My main hobby is reading textbooks, so I decided to go beyond the scope of the question posed. I took a look at what I have on my shelves in order to recommend particularly good or standard books that I think could characterize large portions of an undergraduate degree and perhaps the beginnings of a graduate degree in the main fields that interest me, plus some personal favorites.

Neuroscience: Theoretical Neuroscience is a good book for the field of that name, though it does require background knowledge in neuroscience (for which, as others mentioned, Kandel's text is excellent, not to mention that it alone can cover the majority of an undergraduate degree in neuroscience if corequisite classes such as biology and chemistry are momentarily ignored) and in differential equations. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory and Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuropsychology were used in my classes on cognition and learning/memory and I enjoyed both; though they tend to choose breadth over depth, all references are research papers and thus one can easily choose to go more in depth in any relevant topics by consulting these books' bibliographies.

General chemistry, organic chemistry/synthesis: I liked Linus Pauling's General Chemistry more than whatever my school gave us for general chemistry. I liked this undergraduate organic chemistry book, though I should say that I have little exposure to other organic chemistry books, and I found Protective Groups in Organic Synthesis to be very informative and useful. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to take instrumental/analytical/inorganic/physical chemistry and so have no idea what to recommend there.

Biochemistry: Lehninger is the standard text, though it's rather expensive. I have limited exposure here.

Mathematics: When I was younger (i.e. before having learned calculus), I found the four-volume The World of Mathematics great for introducing me to a lot of new concepts and branches of mathematics and for inspiring interest; I would strongly recommend this collection to anyone interested in mathematics and especially to people considering choosing to major in math as an undergrad. I found the trio of Spivak's Calculus (which Amazon says is now unfortunately out of print), Stewart's Calculus (standard text), and Kline's Calculus: An Intuitive and Physical Approach to be a good combination of rigor, practical application, and physical intuition, respectively, for calculus. My school used Marsden and Hoffman's Elementary Classical Analysis for introductory analysis (which is the field that develops and proves the calculus taught in high school), but I liked Rudin's Principles of Mathematical Analysis (nicknamed "Baby Rudin") better. I haven't worked my way though Munkres' Topology yet, but it's great so far and is often recommended as a standard beginning toplogy text. I haven't found books on differential equations or on linear algebra that I've really liked. I randomly came across Quine's Set Theory and its Logic, which I thought was an excellent introduction to set theory. Russell and Whitehead's Principia Mathematica is a very famous text, but I haven't gotten hold of a copy yet. Lang's Algebra is an excellent abstract algebra textbook, though it's rather sophisticated and I've gotten through only a small portion of it as I don't plan on getting a PhD in that subject.

Computer Science: For artificial intelligence and related areas, Russell and Norvig's Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach's text is a standard and good text, and I also liked Introduction to Information Retrieval (which is available online by chapter and entirely). For processor design, I found Computer Organization and Design to be a good introduction. I don't have any recommendations for specific programming languages as I find self-teaching to be most important there, nor do I know of any data structures books that I found to be memorable (not that I've really looked, given the wealth of information online). Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming is considered to be a gold standard text for algorithms, but I haven't secured a copy yet.

Physics: For basic undergraduate physics (mechanics, e&m, and a smattering of other subjects), I liked Fundamentals of Physics. I liked Rindler's Essential Relativity and Messiah's Quantum Mechanics much better than whatever books my school used. I appreciated the exposition and style of Rindler's text. I understand that some of the later chapters of Messiah's text are now obsolete, but the rest of the book is good enough for you to not need to reference many other books. I have little exposure to books on other areas of physics and am sure that there are many others in this subreddit that can give excellent recommendations.

Other: I liked Early Theories of the Universe to be good light historical reading. I also think that everyone should read Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.

I took 109A last quarter with Bruice and LMAO rip it was 2 fast and furious 4 me, and thus my weary brain and butt is re-taking it right now with Aue.

Anyway, I went into this quarter expecting the first half at least to be a breeze for me since yeah, I'd gone through the course once already. But to be honest, Aue's style of teaching is completely different from Bruice's, and I was pretty lost myself and felt like I was taking the course for the first time again. So even more respect to the students that are taking O-chem for the first time under him.

I'm not the best student, but from my own experiences comparing the two classes, I feel like you shouldn't focus too much on the textbook, since Aue deviates from it a lot and teaches things that aren't mentioned in it at all. In Bruice, her tests were basically just the book problems (the questions weren't too hard, there was just so much to cover in so little time, whic, but I'll look through the book now and realize there's so much stuff I had to study in her class last quarter that seems to never be mentioned in Aue.

Are you enrolled in CLAS? That's really helpful for me. I did pretty well on the first midterm this quarter, and it's all because one of the CLAS instructor's pre-midterm review sessions taught me so much and saved my butt.

Seems like the best way to study for Aue is to study his past midterms. I don't have any of my own, but I know he does post an old one online on Gauchospace. Just see if you can get a good understanding of the free response questions, since the first midterm was pretty similar in concept, and if anything, it was the multiple choice questions I struggled more with LOL.

Additionally, one of my older friends gave me this book to supplement my readings last quarter, that I didn't crack open at all until I was in Aue lmao. But I found it pretty helpful, too, since I was too lazy to read the textbook and it seemed like Aue followed the order of this handbook better than Bruice's textbook. I believe it's also one of the supplemental readings he mentions in the syllabus: O-Chem As Second Language

But yeah. Don't stress too much. I hope some of this could be helpful, but take it with a grain of salt, since this is also my first time taking a course under Aue. I too am in the same boat as u in that i feel fked for the next midterm atm :-) But dw, you've still got a couple of days left and I had no idea that I would do decently well on the last midterm until it happened. That can be you, too.

HAVE FAITH IN YOURSELF AND GOOD LUCK!

1. I didn't dive head first, I was pre-med when I entered college. I thought I liked bio because yeah science is cool. Then I took organic chemistry and realized what a profound and interesting subject chemistry is. Switched to become a chemistry major and now I hate bio because it's too fundamental.
   
   
2. Sorry, I did good at the start. Chemistry aligns with my thinking (concept based) than biology did (memory based) and so I just excelled a lot more.
   
   
3. Mixed reviews. Almost everyone I talk to either loves it or hates it. Those who hate it are only taking chemistry because they were like me (pre-med, biology) and had to take it for requirements. They never invested the time to think about the concepts and how everything played together. They only thought "yeah yeah, memorize this and that, do well on the test and become a doctor." Those who love it, I can have serious conversations with them about reactions and research (but mostly talk about illegal drug synthesis because let's face it breaking bad is awesome). Also, do not get a masters in chemistry (or biology even). It's a waste; see next point.
   
   
4. In Chemistry, it's PhD "or-go" home. ^^hehe All job offers that are open for a masters are open for a bachelors, and all offers that require a phd do not take masters. There are chemistry jobs, entry level, for bachelors but really you're going to want a PhD in the field. Otherwise you're doing grunt-work. (wouldn't you rather be doing paper-work?!) But seriously, more opportunities and more money if you get a PhD. And no masters!
   
   
5. Read the textbooks. Seriously. Idc what student you were in high school, you're going to read the textbook and invest time into it. In my organic class, 3 Hours a chapter for me (My pace: 30 pages per chapter, 6 minutes a page), but go more if you need. My undergrad used this textbook and I'm not going to lie, it's actually a really good read. I recommend this over whatever crappy textbook your teacher might require for your class; it's extremely thorough, it's honest, and it's kinda humorous at times. READ THE TEXTBOOKS!!!
   
   
6. If you want, you can buy a copy of the orgo textbook I recommended and read through a bit of it to get a feel of what youre getting into. It would be a huge time commitment to actually learn anything; instead, read it to see if you can (there's a PDF of the 1st edition floating around somehwere). You may not be interested in orgo, but other things (kinetics, thermo, equilibrium, acid/base, etc. all discussed in the book) are in all of your main classes as well. Orgo is just the biggie that makes/breaks students.
   
   
7. A deep understanding of the theory is essential for any branch of chemistry. If you do not understand the fundamental concepts, you are not a chemist. The hard part is that there are no set-in-stone rules in chemistry like there are in biology or physics. Almost everything has exceptions and you have to understand why they aren't really an exception.
   
   
8. Organic is cool because you have an applicable/practical outlet for the chemistry you learn. Yeah yeah you learn about bonds and MO theory and kinetics/thermodynamics but where do you apply it all? Organic is the common answer because it's in your shampoos, your beauty products, your food preservatives blah blah... Physical chemistry is cool if you like calculus/physics. Biochemistry is ehh I know some friends who like it but I never thought random protein stuff was that cool. Other branches: nuclear, medicinal, polymer, inorganic, analytical, green...find one that's cool for you!
   
   
9. I worked under a CE and a chemist, both in making drugs, so this may help explain how they're different and what you'd be more interested in.
   
   The CE mass produced your typical OTC drugs for pharmacies like Walgreen. He made literally millions of pills a day with fancy machines which--as the boss of a small company--he didn't even operate. In fact I don't even remember him doing anything CE technical, just doing phone calls and stuff. Anyways because drugs are a hot industry, he made serious bank. Millionaire, easily. So much money in the field, not a lot of workers.
   
   But IMO, relatively boring. The chemist on the other hand was making NEW drugs. Never before used, never before tested. He used his vast knowledge of chemistry theory to predict and answer questions like "How would the molecule's function be different if it was less polar or more soluble?" and stuff like that. Then he'd put the theory in practice by making the molecule and testing it in vitro or something. Makes waaay less money. No hot wife or condo in Hawaii. But much more satisfying and requires much more knowledge.
   
   Every job is different, everybody is different. Disclaimer, experiences are not typical. Whatever you decide to do, you can easily make it less boring by being an exciting person.

As much as I absolutely loved that book, I would not suggest it for OP if they are not familiar with relatively end-stage calculus (there are a number of partial derivatives in there) and quantum theory. It is true that the thermodynamics might help, but even people within my own class of chemistry students at my university struggled to grasp the text. Again, this depends entirely on what OP's learning style.

If, on the other hand, OP is desiring some stimulation from the world of physical chemistry, especially from the aspect of organic chemistry (which I assume to be the next step in OP's studies) would be the Anslyn text Modern Physical Organic Chemistry. It is advanced mind you and assumes some understanding in organic and physical chemistry, but it is a very stimulating approach to both and I would highly recommend both as future reading and as a book simply to keep around - it is quite good.

Again, if OP has a solid mathematical background, the McQuarrie text really is great - one of my favorite texts until my current program.

If OP is looking for something truly interesting that, again, will help to solidify everything they learn as they progress, I would recommend (against most everyone's opinion, partially including my own due to Housecraft's overabundance of fluff) the Inorganic Chemistry by Housecraft. Again, some of this is relatively advanced, but it contains information that is extremely satisfying and, personally, helped to solidify many of the concepts I had learned leading up to that point in my undergraduate career.

