Chemistry books

[arcticjoe]

if this is in a wrong forum, please feel free to move it. I am only posting here because as the question is mostly aimed at users from this forum.
Currently I have somehwat very basic understanding of chemistry and would like to learn some more. My question is - what books would you recommed Any suggestions are welcomed.

 

[UnfortunateSquid]

You can't go wrong with the 3 university standard ones (which I will soon be balls-deep in again):

Atkins' Physical Chemistry
Clayden, Greeves, Warren and Wothers Organic Chemistry
Shriver and Atkins' Inorganic Chemistry

That's chemistry in a nutshell really, be warned they're fucking tomes (Atkins' Physical Chemsitry is especially inpenetrable). You might want to look elsewhere if you just want synthesis information to make drugs etc, although Clayden, Greeves, Warren and Wothers Organic Chemistry does actually contain synthesis detail for a few psychoactives!

 

[retired_chemist]

If you want to *really* learn more about chemistry, college coursework is essential in my opinion.

Not general texts but if and when you move to practicing chemistry in a lab, there are two absolutely essential lab texts no organic chemist should be without

"Vogel's Textbook of Practical Organic Chemistry", A.I. Vogel
"The Systematic Identification of Organic Compounds", R. L. Shriner et al.,

 

[Circles]

As for organic chemistry, I loved Francis A. Carey "Organic chemistry" fourth edition.

 

[retired_chemist]

Sundberg and Carey's "Advanced Organic Chemistry" set is also excellent reference material, but suitable only for, well, as the title suggests an introduction to advanced study.

 

[Ham-milton]

I gotta second retired chemist's suggestion. I'm not a classically trained chemist, but I've been studying nearly day and night for the past 2 years, and I found it accessible.

I also really liked "The Systematic Identification of Organic Compounds" he mentioend in the previous post.

 

[hussness]

I third retired_chemist on Vogel. Vogel's books are available on the internet if you look around. I used Solomons & Fryhle for Organic and found it to be pretty good. If you want to understand Atkins' Physical Chemistry and don't have a degree in engineering or math, I would suggest Applied Mathematics for Physical Chemistry by Barrante.
But none of these answers really mean much without an idea of how far you want to go. Are you trying to understand the universe? Or do you just want to know what the -amine in dopamine is?