new edition of a text would come out with more errors than the previous edition, and it was immensely frustrating as a student trying to learn the material to discover that the book itself had mistakes.

With all that said, the book was very helpful in teaching nomenclature. However, some ways of naming where introduced, only to be later stated that that wasn't actually the way to do it.

The book has a good idea behind it, but it needs to develop a clearer approach. This approach should not introduce so many ways of naming only to take them back in the next chapter. Also, eliminating errors is a must.

very helpful nomenclature book.Gives several examples and cos its a workbook, studying it is very effective and casual. can be a bit too much tho! Def a wonderful tool for Organic nomenclature!

I first found this book in its first edition about 35 years ago and have never forgotten how easy it made getting an A in Organic Chemistry. It is my most memorable textbook of all time. All I needed then was this book and an understanding of positive/negative attraction, and I did not need to grind over every reaction type in study time. I examined the molecules on my tests and easily figured out what they would do. Today's Organic Chemistry is a larger, more techical subject, but the first key is still nomencalture.

Now my child is grown and I'm back in college, taking a more advanced Organic Chemistry class to prepare for PhD study. I remembered the "programmed approach" and found the book again, delighted to discover a current edition. Once again, the book is enabling me to catch up quickly on nomenclature, the key to any subject.

It is light-weight so it goes with me anywhere, so I can study on the train to school. It also has nice easy steps, so I find I can still work on this when my mind is too tired from other study to absorb anything else.

The major key to this book's learning-accelerating power is its "programmed approach," emphasized in the first edition, but ignored in the current one, as the authors are used to it and have forgotten what a breakthrough this is. The "programmed approach" itself is something worth knowing about, as it is a real breakthrough in teaching, and should be applied to the rest of your subjects--especially the logical ones like mathematics and chemistry.

A programmed approach teaches you one small thing in a short paragraph and then asks you to figure out the answer to a simple question or two as you go along. The answer is usually obvious so you get it right, training your mind correctly. The answer key is right there so you check continually and keep yourself on track. This makes learning fun and fast.