If you have some desires, please post more, OP! Nice to hear people in those years are interested in stimulating their own education! Best of luck!

That is great that you love to read, one of the greatest gifts my tbm parents ever gave me. If you want something that will help give a better perspective on ST I would recommend The Problem with Physics by Lee Smolin. He worked in ST and has since moved onto other areas (he's also very nice if you ever get the chance to meet him), but this book is written such than a lay person can read and mostly understand what he talks about.

To get to ST at the level you can do something meaningful with it you'll need a solid calculus, partial differential equations, linear algebra, abstract algebra (mostly the ideas of groups, double groups, and certain Lie algebras), and topology background (you can usually find books on these topics that are geared toward physicists as not everything mathematicians care about is needed for the physics side). For the physics you should have, though it's not absolutely needed just useful for certain ideas, classical mechanics and electromagnetism. You'll need the basic QM, there's a good Intro to QM by David Griffiths, but you'll need calculus down to tackle this. You'll also need special and general relativity. Essentially a physics degree with a large emphasis in mathematics. Probably not what you wanted to hear.

If you're interested in this area, I would highly recommend not focusing on ST (others may say differently) but rather on QM in general. There are many facets of it at that are fascinating and a lot we still don't know. Not only that, but finding ever better ways to solve the fundamental equations is where a lot of work is also being done which is non-trivial and I find quite interesting as well.

Another area in this field (no pun intended) where more work needs to be done is scientific writing about these topics for a more general audience. This requires knowledge about the topics but also an ability to communicate them to those that may not have the same background (something scientists are not always that great at doing). I'm not sure if that would be of interest to you, though. I also have interests, myself, in the more recent history of QM and the various developments in the field, as this is not as well documented (I'm talking about the more obscure side paths that most people don't usually hear about even though they can have tremendous impacts later down the road).

I think more than just an issue with simplicity or difficulty this is a matter or feasibility. A grad student could easily get their dissertation doing this project for just one molecule. However if you're serious about this let me give you some advice.

• When I say decomposition pathway, I mean physically what are the molecules in your battery doing in order to produce a current or energy? This will require a large understanding of electrochem and physics as well as an exceedingly up to date understanding of material sciences in the physical chemistry field. I recommend start by reading publications on current "next gen batteries" and see where that takes you. If you go to the UO science library you can use their computers to go through the literature. I'd recommend reading Journal of Chemical Physics, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, American Chemical Society, American Physical Society, and/or Physical Review Letters
  
  
• Drop this notion of a permutation set, or at least limit it to a molecule class (with specific allowed elements or lengths). Unless you set up exceedingly smart parameters all you will get is 99% of your data being for molecules that absolutely can't be used for batteries. For starters, do you want to find organic compounds that combust like gasoline as a source for fuel? I think you more likely want something like a Lithium ion cell which would require you to look at transition metals. Be less concerned about being able to make a set of 10^50 molecules and instead focus on how (from a general molecule motif) would you generate energy in current form. How much energy do you get from a redox reaction of Li in acid versus a complex of (Li)_n. An added complexity is that the order in which you arrange them will also change the bonding. This isn't just, will it make a linear chain or will it fork, or will it be circular; this is going to involve analyzing how the electrons interact on an orbital level. This work is basically probing the question of how catalyst work (an answer to which would undoubtedly get you a Nobel prize).
  
  
• Being that you will most likely need to do some type of oxidation reduction reaction (you'll see a lot of excitonic processes currently being used for energy) to generate free electrons this guarantees that you will need to do ab initio quantum calculations. In order to do that you have to basically derive the energy of losing however many electrons in a specific manner in a vacuum at 0 K. HF will NOT cut it. You will need to use several high leveled theory basis sets and compare the results. This means you will not only need to understand mathematically how these calculations are done, but also understand quantum mechanically how best to represent poorly defined things such as single charge states, ionization, and far more complicated advanced topics.
  
  
• Look into Density Functional Theory (DFT). For reactions that mix between classical and quantum (semi-empirical) it's the current standard way to go. That being said, this is not a technique that can be generalized to any molecule. Every simulation is exceedingly specific to every case.
  
  
• You will need computers. Lots of computers. Either you build your own super computer and drain your bank account funding the electricity (you will need to be a billionaire to do this) or you do what any sane theoretical chemist would do and apply for grants to some of the XSEDE super computers. Keep in mind the grant cycle just ended so you'll have to wait until next year to even begin applying and you'll need to convince way tougher scientists than me. If you're planning on doing semi-empirical and especially if you plan to do any ab initio calculations you will need a lot of computational resources. Try playing around with Gaussian (g09) available for free on most linux machines to get an idea of how long these calculations take and how much more processing power and memory you'll need.
  
  Here are some books and resources that will catch you up McQuarrie, Cramer, Marcus Theory, and all things Mukamel for electron transfer.
  
  Good luck!
  
  [EDIT]: As far as temperature goes, that's a concern more so for the effects on a classical level, so you need a MD or semi-empirical system with a good forcefield defined.

> The bra-ket notation is literally just a way of notating linear algebra. The math doesn't change because of how you write it down.

You've obviously never taken a quantum mechanics class. It's taught as one or the other. I'm not arguing it's different, hence why I said the bra-ket "notation". It's simply the way chemists and physicists prefer to represent the schrodinger equation because it makes their math look better for their most commonly used applications.

I present to you, a perfect example.

This here is a book generally used by chemists when being taught quantum mechanics.

https://www.amazon.com/Physical-Chemistry-Molecular-Donald-McQuarrie/dp/0935702997

And now here is a book generally used by physicists when being taught the same thing.

https://www.amazon.com/Principles-Quantum-Mechanics-R-Shankar-ebook/dp/B000SEIXA2

Do you see how one book works almost exclusively in the linear algebra space while the other works almost exclusively using bra-ket notation? It's a choice, made by professors. Yes, you can learn both, it's not hard. This is why I know you've never taken a quantum mechanics class because this is made extraordinarily clear to everybody in the class. "These two things teach you the same stuff but in different ways. We choose to use this way."

> As for physical chemistry defining how everything works, how much particle physics do you do as a physical chemist?

Well considering I'm a spectroscopist, and a mechanist, quite a bit actually. And sure, I'm sure particle theory absolutely can explain pretty much everything.... in the longest most roundabout way possible. I wasn't aware, however, that the interactions of quarks (other than the electron....) came into play for the typical, everyday chemical reactions that occur constantly. In fact, are there not very few reactions that humans can achieve that actually have enough energy to split a proton or neutron into their constituent parts? I'm pretty sure that once the big bang cooled down everything pretty much settled into the subatomic particles we know and love today. So I mean, unless you plan on replicating the types of heat seen in the big bang.... that level of detail is... well... superfluous. Sure, it MAY be useful in SOME nuclear reactions, but even then, not always. If particle theory explained everything, why is it not used to explain everything? Go on.... explain. I'm waiting.

Also I find it funny that you assume that we didn't learn about subatomic particles smaller than the proton and the neutron. We simply know that they aren't really that useful for most normal situations. In theory? Sure. In reality? No. We're chemists, not theorists. We get shit done.

> Edit: it's also worth noting that bra-ket notation is typically introduced at the undergraduate level of quantum mechanics.

Congratulations! You've discovered the meaning of the word "introduced!"

/u/another_user_name posted this list a while back. Actual aerospace textbooks are towards the bottom but you'll need a working knowledge of the prereqs first.

Non-core/Pre-reqs:

Mathematics:

Calculus.

1-4) Calculus, Stewart -- This is a very common book and I felt it was ok, but there's mixed opinions about it. Try to get a cheap, used copy.

1-4) Calculus, A New Horizon, Anton -- This is highly valued by many people, but I haven't read it.

1-4) Essential Calculus With Applications, Silverman -- Dover book.

More discussion in this reddit thread.

Linear Algebra

3) Linear Algebra and Its Applications,Lay -- I had this one in school. I think it was decent.

3) Linear Algebra, Shilov -- Dover book.

Differential Equations

4) An Introduction to Ordinary Differential Equations, Coddington -- Dover book, highly reviewed on Amazon.

G) Partial Differential Equations, Evans

G) Partial Differential Equations For Scientists and Engineers, Farlow

More discussion here.

Numerical Analysis

5) Numerical Analysis, Burden and Faires

Chemistry:

1. General Chemistry, Pauling is a good, low cost choice. I'm not sure what we used in school.
   
   

   Physics:
   

   
   2-4) Physics, Cutnel -- This was highly recommended, but I've not read it.
   
   

   Programming:
   

   
   

   Introductory Programming
   

   
   Programming is becoming unavoidable as an engineering skill. I think Python is a strong introductory language that's got a lot of uses in industry.
   
   

2. Learning Python, Lutz
   
   
3. Learn Python the Hard Way, Shaw -- Gaining popularity, also free online.
   
   

   Core Curriculum:
   

   
   

   Introduction:
   

   
   

4. Introduction to Flight, Anderson
   
   

   Aerodynamics:
   

   
   

5. Introduction to Fluid Mechanics, Fox, Pritchard McDonald
   
   
6. Fundamentals of Aerodynamics, Anderson
   
   
7. Theory of Wing Sections, Abbot and von Doenhoff -- Dover book, but very good for what it is.
   
   
8. Aerodynamics for Engineers, Bertin and Cummings -- Didn't use this as the text (used Anderson instead) but it's got more on stuff like Vortex Lattice Methods.
   
   
9. Modern Compressible Flow: With Historical Perspective, Anderson
   
   
10. Computational Fluid Dynamics, Anderson
    
    

    Thermodynamics, Heat transfer and Propulsion:
    

    
    

11. Introduction to Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer, Cengel
    
    
12. Mechanics and Thermodynamics of Propulsion, Hill and Peterson
    
    

    Flight Mechanics, Stability and Control
    

    
    5+) Flight Stability and Automatic Control, Nelson
    
    5+)[Performance, Stability, Dynamics, and Control of Airplanes, Second Edition](http://www.amazon.com/Performance-Stability-Dynamics-Airplanes-Education/dp/1563475839/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315534435&sr=8-1, Pamadi) -- I gather this is better than Nelson
    
    

13. Airplane Aerodynamics and Performance, Roskam and Lan
    
    

    Engineering Mechanics and Structures:
    

    
    3-4) Engineering Mechanics: Statics and Dynamics, Hibbeler
    
    

14. Mechanics of Materials, Hibbeler
    
    
15. Mechanical Vibrations, Rao
    
    
16. Practical Stress Analysis for Design Engineers: Design & Analysis of Aerospace Vehicle Structures, Flabel
    
    6-8) Analysis and Design of Flight Vehicle Structures, Bruhn -- A good reference, never really used it as a text.
    
