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Organic Chemistry
William H. Brown. Saunders College Publishing: New York, NY, 1995. xxx + 1147 pp. Figs., tables, and photos. 21.5 x 26.2 cm.
The organic instructor asks many question of a new textbook: "Do I like what's in and what's out?" "Can I base my course on it?" "Will my students lift it, read it, and understand it?" "Is it better than the book I have been using?" William Brown's new textbook probably will be adopted widely because the answers to these questions will be positive for many instructors.
Brown has used a traditional format, with which most instructors and students feel comfortable, organized by functional group with extra chapters for acid-base, stereochemistry, and spectroscopy. The written presentation of the material is clear and precise, but the feature that makes the book unique is the power stereoscopic artwork that is far superior to any textbook on this level that I have seen. Stereo drawings are seen through a viewer (attached to the cover) to give remarkable three-dimensional presentations of proteins, steroids, and other complex biological molecules, as well as transition states and molecules of theoretical significance. These stereo views are much better than models for the student because they can show structures that are...