    
17. An Introduction to the Finite Element Method, Reddy
    
    G) Introduction to the Mechanics of a Continuous Medium, Malvern
    
    G) Fracture Mechanics, Anderson
    
    G) Mechanics of Composite Materials, Jones
    
    

    Electrical Engineering
    

    
    

18. Electrical Engineering Principles and Applications, Hambley
    
    

    Design and Optimization
    

    
    

19. Fundamentals of Aircraft and Airship Design, Nicolai and Carinchner
    
    
20. Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach, Raymer
    
    
21. Engineering Optimization: Theory and Practice, Rao
    
    

    Space Systems
    

    
    

22. Fundamentals of Astrodynamics and Applications, Vallado
    
    
23. Introduction to Space Dynamics, Thomson -- Dover book
    
    
24. Orbital Mechanics, Prussing and Conway
    
    
25. Fundamentals of Astrodynamics, Bate, Mueller and White
    
    
26. Space Mission Analysis and Design, Wertz and Larson

Don't know about skills you want, but there's quite a bit of free chemical software that it'd be good to be familiar with (Avogadro for building ligands/small molecules, Chimera for supramolecular and docking, etc.). Likewise, if you have access to WebMO, play around with it. The questions you develop while just trying different theories/basis sets with the same compound will lead you into a better understanding of what computational can (or can't) do. Molecular dynamics is a popular approach to protein (and thus biological) simulations. If you've never operated a computer from the command line before, there's a Codecademy course that has a good overview on that.

Google and Wikipedia can be your best friends. Most of my understanding came from seeing something discussed in a paper and researching what it was and why it was useful. This presentation gives a lot of background for theories and where they came from. This site has a nice introduction to semiempirical quantum calculations. I found this site when trying to understand what basis sets were, and it was very informative.

If you want a book, Essentials of Computational Chemistry is pretty widely used in computational courses.

Hope this helped a little bit!

Personally I make a distinction between scripting and programming that doesn't really exist but highlights the differences I guess. I consider myself to be scripting if I am connecting programs together by manipulating input and output data. There is lots of regular expression pain and trial-and-error involved in this and I have hated it since my first day of research when I had to write a perl script to extract the energies from thousands of gaussian runs. I appreciate it, but I despise it in equal measure. Programming I love, and I consider this to be implementing a solution to a physical problem in a stricter language and trying to optimise the solution. I've done a lot of this in fortran and java (I much prefer java after a steep learning curve from procedural to OOP). I love the initial math and understanding, the planning, the implementing and seeing the results. Debugging is as much of a pain as scripting, but I've found the more code I write the less stupid mistakes I make and I know what to look for given certain error messages. If I could just do scientific programming I would, but sadly that's not realistic. When you get to do it it's great though.

The maths for comp chem is very similar to the maths used by all the physical sciences and engineering. My go to reference is Arfken but there are others out there. The table of contents at least will give you a good idea of appropriate topics. Your university library will definitely have a selection of lower-level books with more detail that you can build from. I find for learning maths it's best to get every book available and decide which one suits you best. It can be very personal and when you find a book by someone who thinks about the concepts similarly to you it is so much easier.
For learning programming, there are usually tutorials online that will suffice. I have used O'Reilly books with good results. I'd recommend that you follow the tutorials as if you need all of the functionality, even when you know you won't. Otherwise you get holes in your knowledge that can be hard to close later on. It is good supplementary exercise to find a method in a comp chem book, then try to implement it (using google when you get stuck). My favourite algorithms book is Numerical Recipes - there are older fortran versions out there too. It contains a huge amount of detailed practical information and is geared directly at computational science. It has good explanations of math concepts too.

For the actual chemistry, I learned a lot from Jensen's book and Leach's book. I have heard good things about this one too, but I think it's more advanced. For Quantum, there is always Szabo & Ostlund which has code you can refer to, as well as Levine. I am slightly divorced from the QM side of things so I don't have many other recommendations in that area. For statistical mechanics it starts and ends with McQuarrie for me. I have not had to understand much of it in my career so far though. I can also recommend the Oxford Primers series. They're cheap and make solid introductions/refreshers. I saw in another comment you are interested potentially in enzymology. If so, you could try Warshel's book which has more code and implementation exercises but is as difficult as the man himself.

Jensen comes closest to a detailed, general introduction from the books I've spent time with. Maybe focus on that first. I could go on for pages and pages about how I'd approach learning if I was back at undergrad so feel free to ask if you have any more questions.



Out of curiosity, is it DLPOLY that's irritating you so much?

Well, excited-state calculations aren't that easy. Neglecting magnetic interactions doesn't really simplify things much - they're normally neglected in QC calculations (except for heavy elements where SO-coupling becomes significant).

One idea is that you might try repeating (and perhaps improving on) Pekeris calculations on helium from the 60's, which are fairly well-known. The drawback here is that like Hylleraas method (which he built on), it's not going to tell you much about current methods in 'real world' use. But it's almost certainly the best trade-off for programming simplicity versus accuracy.

If you're more interested in learning something that might be of practical use, then a Hartree-Fock implementation is certainly the best starting point for any atomic/molecular calculation. Nearly all quantum-chemical methods build directly on H-F, so even if you want to do something more accurate, you'll need to start with HF. Szabo and Ostlund is pretty good for HF and post-HF methods, and has Fortran sources to a basic HF program in it. (Despite it's name though, it's a bit dated and doesn't deal with DFT methods at all). So you could start with a basic HF program, and if you still really want to do excited states after that, the simplest more accurate method would be to move to Configuration Interaction. Specifically, you could do a CI-Singles calculation to get the excited states. (at that level, we're talking errors of ~ 1 eV, so you might understand why magnetic interactions are negligible!) If you're really ambitious you could go on and go to higher CI levels.

But if your goal is to learn quantum mechanics rather than quantum chemistry, I wouldn't go too far with it. I'd expect an understanding of the HF method (although not necessarily its practical implementation) to be necessary for a good grounding in QM. And I'd expect any grad student in Q-chem to be able to write an implementation. But going from a basic Hartree-Fock program to a more sophisticated one, and from a HF program to a CI program can take quite a bit of work, very little of which consists of learning any new physics. For someone who knows the HF method well, you could pretty much summarize the entire theory behind CI in five words: "Linear expansion in Slater determinants."

> I doubt that a psychedelic experience would spark or fuel interest in science for most - more likely the arts, if they used before deciding on their career or path of study.

I often hear psychonauts giving lip service to the sciences, but seldom see them follow through on their proclaimed interest. For me, trying lsd really did reinvigorate my interest in science, most specifically chemistry. The first thing I took away from the experience was how apparent it became that everything I ingest has an effect on the chemistry of my body and subsequently my physical and mental experiences, even if by 2nd or 3rd order effects. I picked up a copy of Linus Pauling's General Chemistry as a starting point, then read How to Live Longer and Feel Better and have since greatly improved the efficacy of my diet in supporting a robust mind and body. In retrospect, revelations that I've had regarding how to feel and live better seem like they should have been obvious... but at times before I had really given things reasonable thought I recall being quite overwhelmed and confused. I suppose one could say that the strength of the acid experience snapped me out of living in the world of ideas and renewed my awareness of the interdependence of my subjective "inner world" and my interaction with the objective "outer world".

It sounds like on one hand you want a historical context for how quantum mechanics came to be, and on the other you want a proof for what are wholly postulated (and thus unprovable) laws. Do you have the same complaints about Newton's Laws? Those are also postulated, but since we can observe them on the spatial and temporal scales we have evolved to experience unaided, they seem more intuitive. If we could instead see the wave nature of the quantum world all the time, Newton's Laws might be equally baffling to ponder. In short, the Schrodinger Equation is no more or less provable than F = ma. We only have their consistent success in reproducing observable phenomena to put stock in.

With that said, the onset of quantum mechanics was a necessary solution to observed phenomena that could not be accounted for with classical laws (for instance, black-body radiation, Young's double slit experiment or Einstein's photoelectric effect). There are six postulates which govern quantum mechanics at its roots, and these are not provable (again, much like Newton's Laws). The only reason these postulates are taken to be laws is that they reproduce everything we can observe on the quantum scale (although, as you learn more about these you will see a certain logic to their necessity, but no formal proof).

As for your question about the imaginary part of the wave function, you should know from calculus that all wave functions have imaginary character via Euler's Relation. If you want to use trig functions, the complex exponential comes along for the ride--and in fact, makes many quantum problems way more approachable than the traditional sine/cosine formulation. The necessity of squaring the wave function (actually, you are multiplying by its complex conjugate) stems from this issue--a complex number has no physical meaning, but by squaring it, you are making the value real.

As for your question about momentum--check out Table 1 in the postulates link above. Momentum is one of a number of Hermitian operators that can operate on your wave function to return a value for an observable phenomenon. Thus, if you determine the wave function for a system of interest, you can operate on that wave function with one of these operators, and you will get back an eigenvalue in front of your wave function that corresponds to an observable phenomenon. This is perhaps a good time to point out that there is not "a wave equation" but rather uncountably many wave equations that govern different systems under different conditions. In fact, the only wave function we can derive analytically is that of the hydrogen atom. Once you introduce more than one electron, their interactions with each other as well as the nucleus need to be solved numerically (by making certain approximations, for instance that the nuclei are fixed in space, since their motion is so much slower than that of the electrons).

I'm sure this is an incomplete answer to your question, and the truth is it takes a long time to wrap your head around what I've discussed here--and this is only scratching the surface of the state of the art. Let me know if I can clarify anything further.

EDIT: I suggest the first 8 chapters of this book for a more complete, coherent introduction to what you are asking about.

Try this book for organic chemistry at least.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/111801040X/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=1FFPQ068FSFZDCJVTHB4

It can be found far cheaper in other places, but this book really helped me to grasp organic concepts. I have a bunch of books in PDF format, so if you'd like me to forward them to you PM me your email address. I'd be more than happy to fire them over to you.

In addition, I recommend getting a cheap molecular model kit to further help you to grasp some of concepts that relate to the spatial orientation of molecules/stereochemistry; a lot of people seem to hit the wall when it gets to that point because visualization is difficult. eBay have some cheap sets. Better yet, you could make some with dowel rods and colored beads/polystyrene balls.

I've the utmost admiration for your desire to learn despite your 'age'. Not that it should ever deter you, it's just that I've come to accept that the majority of people just stop caring about learning once they pass a certain point, and so I find it refreshing when I do see somebody striving to learn.

Stop second-guessing your choice of major. Keep your eyes on what you actually want, and remember that the steps along the way will all build there eventually. Check in on your plans when you're picking classes each semester, to make sure you're still on course and still want that ultimate goal. The REU and some lab time will all help.

Try reading some science-related books, not actual science but stuff about scientists themselves or stories about specific scientific discoveries. Like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Double Helix, Eighth Day of Creation, The Disappearing Spoon, and Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman. Your school should have copies of most of them, and they aren't textbook-heavy (though not quite as light as fiction novels).

Don't forget to stay at least a little rounded. Someone on just about every recruitment weekend for grad school will ask about your hobbies. I'm pretty sure they're required to do so :) Or you'll discover you and your interviewer both do ceramics and can chat about that, leaving a stronger impression than if you were yet another person talking about science. It's good to be done with the requirements, but make sure you keep up something outside your major, even if it's just ultimate frisbee.

I've never really used books except for organic Chemistry.

For organic Chemistry I first used this (Prof used it in the lecture): http://www.springer.com/springer+spektrum/chemie/organische+chemie/book/978-3-642-36592-8

which is terrible, don't use that!

Many people say this is pretty good but on the other hand Vollhardt is teaching at Berkeley and it's just a translation which brings me to the point: most good german text books are just translated english ones.

I personally like the Warren but I'm using it in english, not sure if there's a german version but imo the best basic org.chem book.

A really good book written by a german is this, I guess that one is translated in english too. But it's for an advanced level and there it can easily blow your mind ;-)

The ACS exam is a large standardized multiple choice test written by the American Chemistry Society. The ACS chemistry subject exams are frequently used to prove proficiency for incoming graduate students.

The two tests are not necessarily all free response. She prefers to give part multiple choice and part short answer. There are built in curves for the exams. Things like there being 8 short answer questions, but you pick four and those are the only ones you have to answer.

As for what is sufficient, I don't know. I go for there is no kill like overkill, so that isn't a help. How long the Sapling homework takes you is highly variable. If I started at the beginning of a chapter it always took me longer than if I started by the midpoint, but that's a personal thing. If you keep after it and actually do work about two hours a day every single day, then you should be just fine for any course.

This said, I highly recommend reading Organic Chemistry As A Second Language to help get your head around the topics. Keep track of the electrons and what they are doing rather than specific mechanisms by name. Look for the patterns rather than trying to memorize everything. Don't be afraid to use the CRC for tutoring, second floor of the chem building on your left as you walk through the doors, it's paid for in your tuition and fees for taking organic chemistry. Also, make use of your resources and use YouTube videos and Khan academy when you get stuck. They don't often go in a great deal of depth, but they can get you on the right track.

Dandekar does reward work. If she can see that you are busting ass because your study group leader reports that you've been there working hard that helps. If you do all of the extra credit and it isn't slapdash, that gets rewarded as well. I can't speak to the bumping grades by a letter, but I can tell you she respects it and she rewards it.

The commute is what concerns me in your case. I'm not much better off living in the Frisco area about half an hour away from campus. Having been there done that, what really helped for me was that I set things up so that I would spend the entire days at UNT alternating with the community college. The commute is not trivial. Also, thanks to the lovely parking situation, you should plan to arrive at the campus nearly an hour before class to give yourself time to find a parking spot, walk to class, and get settled in the right frame of mind to learn something new. After 9:30 am and before 2 pm, finding parking is not easy.

Just finished my first semester of o chem! A few tips:

• It's definitely not as bad as you hear, especially if you like chemistry.
  
  
• The only real prep I would suggest is make sure you have concepts from gen chem down pretty well, it will make your life a breeze in o chem.
  
  • IMFs, orbital hybridization, acid-base equilibrium (Le Chat's principle, etc.), and bond polarity are some of the main things you'll be applying/considering
    
    In terms of the actual class...
    
    
• I used this book for a supplement. It's extremely good at simplifying and helping you practice things like stereochemistry and seeing the trends happening in the reactions.
  
  
• Form a small, effective study group if you can! I'm very particular about my study groups, and in this class it's imperative your time is spent wisely--so pick other students who want to do well and won't get distracted.
  
  Good luck!

I am currently completing my two semesters of organic after completing gen chem seven years ago. I spent the summer reviewing the gen material and I felt pretty well prepared for organic. Like some of the other users have said, a good class will pull you up to snuff on what you need to know. Besides, organic has a lot more to do with the illustrative way that say, a hydrogen atom binds with an oxygen, and its effects, than with numbers. It often feels like it's more of an art class with puzzle-solving than a science class.

I would highly recommend getting a copy of Organic Chemistry as a Second Language. Amazing reference and clarifying tool. It will carry you through about 2/3rds of the 1st semester material, as well as give you a good foundation for everything. Not having that foundation is where most people flounder at the end of 1st and all the way through 2nd semester organic. Hope this helps!

Well I posted this in another thread, but here you go.

Greenwood and Earnshaw Chemistry of the elements - This is pretty much prefect for main group chemistry.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chemistry-Elements-N-N-Greenwood/dp/0750633654/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345966730&sr=8-1

Atkins Physical - This is okay and pretty useful as it is full of questions. There's a smaller version called 'Elements of Physical Chemistry'
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Atkins-Physical-Chemistry-Peter/dp/0199543372/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345966803&sr=1-1

Clayden Organic Chemistry - A very good guide to organic chemistry, however the lack of questions in the new edition is a bit annoying.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Organic-Chemistry-Jonathan-Clayden/dp/0199270295/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345967204&sr=1-2

Hartwig Organotransitional Metal Chemistry - Very good but goes a little beyond most chemistry degrees if not focussing on organometallic chemistry.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Organotransition-Metal-Chemistry-Bonding-Catalysis/dp/189138953X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345967182&sr=1-1

For cheap and detailed books on a very specific subject the Oxford Chemistry Primers are extremely useful.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=oxford+chemistry+primers&x=0&y=0

It's not a light read. it covers the core fundamentals of electrochemistry including mass transport, diffusion, and migration of charge at electrode interfaces, as well as, practical application of electrochemical techniques which include but aren't limited to polarography, cyclic volametry and other sweep/step techniques. The book focuses on the mathematical derivations of many important benchmark equations like cotrell and rendall-sevich which are used extensively. the proofs can be a bit challenging to follow without a decent background in calculus (diff. eq. helps too) but even if the derivations are lost, the important equations still hold true.

if you're looking for an introductory text for redox couples using electrochemistry you might be better off consulting a sophomoric text like Brown; Chemistry: The Central Science - Chapter 20 or Atkins' - Physical Chemistry - Chapter 7 & 25

don't hold me to those chapters... they could have changed from edition to edition.

Classes to consider should include:

• Math: up through partial differential equations. Many undergraduate programs in chemistry are happy to let you stop after taking multivariate calculus. But to get into the meat of quantum, PDEs is suggested.
  
  
• Chemistry: As /u/Kalivha said, computational chemistry, spectroscopy, solid state, and statistical mechanics. I'd go a step further and add inorganic chemistry to the list. You'll get a good smattering of MO theory, crystal lattice theory, and the like.
  
  
• Physics: a more intense variety of quantum mechanics would be offered in the physics department, so do check into this if you are semi-serious.
  
  
• Good texts: McQuarrie is a gold standard. My personal favorite is Atkins and de Paula's Physical Chemistry. They go into - in some places, at least - absurd detail, which tends to help people. For inorganic, look into Miessler and Tarr's Inorganic Chemistry.
  
  Happy hunting!

Cotton's "Chemical Applications to Group Theory" is pretty much the basis for all undergraduate classes that teach group theory. It's expensive though, and probably not the first book you'll want to read on the subject.

I would recommend Bertolucci's "Symmetry and Spectroscopy". It has a lot of great info, and is only $15.

Some good online sources (not all notes are about group theory, so pick and choose what will help you):

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/chemistry/5-04-principles-of-inorganic-chemistry-ii-fall-2008/lecture-notes/
http://chemistry.caltech.edu/courses/ch112/syllabus.html
Under "Symmetry in Chemistry"

You should also have a working knowledge of matrix algebra. If you want to look into the subject deeper, a good understanding of linear algebra will help.

Well, it is a combination of organic chemistry (questions IV,V and VI) and inorganic chemistry (II). Question I is a basic chemistry question.

Question III is maybe inorganic, but could be thermodynamic as well. It depends on where you get the question. I have gotten similar questions in courses about thermodynamics and inorganic chemistry.

I'm not sure what basic books could be useful for you. For my bachelor I use the books organic chemistry and Physical chemistry. These books are quite advanced, I don't know if it helps you in anyway. But this is at least a start.

Sorry, couldn't find a book for inorganic chemistry. (don't know the writer and I can't get to my books unfortunately)

Good luck with learning chemistry!

Some excellent starting books for the above subjects is as follows:

Pre-Calculus by Cynthia Y. Young:

https://www.amazon.com/Precalculus-Cynthia-Y-Young/dp/0471756849

Provides an excellent summary of elementary Algebra up to starting concepts of calculus, such as the difference quotient, etc.

Campbell Biology (10th edition):

https://www.amazon.com/Campbell-Biology-10th-Jane-Reece/dp/0321775651/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1483427728&sr=1-4&keywords=Biology

Covers pretty much every form of Biology you'll cover throughout your middle school/high school days, up to freshman year of university.

Chemistry 9th Edition: by Steven S. Zumdahl (Author), Susan A. Zumdahl (Author):

https://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Steven-S-Zumdahl/dp/1133611095/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1483427816&sr=1-12&keywords=Chemistry

A bit more complex, however once you've gained a grasp of Biology/Algebra, this is a fine novel illustrating all the workings of chemistry you'll cover throughout high-school-freshman year university.

That's all I can really recommend as of now. I'm inclined to believe you're 1-2 grades ahead of your peers, and it shouldn't be too long until you finish up basic arithmetic, and starting learning higher maths. If you intend to develop a higher understanding of these fields, seriously try these books out.

Despite their expense, if you can find a way to rent, study, and complete them, you're basically set til' college.

Also know that these books are the most recent editions of their respective categories: These books are used in a multitude of schools/universities, not just random textbooks delving into irrelevant subjects: Nearly everything encapsulated within them is pertinent.

For a fun read, I love The Disappearing Spoon.

For a while, I've been meaning to read Salt which is another fun read.

I also just love the Periodic Table of Videos YouTube channel for other fun stuff.

Textbook-wise, you can't beat Stumm and Morgan or Metcalf and Eddy for your water chemistry/water treatment needs.

So if you find this even mildly interesting, you must read “The Disappearing Spoon”. It’s basically the stories behind the elements and their discovery. Before you yawn and move along, it reads like a badass Indiana Jones novel and is a page turner. The name is from Gallium which was used in a tea party and shaped like spoons. When the patrons stirred their tea the spoon disappeared and everyone was delighted (health concerns?). Anyways, you’ll never look at elements the same way:

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements https://www.amazon.com/dp/0316051632/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_XCUVDbVXGT9JM

I found that Clayden was an excellent resource to learn organic chemistry and get an intuition/deeper understanding of why reactions proceed in the directions that they do. I did not find the typical textbooks that are used in classes, such as Organic Chemistry by Bruice to be nearly as useful, as the emphasis was on covering a wide range of reactions and not focusing on what they have in common.

I would not recommend one of the classic higher-level bibles, such as March's Advanced Organic Chemistry to you at this stage.

If you plan on continuing to study organic chemistry after this first course, I would recommend that you take a good course (or multiple courses) in physical organic chemistry. You will develop a much better understanding of reaction mechanisms and chemical kinetics if you do. Good texts for this field are Carey and Sundberg's Advanced Organic Chemistry Parts A and B, and Anslyn and Dougherty's Modern Physical Organic Chemistry.

My favorite science-related leisure reading is Derek Lowe's blog In The Pipeline. He covers new developments in chemistry/biology, the drug discovery industry, and occasionally some other stuff. He writes it in a way would be interesting to anyone that like chemistry and biology regardless of their level of education. I always look forward to reading it over lunch.

​

If you are looking for a book, The Disappearing Spoon is a great set of true short stories about chemistry that is a really fun read.

For organic chemistry, this was my textbook:
http://www.amazon.com/Organic-Chemistry-Jonathan-Clayden/dp/0198503466/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372758866&sr=1-2&keywords=clayden+organic+chemistry
(There's a newer edition available now, but you can get this one used for about $11)

It's a pretty awesome book. Explains degree level organic chemistry very clearly. Iirc, it covers the basic chemistry concepts you'd need to understand as well, such as orbital structures etc.

> Books with awesome pictures on the front and terrible stories.

In fairness to Scholastic, we picked this up at the last book fair:

http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Visual-Exploration-Every-Universe/dp/1579128955/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417794573&sr=8-1&keywords=the+elements

and it is AMAZING. Gorgeous pictures and lots of scientific data and interesting facts, written in a conversational tone. We ended up buying the author's followup book, Molecules, which is frankly a good supplement to a lot of college chemistry textbooks.

Howdy. as a the others of said, OCHEM is not too incredibly difficult it is just a new kind of science that you haven't seen before. when i was at TAMU i took both OCHEM 1 and 2, and worked in a biological chemistry lab (for one of the actual OCHEM professors). i worked really close with my grad student (who was an OCHEM TA), and he always recommended the "OCHEM as a second language book" by David Cline. i read through it after i had taken OCHEM and was kicking myself because the book was soo good at teaching you the fundamentals of OCHEM. it is a really good book if you want to use it as a support resource. i found the newest edition on amazon if you are interested. ( https://smile.amazon.com/Organic-Chemistry-As-Second-Language/dp/1119110661/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=organic+chemistry+as+a+second+language&qid=1563237601&s=gateway&sr=8-1 ) Getting an A is definitely manageable if you put forth the effort.

By "expensive calculation", I meant DFT. A semiempirical method such as PM6, PM3, AM1, ZINDO, etc. is much, much quicker to run and can often get you a good starting geometry for a DFT calculation. You'll need to use your eyeballs for this part though.

You usually want the best basis set you can afford. In this case, you want it to include d and f angular momentum functions to properly describe the wavefunction at the cobalt. A small basis set like 3-21G will not work. However, 6-311+G(d,p) is too costly and may fail; even though it has higher angular momentum functions, the '+' means a set of diffuse functions has been added. This will result in orbitals that are quite large but "fuzzy", potentially causing false overlap of orbitals between atoms. It's important for many anions, but unnecessary here. Something intermediate like 6-31G(d) might be acceptable for a geometry.

If you want to learn more, I highly recommend this book, this book, and maybe most of all this book, depending on how much modeling you're required to do.

> generally reading and working through a book will provide you with greater depth of knowledge and experience than any lecture or lecture + practice problems course could give you

I completely agree, I've learned a lot by working through problems in "Linear Algebra and Its Applications". I'm on page 17 so far, it made me realise how long it'll take to digest the book.

I know from my Experience as a Chemist, if someone with minimal chemical experience read through all of Clayden's textbook on Organic Chemistry then they would probably know much better Organic Chem than I do. (I can't remember if it has problems, that's how much I feel like I wasted my time at University.) Though, this person would be missing on lab experience and having a video view into Inorganic and Physical chemistry would be useful. They would probably need to set their goal first.

(Edit: After checking, it seems Clayden does have practice questions. I can't believe I didn't take advantage of this.)

At least I know that I want to do data science, though I understand the job specifications can vary a lot based on what companies need. That's partly what's causing me some confusion.

My big question is, how badly will I be judged for doing this outside of University and not having a piece of paper saying that I've done the work?

I'm more than happy to work out of a textbook. I'm happy to study for years if I have to. I'll do what It takes, and I've already spent the last couple of months learning using MOOCs. I just want to know if that'll work. (Well, I guess it always has been a calculated risk from the start.)

I'm aware that I can do some networking, when I am done doing all this studying I can join some Meetups, I already have a blog that I write in (perhaps not often enough, but still) and I'm quite active on LinkedIn and the community you can find on there. I know that if I do a couple of Kaggle competitions, that will also help prove the case that I know what I am doing.

What do you think?

Edit: I looked at the link you gave me and it seems to hit the nail on the head in terms of what's useful. But it will take me a long time to work through this, which is fine by me, I just don't know how someone in HR will view it. (Although that's why I mentioned networking above.)

For orgo, there's just a ton of reagents and solvents you have to memorize, along with some other things. Know nucleophiles well, because that becomes the majority of what Orgo II is about. Resonance is always good to know.

Biology is really just about understanding the ins and outs of life cycles, reproduction cycles, etc. Know all the little details and what happens at every step. This will be helpful when you learn Kreb's Cycle, plant life cycles, etc. A lot is also just memorization. Finding diagrams to label is also helpful.


For orgo, I HIGHLY recommend a book called Organic Chemistry As a Second Language, I used it for my first semester of Ochem, and it helped a ton.

Khan Academy is really helpful for Chem, Ochem, Bio, and probably physics.

just some of my standard answers.


The Disappearing Spoon- yes, it's chemistry but I found it very interesting.


Abraham Lincoln's DNA- if you have a good background in genetics you might already know many of these stories. Read the table of contents first.


New Guinea Tapeworms and Jewish Grandmothers- disease based biology. There is a follow up book if it turns out you like it.


Stiff- more than you wanted to know about dead bodies.


And by the same author but space based... Packing for Mars.

I hope these help... Cheers.

Hey, girl in chemistry here. First I wanted to comment on the beaker glasses idea. If you do get something like that, go with a beaker mug and try to pick something with thicker glass. Regular beakers heat up easily and if she pours hot beverage, it will get too hot to hold in a few minutes even if there is a handle (this was tested out in a field by many chemists). Does she like to read? If so, get her The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean (http://www.amazon.com/Disappearing-Spoon-Madness-Periodic-Elements/dp/0316051632/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417607692&sr=8-1&keywords=disappearing+spoon). It's a book full of true, fun and sometimes weird stories about many elements. Any chemist would appreciate that. Also, anything periodic table will be appreciated, in addition to shower curtain idea there are fridge magnets. T-shirts are tough since most of them are really cheesy. Recently I came across this one which is not bad http://www.amazon.com/Never-Everything-Science-Unisex-T-shirt/dp/B00HWEHM6M/ref=pd_sim_a_32?ie=UTF8&refRID=09FK7M4D48KR5RD8K80H. Anything with moles and avogadro will do, example http://www.amazon.com/CafePress-Mole-Problems-Mug-Multi-color/dp/B00INLA6RU/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1417609281&sr=8-8&keywords=avogadro+number. Can't really think of anything else right now, but if you want to run a specific idea by me, feel free to do it.

Jack,

Firstly, take a deep breath!

Secondly, regarding your statement in your post, yes I got an A in OChem 2 - it seemed impossible as I was as stressed as you are! What really helped me was doing practice problems out of Organic Chemistry as a Second Language (because it really is)! In addition to this, I combed google for any practice exams or quizzes related to the topics covered on the exam (i.e., googled Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution Exam with Solutions) and went over those. For topics that I had a really hard time with, I researched for a conceptual understanding in addition to the mechanism (like why do the NMR spectropscopy present as they do, instead of memorizing where the peaks would come up) and made it a point to know that well in addition to the exam studying.

From reading your post, it sounds like your first professor was a conceptual teacher that then focused on the specific mechanisms (understanding the why and how to the mechanism). Your second professor seems like a mechanism writer, which I am sorry for as it does no justice to the beauty that is chemistry.

I hope this has helped!

Similarly, McQuarrie Physical Chemistry may be helpful.

At my school, pchem was divided into a first semester which covered the quantum chemistry of individual atoms/molecules, and a second semester which used some of these quantum ideas (but mostly statistics and thermo) to talk about the statistical mechanics of collections of particles. I believe that McQuarrie's Physical Chemistry covers both, but note that the "mathematical review" sections are just brief interludes. For a more thorough treatment of math methods for physical scientists, consider the Mary Boas book. This book mostly focuses on physics applications, but from my experience in pchem, I would argue that it's just a very "applied" or "specific" version of quantum (or thermal, E&M, etc.) physics.

Also, for quantum chem, it is of utmost importance to be familiar with matrices, vectors, and ideally some of the more fancy portions of a first course in linear algebra, like bases and diagonalization. Although the relative importance of calculus/DE vs. linear algebra might depend on whether your course follows a "Schrodinger" vs. "Heisenberg" (not the Walter White one) approach, respectively.

In 900 years of time and space, I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t important

Here is a thing... about elements!. Elements hang out in space! xD

I once went stargazing with my now-fiance. There was a meteor shower and it was soooooo beautiful! I'd never seen that. I had a great time - and it paid off for both of us! I'm so glad i went :)

Covertly scope out their coffee table to make sure they don't have a copy of Theodore Gray's The Elements. If they don't, get him a copy, it's an entertaining yet beautiful and informative book.

If you want to be safer, get a copy of Gray's Molecules or Reactions because it's much less likely they'll have a copy and I presume they're nearly as good.

From which background are you asking this? Because from a chemistry point of view this seems like a silly question because the knowledge growths and changes each day.
From the perspective of an interested citizen with the goal of an broad education a single good general chemistry book like Zumdahl/Chemistry contains enough knowledge about chemistry for a lifetime.

If you want to build a doomsday proof bible of chemical knowledge or want to bolster your library as a scientist from another scientific branch like biology or physics you could alsocome quite close to capturing the most important knowledge. For this approach I would take the existing "bibles" for subtopics of chemistry like organic chemistry like Bruise/Organic Chemistry. I would at least take specific books from organic, inorganic, physical, analytical chemistry aswell as biochemistry. Most of these bibles have 1000+ pages so this "book" with 6000+ pages could maybe contain something like 50% of the knowledge about chemistry by todays standards.

Your best and safest bet is always buying a textbook and it's solution manual and just go through the book and do the problems
I recommend chemistry by zumdahl, it's a bit expensive but you can always rent and and pay a lot less
Book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1133611095/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1407886305&sr=8-3&pi=SY200_QL40
Solutions: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1133611990/ref=pd_aw_sims_1?pi=SL500_SY115&simLd=1

You might be able to find cheaper solutions manual, you just have to look around

Also this book I recommended is slightly higher than a level you asked for but you will definitely master high school level chem plus a lot more interesting stuff through this book

I just want to second "General Chemistry" by Linus Pauling that /u/kslusherplantman suggested. It's a very readable classic that will do a lot for your understanding. Also, it's like 15 euros: http://www.amazon.de/General-Chemistry-Dover-Books/dp/0486656225/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404581980&sr=8-1&keywords=general+chemistry+pauling


Personally I'm kinda ambivalent on the programming issue. It's useful to differing degrees depending on what you do. That said, unless you get into hardcore synthesis, it's probably going to come up at least a few times in a career. On the other hand, unless you get into computational chemistry, it's not going to come up all that much. If you really want to learn one to get ready, learn python. Most stuff you do will be data processing related outside of more serious computational work, and python should be more than up to any of those tasks. It's also generally marketable if you decide to study something else and easy enough to learn that you won't waste too much time if you don't end up ever using it.

Other than that? Just relax. Graduating from German secondary school (Gymnasium?) you're probably fine mathematically. The rest of it will come as you take your classes. It's great that you're enthusiastic, but right now you probably want to focus on the non-academic changes in your life so that you don't get overwhelmed on that front when school starts.

Honestly, if you are willing to spend a bit of money, David Klein's Organic Chemistry as a Second Language is concise, fun to read, and gives a deep understanding of orgo. I highly recommend it, and it was a huge help to me when I took it. You may want to start with the first and buy the second if the first appeals to you.

Semester 1

Semester 2

If you are looking for a project for you and a programming friend to work on, the I suggest to you "Modern Quantum Chemistry" by Szabo and Ostlund. It isn't really modern any more, but it teaches you the fundamentals of setting up a Hartree-Fock calculation, which is a good "character building" exercise for a computational chemist. There is even a sample program in the back of the book (it is in Fortran). I'd recommend you and your friend port it over to C (or some other language that is familiar to one of you), as a project. The book can be had for ~$15 http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Quantum-Chemistry-Introduction-Electronic/dp/0486691861

Absolutely not! I have tutored people for O-chem for several years. Taking the course during the regular semester is enough of a challenge. To be successful in O-chem, you need to use a lot of higher level thinking. It's just not enough time to absorb the information. You need to understand it so that you can then apply it. Don't torture yourself, unless there is some reason that you absolutely have to take it over the summer.

I think it would be a much wiser idea to solidify your general chemistry knowledge in certain pertinent areas (even if you received As in gen chem). Read Get Ready for Organic Chemistry. Not having a solid grasp on these concepts before starting is what causes many to crash and burn. Having a solid grasp on these concepts sets you up for success. Once you fully understand the topics in that book, start reading Organic Chemistry As a Second Language to get a head start.

Thanks a lot for the reply!

Well, that's my biggest concern so far. I understand that I need practice, but finding a lab will be challenging(no community colleges, not in the US).
But, there is some spare money, and maybe I could set up some lab practice at home with decent preparations? Found a lot of chem kits, but seems like all of them are for children(and inorganic chem).

Also I got myself this book - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Organic-Chemistry-Jonathan-Clayden/dp/0198503466 , would you recommend it?

EDIT: About lab practice, maybe there is some virtual lab programs? I fully realise it's not the same as real lab, but maybe it will help at first. Practicing while learning programming was so easier, heh.

This is the book that was used in my physical chemistry class. I enjoyed it quite a bit as it is written very well and the practice problems help quite a bit. The book is extremely thorough when going through all of the derivations of equations and give pretty good logical explanations while going through the problems as long as you understand how the algebra and calculus works. The biggest con with it however is that the figures which go along with some of the book can be quite difficult to understand the first time you are looking at them. The book can also be quite dry at times. Because of this, I had also picked up the Atkins book because I found it used for cheap on amazon. The Atkins book is a bit less dry and the figures are way more pleasant to look at, however it seems to be a little less in depth than the McQuarrie book.

No matter which book you choose to go with just be aware that the class can be extremely difficult for people and the most important thing is to make sure you are putting a lot of time into the class. It might be worthwhile to find a decent calculus review and to go through it before taking the class if you feel at all lacking in that department. If you do this you will succeed and possibly even really enjoy the class. I was incredibly nervous going in to the class but it turned out to be one of my favorite classes I took my entire undergrad.

Wes is in love with this book. it is amazing. and while he mostly just looks at the pictures and reads the larger text on the pages, he'll pick an element that he has heard of and we'll read the whole page and talk about it. mostly metals because he loves minecraft.

Although not chemistry per se right hand, left hand (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Right-Hand-Left-Chris-McManus/dp/0753813556) was recommended to us by our organic chemistry lecturer (Clayden, the guy who wrote co-authored http://www.amazon.co.uk/Organic-Chemistry-Jonathan-Clayden/dp/0198503466/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370533504&sr=1-1&keywords=clayden+organic+chemistry)

Edit: Also there is a chemistry section within Bill Brysons short history of nearly everything, and tbh if you have any general interest in science then you should read this book anyway as it covers loads of topics throughout the history of science really well and its very accessable

My p-chem professor recommended a book called Applied Mathematics to help with the math in the course. I haven't needed to use it just yet but I skimmed through it and it looks like a huge help. Maybe try that?

Edit: spelling

A great book that mentions this and many other interesting facts regarding discoveries is The disappearing Spoon.

It covers the discovery of each of the elements in the periodic table. It is truly a fascinating collection of stories.

See a gallium spoon melt. It would seem to disappear in black coffee.

https://www.amazon.com/Organic-Chemistry-As-Second-Language/dp/1119110661

This is like a little workbook that explains the material and has review questions throughout! I worked through this before my semester of ochem started and I felt like the semester was a breeeeeze. Highly recommend, and my professor asked what I was using to study and she said she loved this book too!

As you get through certain concepts in lecture, do the corresponding problems in the ACS guide. They give pretty good explanations.

My PChem prof used Engel and Reid and it's pretty readable that you should be OK. If you really want another text to draw from I'd look into McQuarrie's text aka "The Big Red Brick".

All of the books I can see from top to bottom on Amazon:

1. http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Chemical-Reaction-Engineering-Edition/dp/0130473944 -- used price: $90.98.
   
2. http://www.amazon.com/Molecular-Thermodynamics-Donald-McQuarrie/dp/189138905X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407531821&sr=1-1&keywords=molecular+thermodynamics -- used price: $70.00 (paperback is $29.99)
   
3. http://www.amazon.com/Physical-Chemistry-Molecular-Donald-McQuarrie/dp/0935702997/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407531925&sr=1-1&keywords=physical+chemistry+a+molecular+approach -- used price: $72.44 (paperback is $42.65)
   
4. http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Physics-Molecules-Solids-Particles/dp/047187373X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407532022&sr=1-1&keywords=quantum+physics+of+atoms+molecules+solids+nuclei+and+particles -- used price: $52.66
   
5. http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Chemical-Engineering-Thermodynamics-Mcgraw-Hill/dp/0073104450/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407532094&sr=1-1&keywords=introduction+to+chemical+engineering+thermodynamics -- used price: $129.96 (paperback is $84.38)
   
6. http://www.amazon.com/Organic-Chemistry-8th-Eighth-BYMcMurry/dp/B004TSKJVE/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407532227&sr=1-5&keywords=organic+chemistry+mcmurry+8th+edition -- used price: $169.33 (paperback is $79.86)
   
7. http://www.amazon.com/Elementary-Differential-Equations-William-Boyce/dp/047003940X/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1407532549&sr=8-7&keywords=Elementary+Differential+Equations+and+Boundary+Value+Problems%2C+9th+Edition+solutions -- used price: $8.00
   
8. http://www.amazon.com/Numerical-Methods-Engineers-Sixth-Edition/dp/0073401064/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407532859&sr=8-1&keywords=numerical+methods+for+engineers+6th+edition -- used price: $47.99 (paperback is $22.48)
   
9. http://www.amazon.com/Applied-Partial-Differential-Equations-Mathematics/dp/0486419762/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407532927&sr=1-5&keywords=applied+partial+differential+equations -- used price: $8.32 (paperback is $1.96)
   
10. http://www.amazon.com/Transport-Phenomena-2nd-Byron-Bird/dp/0471410772/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407533036&sr=1-1&keywords=transport+phenomena+bird+stewart+lightfoot+2nd+edition -- used price: $28.00
    
11. http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Engineering-Data-Collection-Analysis/dp/053436957X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407533106&sr=1-2&keywords=data+collection+and+analysis -- used price: $80.00
    
12. http://www.amazon.com/Calculus-9th-Dale-Varberg/dp/0131429248/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407533219&sr=1-1&keywords=calculus+varberg+purcell+rigdon+9th+edition+pearson -- used price: $11.97 (paperback is $2.94)
    
13. http://www.amazon.com/Elementary-Principles-Chemical-Processes-Integrated/dp/0471720631/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407533286&sr=1-1&keywords=elementary+principles+of+chemical+processes -- used price: $161.72
    
14. http://www.amazon.com/Inorganic-Chemistry-4th-Gary-Miessler/dp/0136128661/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407533412&sr=1-1&keywords=inorganic+chemistry+messler -- used price: $75.00
    
15. http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Heat-Transfer-Theodore-Bergman/dp/0470501979/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407533484&sr=1-1&keywords=fundamental+of+heat+and+mass+transfer -- used price: $154.99 (loose leaf is $118.23)
    
16. http://www.amazon.com/Biochemistry-Course-John-L-Tymoczko/dp/1429283602/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407533588&sr=1-1&keywords=biochemistry+a+short+course -- used price: $139.00 (loose leaf is $115)
    
17. http://www.amazon.com/Separation-Process-Principles-Biochemical-Operations/dp/0470481838 -- used price: $93.50 (international edition is $49.80)
    
18. http://www.amazon.com/University-Physics-Modern-13th/dp/0321696867/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407545099&sr=1-1&keywords=university+physics+young+and+freedman -- used price: $83.00
    
    Books & Speakers | Price (New)
    ---|---
    Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering (4th Edition) | $122.84
    Molecular Thermodynamics | $80.17
    Physical Chemistry: A Molecular Approach | $89.59
    Quantum Physics of Atoms, Molecules, Solids, Nuclei, and Particles | $128.32
    Introduction to Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics (The Mcgraw-Hill Chemical Engineering Series) | $226.58
    Organic Chemistry 8th Edition | $186.00
    Elementary Differential Equations | $217.67
    Numerical Methods for Engineers, Sixth Edition | $200.67
    Applied Partial Differential Equations | $20.46
    Transport Phenomena, 2nd Edition | $85.00
    Basic Engineering Data Collection and Analysis | $239.49
    Calculus (9th Edition) | $146.36
    Elementary Principles of Chemical Processes, 3rd Edition | $206.11
    Inorganic Chemistry (4th Edition) | $100.00
    Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer | $197.11
    Biochemistry: A Short Course, 2nd Edition | $161.45
    Separation Process Principles: Chemical and Biochemical Operations | $156.71
    University Physics with Modern Physics (13th Edition) | $217.58
    Speakers | $50.00
    
    Most you can get is $1476.86 (selling all of the books (used and hard cover) in person), and if you sell it on Amazon, they take around 15% in fees, so you'll still get $1255.33. But wait...if you sell it to your university's book store, best they can do is $.01.
    
    Total cost: $2832.11 (including speakers)
    
    Net loss: -$1355.25 (books only). If sold on Amazon, net loss: -$1576.78 (books only). Speakers look nice; I wouldn't sell them.
    
    Edit: Added the two books and the table. /u/The_King_of_Pants gave the price of speakers. ¡Muchas gracias para el oro! Reminder: Never buy your books at the bookstore.
    
    Edit 2: Here are most of the books on Library Genesis
    Thanks to /u/WhereToGoTomorrow

http://www.amazon.com/Symmetry-Spectroscopy-Introduction-Vibrational-Electronic/dp/048666144X

This book does a great job explaining the methods for predicting active vibrations in IR and also has great stuff on electronic absorption spectroscopy.

Nobel laureate in one field?? Did you miss the bit about the other Nobel prize?

Francis Crick called him the father of molecular biology: http://articles.latimes.com/1986-03-01/local/me-13101_1_crick

.

Textbooks written:

General Chemistry

The Nature of the Chemical Bond and the Structure of Molecules and Crystals: An Introduction to Modern Structural Chemistry

Introduction to Quantum Mechanics with Applications to Chemistry

.

Vitamin C vindication:

The trouble with most vitamin C studies is usually too small a dose. Also the oral vs intravenous thing. You know animals produce grams and grams per day, humans have a genetic deficit. This is my favourite article to explain: http://www.hearttechnology.com/1992-v07n01-p005.pdf

http://scienceblogs.com/gofindyourowndamnlinks/2009/02/18/vitamin-c-and-cancer-has-linus-pauling-b/

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/linus-pauling-vindicated-researchers-claim-rda-for-vitamin-c-is-flawed-71172707.html

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2008/aug/05/cancer.medicalresearch

http://www.lifeextension.com/magazine/2008/4/newly-discovered-benefits-of-vitamin-c/Page-01

.

Heart disease is scurvy:

http://nutritionreview.org/2013/04/collagen-connection/

http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/pdf-files/heart_book.pdf

.

Also, here's an interesting read on nukes (remember that peace prize?) and free radicals (that other one was in chemistry): http://www.lifeextension.com/magazine/2011/6/optimize-your-internal-defenses-against-radiation-exposure/Page-02

.

I hope this helps! My personal random-guy-on-the-internet recommendation is several hundred milligrams a few times a day, preferably away from food, increasing dosage during illness.

I'm not sure how much background knowledge you have, but Chemical Principles: The Quest for Insight by Atkins as well as Chemistry by Zumdahl are good general chemistry books (AP level and beyond). Zumdahl is probably better if your knowledge is starting from scratch, although I prefer Atkins.

Also, buy the older editions - they're a lot cheaper and are basically the same.

Behold, the greatest textbook I read in college. David Klein's Organic Chemistry was the single most important factor in me getting an A+ in organic chem 1 and 2.

I took the Chem 236 equivalent at my community college where this textbook was recommended. When I took 436 at UIUC, they recommend the Loudon textbook. It's shit. Don't read it. Klein literally holds your hand and walks you through each chapter with plenty of problem sets that force you to master one topic before you move onto the next one. The organization, the prose, the explanations, the problems sets, the figures...they're all just so beautiful. The reviews on this book are phenomenal. Compare the reviews to Loudon and you'll see how much of a different there is.

Buy this textbook with the accompanying solutions book (absolutely necessary no questions asked), and read through every page and do at least 80% of the questions. Draw out those mechanisms until your hand is bleeding. You'll be better off than most of your classmates. I guarantee it.

Reminds me of a book I received several years ago, The Elements, by Theodore Gray. Amazing pictures and some fascinating descriptions.

Surprisingly cheap on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Elements-Visual-Exploration-Universe/dp/1579128955

I like the Prentice Hall Modeling Kit and have two of them for my modeling desires. Unfortunately, the price on Amazon seems to have gone up quite a bit (used to be $35). The size of the atoms versus bonds is perfect, and the models are very sturdy. For example, I regularly use a model of cyclohexane as a back scratcher/massager.

The only downside is that the bonds are a little tight initially. I've found that troublesome bonds can be gently (gently!) chewed to become perfectly fit for the atoms.

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean

Kean borrows from Mendeleev, the Father of the Period Table, and structures his book based on the table itself. Using it as a map, each chapter is centered on a group of common elements - "The Poisoner's Corridor", "The Galapagos of the Periodic Table" - and peeks at some aspect of their backstory. Where one chapter examines the competition between scientists to find a specific element, another exposes the history of those used as medicine, giving the book a great sense of variety. I wrote a little bit more about the book on my blog.

Purchase: The Disappearing Spoon on Amazon

This book by Theodore Gray is super good. It is one of the books that sparked my interest in chemistry to begin with.

I have never read this book, but I can tell form the title it will likely be helpful.

Organic chemistry is easy-mode, once you understand that memorising and regurgitating every single reaction and transformation is impossible, and start to actually learn how molecules behave.

Once you understand the rules organic chemistry works by, it is a wonderful subject to study.

I also suggest Organic Synthesis, The Disconnection Approach.

If you're learning about this stuff for the first time now, then you should probably get this book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Organic-Chemistry-Second-Language-Semester/dp/1118144341/ref=dp_ob_title_bk.

You should definitely buy it, as that's, you know, the morally correct thing to do, but there are other ways to obtain it online...

The basic concepts and rationale behind the mechanisms are explained really clearly, and there are problems throughout and at the end of each chapter to help consolidate your understanding of it all. Would highly recommend it.

The keys to chemistry are mostly understanding chemistry. Get him an organic chemistry book; most of it will be over his head right now, but as he grows intellectually he'll be able to conquer more and more. It can't really hurt to have around anyway. My favorite is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0198503466/organischeche-20

I will recommend The Disappearing Spoon if you have a serious interest. It was a fantastic read and gives a brief account of the history or relevance of each (most?) element and the race to discover and name them.

There’s a really good one published by Wiley called Essentials of Computational Chemistry. I work in a comp chem lab and this book is still extremely relevant and serves as a great reference imo. If you really really want to get into the theory of MD check out this set of lecture notes. http://fy.chalmers.se/~tfsgw/CompPhys/lectures/MD_LectureNotes_181111.pdf https://www.amazon.com/Essentials-Computational-Chemistry-Theories-Models/dp/0470091827

Whatever software you are using will have documentation on how to run calculations and interpret the output. That will be the most practical source for what you are doing. For more info on the DFT method, any computation chemistry book will do. Cramer and Jensen are popular, but I've heard this monograph is great too.

We used McQuarrie and Simon and I loved it. Not sure if the fact that I was a ChemE major makes a difference in my preferred textbook, but I thought it was great.

It also has a solution guide that I found to be helpful many times for learning how to approach problems.

• The 2009–2014 World Outlook for 60-Milligram Containers of Fromage Frais, which sells for a mere $755 on Amazon. It's (obviously) a computer-generated book whose title doesn't even mean anything (I have a theory of how the "60 milligrams" came into being, though). This is probably a good example of a book which is sold by Amazon and which I'm pretty sure nobody has ever read, not even the "author" (or he would have caught the meaningless title).
  
  Also, Reddit apparently decided that linking to the Amazon page for this book is taboo (a comment containing such a link will be subtly invisible to other users). Which makes it strange for another reason!
  
  At least Chemical Shifts and Coupling Constants for Silicon-29, a bargain at $7295, has probably been read, and even written, by a human being.
  

https://www.amazon.com/Disappearing-Spoon-Madness-Periodic-Elements/dp/0316051632 has every thing you listed in a single book. It is a fantastic read that covers the usage of elements and stories of their discoveries and the scientists behind them. I love it and going to finish it while overseeing exams in the coming weeks.

This is a great book on why this happens

http://www.amazon.com/The-Disappearing-Spoon-Periodic-Elements/dp/0316051632

and about a million other remarkable trivia

I highly recommend this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Symmetry-Spectroscopy-Introduction-Vibrational-Electronic/dp/048666144X

My inorganic professor recommended it when I took the course and it was a great investment.

A good supplement to the text and practice problems is "Organic Chemistry as a Second Language"

Puts everything in relatively easy terms, has a lot of good practice problems, and tends to follow the coursework pretty well.

Organic Chemistry As a Second Language: First Semester Topics https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119110661/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_5-XMybHHZP51R

A good upper-level undergraduate textbook with plenty of practice problems is Symmetry and Spectroscopy: An Introduction to Vibrational and Electronic Spectroscopy by Daniel C. Harris and Michael D. Bertolucci. This book is pretty thorough in its explanations, so if you work through it start to finish, it may help you better grasp some areas that are currently not clear.

One of my favourite textbooks: http://www.amazon.com/Chemical-Coupling-Constants-Silicon-29-Landolt-B%C3%B6rnstein/dp/354045277X and this was my only source for a presentation, because no one else seems to be interested in Si-NMR... thank god the theoretical part was available online for free.

If you're into chemistry, or even slightly interested in the subject, I'd highly recommend picking up a copy of The Disappearing Spoon.

It's like a year's worth of chemistry TIL's in a book, with full explanations and anecdotes that will put you on the floor in your own personal chemistry-laughter coma.

These two books helped me through Ochem: Organic Chemistry as a Second Language Vol. 1 and Vol 2. The guy also has a very good text book that comes with an absolutely ENORMOUS answer book that has every single problem in the textbook mapped out. I don't recommend the Wiley Plus/Orion online homework system thing, but these are great resources.

In the UK the standard textbook is Organic Chemistry by Clayden et al - it is absolutely brilliant and I highly recommend it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Organic-Chemistry-Jonathan-Clayden/dp/0199270295/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=550XCD3M66R1R0Q29C28

This is the one I use:

Prentice Hall Molecular Model Set For Organic Chemistry

Works great and they can double as ornaments on your ChemisTree at Christmas. :)

Don't be put off with the general chemistry concepts. While they can be interesting, I found chemistry extremely boring until I started learning organic chemistry. Try and mix in some of the early organic videos once you have a good feel for how atoms can come together to form molecules. There is a lot of general concepts to learn but they are important.


Also I hear that Linus Pauling's book is a good place to start if your not going the traditional way.

At my college, this was actually offered to us when our chemistry professors decided to choose a new book. The publishers were nice enough to give us this luxury and it was a great book (Klein's Organic Chemistry).

barron's review book is good, it's also the only one I have ever used so I can't actually give a fair comparison to others.

Zumdahl & Zumdahl is a very excellent textbook (not review book). I borrowed this textbook off my Chem H teacher and read it over the weekend before the test and got a 5 (didn't take the ap chem class). It can probably be used as an alternate to a review book

You should read The Disappearing Spoon. Fascinating read on the elements, how they were named, discovered, and the intrigue behind them. It's a lot more interesting than I'm making it sound...

I used Clayden/Greeves/Warren/Wothers to study for my final tests. I loved it. Looks like I'm not the only one taken by that book.

See if you can pick up a copy of the textbook before hand, and look through it, and see what you need to learn/ brush up on for the subjects. If they haven't posted a booklist yet, email the professor, they will likely be willing to tell you. If not, take a look at McQuarry, It's a pretty standard book for the course.

I enjoyed Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded by Simon Winchester.

Also, and this one isn't strictly geo, but it's awesome, The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean. Basically a history of the periodic table. And it's really funny too.

If any of you are interested in learning more about the table, I highly enjoyed this book

I've yet to have to use it, but I've hear this book Organic Chemistry As a Second Language, is amazing

I highly recommend this book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0131008455/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It really saved me when I took physical chemistry after only having taken Calc 1.

http://www.amazon.com/Disappearing-Spoon-Madness-Periodic-Elements/dp/0316051632/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319233233&sr=8-1

I read that over the summer. This was one of the stories in it. If you guys are into nonfiction and science, you might want to check that book out. Full of amazing stories about chemistry. This story was cool, but there are a lot of cool stories in that book.

Reddit's acting wonky and showing me some comments, then removing them. But I thought I would answer your question as best I could.

Basically, they had figured out spectroscopy. If you put a gas in a tube with metal plates at each end you can sent an electric current through it and the gass will glow. You get different colors based on what is glowing. My 7th grade science teacher did this and it was cool as hell. Here's a cool video that shows some gases (it uses a Tesla coil to excite the gas). If you send the light through a prism, you can separate out the colors. Depending how you do it, you either get a rainbow with some parts missing, or just the missing colors. Here's a wikipedia article with the spectral lines of a bunch of elements. Apparently a guy named Fraunhofer did this in 1802.

There was a solar eclipse in 1868 and they did a spectral analysis of the sun. They found some lines that didn't correspond to anything. Meanwhile, Mendelev didn't publish his periodic table until 1869. His table didn't include Helium. There were a decent number of elements and the periodic table went through several revisions. In addition, Helium is a noble gas so it doesn't really react with other elements. It's also pretty rare on earth (although common in the universe). So it took scientist a while to find it on Earth.

Although I don't remember it covering the discovery of Helium, I'd recommend The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean that is a fun, but informative, book on the elements.

Warren (and Wyatt? I've not really seen the updated book) is pretty good

Newer edition at e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Organic-Synthesis-Disconnection-Stuart-Warren/dp/0470712368

This is a really great book. Not sure how "undergraduate" it is. But I'm not sure just how undergraduate chemical kinetics, as subject all to its own, is either. The mathematics is not the simplest.

But this book will cover any topic. It's very thorough.

I'd also recommend McQuarrie's PChem book. It has a very clear section on kinetics. And it's my favorite PChem book, but only just nudging out Atkins.

https://www.amazon.com/Organic-Chemistry-As-Second-Language/dp/1119110661

This book was really helpful.

I had to study non-stop for Ochem. It was my last prereq. It was a good experience in the sense that studying for PA school has been very similar.

Nice. Also, try and check out Klein's book, Organic Chemistry as a Second Language I found it tremendously helpful

If there are no Orgo tutors at your university, there are plenty of resources online. I personally used ChemistNate and The Organic Chemistry Tutor for help when I was taking Orgo. Also, make use of your professor's office hours. If you cannot make them, email them to make an appointment.
Also, the way you described acids/bases as proton donators and acceptors is the Brønsted–Lowry definition of acid bases. You should start to consider the Lewis Acid Base theory, which revolves around electrons. Again, ChemistNate has a good video about this.
Lastly, if you are reading the chapter 100 times and you are still not understanding it, it may not be written well for you. Try going to your university library and checking out other organic chemistry textbooks and read the relevant chapters/section that you are studying in class. And be sure to practice with the end of chapter problems. I personally recommend Klein's Organic Chemistry As a Second Language.

https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Quantum-Chemistry-Introduction-Electronic/dp/0486691861

I'm in chemistry, this is what I recommend to everybody doing q. chem. It explains things in a pretty understandable way imo. Also it's cheap

For pleasure:

• The Disappearing Spoon
  
• Periodic Tales
  
• Stuff Matters
  
• Molecules of Murder
  
• The Elements of Murder
  
• The Elements
  
• Molecules
  
• Molecules that Changed the World
  
• The Chemistry Book
  
  Undergraduate
  
  
• Organic:
  Organic Chemistry as a Second Language, The art of writing reasonable organic reaction mechanisms
  
  
• Inorganic: Inorganic Chemistry, Molecular Symmetry and Group Theory
  
  
• Analytical: Principles of Instrumental Anlsysis, Fundamentals of Analytical Chemistry
  
  Graduate
  
  
• Organic: Advanced Practical Organic Chemistry, March's Advanced Organic Chemistry, Greene's Protective Groups in Organic Synthesis, Purification of Laboratory Chemicals, Strategic Applications of Named Reactions in Organic Synthesis
  
• Inorganic: Advanced Inorganic Chemistry

"The Disappearing Spoon!"

It's a wonderful and engrossing read about all the elements from the periodic table! What each one is and does, where they were found/discovered, what for and how they are used in the world today.

I would say many of the stories about many of the elements beginnings in society are so entertaining that they could be turned into a film!

This book is engrossing.

For computational chemistry:

You will need to have a solid understanding of Quantum Chemistry. The two commonly used books for this is the following...

Quantum Chemistry: 6th ed. by Levine

Modern Quantum Chemistry by Szabo.

Honestly don't worry too much about the newest edition of Levine. I've been using the 5th edition and not much has changed. Szabo is published by Dover so its dirt cheap.

For actual computational chemistry, Cramer does a decent job.

The "standard" method for designing a synthetic route to a new target is to apply retrosynthetic analysis - Corey's book (linked in the wikipedia article) is the original text on the subject, but I've heard good things about [Warren's book] (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Organic-Synthesis-Disconnection-Stuart-Warren/dp/0470712368) as an introduction.

This is what I have.

It's pretty expensive unfortunately, but it's incredibly nice and I don't see it breaking any time in the near future.

To understand organic synthesis you need to understand organic chem and spectroscopy methods, so here, this book is the best on the market in my opinion and starts with basic reactivity and spectro methods and ends in hetrocyclic synthetic methods, protecting groups and such things. So, here you go! Oxford Press

Do a lot of problems. Doing problems helps more than studying your notes.

Also, fuck the textbook they assign. Get this one, it's by far the best pchem book. It does an excellent job of teaching the math and the theory.

http://www.amazon.com/Physical-Chemistry-A-Molecular-Approach/dp/0935702997/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375808822&sr=8-1&keywords=physical+chemistry+a+molecular+approach

Finally, learn to derive the equations. Even if you aren't tested on derivations, it really helps you grok the material and how all the pieces relate.

How about The Disappearing Spoon and The Violinist's Thumb by Sam Kean. They are great books about chemistry and genetics.

If you're into organic, this one, right here:

https://www.amazon.com/Prentice-Molecular-Model-Organic-Chemistry/dp/0205081363

It's space-filling and very versatile, I like how it helps me see the shapes of molecules.

Here is the best book for learning the basics of reaction mechanisms: Pushing Electrons

http://www.amazon.com/Organic-Chemistry-Jonathan-Clayden/dp/0198503466

Clayden, Greeves, Warren, and Wothers Organic Chemistry

I'm a second year Grad Student and this is still one of the best I've read for reference or for learning source.

Classics in Total Synthesis: Targets, Strategies, Methods Paperback
by K. C. Nicolaou
http://www.amazon.com/Classics-Total-Synthesis-Targets-Strategies/dp/3527292314

Organic Synthesis: The Disconnection Approach Paperback – December
by Stuart Warren
http://www.amazon.com/Organic-Synthesis-The-Disconnection-Approach/dp/0470712368

And the best collection of total synthesis what is found on the internet: http://chemistrybydesign.oia.arizona.edu/app.php

David Klein also has a full textbook out this year. My prof uses it and I find it even better than organic chemistry as a second language. Obviously since it's a full textbook + answer manuel it will run you a fair bit more.

If you are looking for resources to help you learn electronic structure theory, I recommend the textbook by Szabo and Ostlund here.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119110661/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_mUrPBbBDTZMQV

Organic Chemistry as a Second language.

Learn it

Live it

Love it

If anyone is looking more elemental oddities, [The Disappearing Spoon] (https://www.amazon.com/Disappearing-Spoon-Madness-Periodic-Elements/dp/0316051632?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0) is a great read for all ages.

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements

Go buy Organic Chemistry as a Second Language Link

and use Khan academy or any other youtube videos to fill in the general chemistry blanks. Maybe review lewis structures if you're not doing that in class. To be honest there's not a ton of overlap conceptually with your general chemistry courses, so you shouldn't be terribly unprepared. Just do not get behind, if you keep up with the material it shouldn't be overwhelming, you get behind and it'll get really overwhelming really quickly.

Strongly suggest this study guide Honestly this really helped me get through my year of O Chem, especially the last quarter when I was starting to get rusty and needed a review for a comprehensive test.

For physical chemistry, I recommend [this big red brick book](
http://www.amazon.com/Physical-Chemistry-Molecular-Donald-McQuarrie/dp/0935702997) by McQuarrie and Simon. For catalysis, I like this book by Kolasinski.

Speaking as a UK 3rd year undergraduate, Warren's Organic Synthesis: The Disconnection Approach and it's accompanying workbook are exactly what you are looking for - they're simply excellent.

This is an excellent book to get you familiar with the basic concepts:

https://www.amazon.com/Organic-Chemistry-Second-Language-Semester/dp/1118144341

Can find it as a PDF on Libgen

Most of the Landolt-Bórnstein books have excellent reviews.

http://www.amazon.com/Chemical-Coupling-Constants-Silicon-29-Landolt-Barnstein/dp/354045277X/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

This book was fantastic for organic chemistry when I was in undergrad. Really well explained and detailed. Don't buy it new!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0198503466

Phys chem I used was Atkins Physical Chemistry, but I wouldn't rave about that as much.

U can get it here but it cost 65$. What i like about that kit is that you can use a sharpie on the white hydrogene to do the CIP configuration

Applied Mathematics for Physical Chemistry by James R. Barrante, has pretty much everything you're asking for.

link

Along with Engel/Reid the course I took required Applied Mathematics for Physical Chemistry which you can find used for pretty cheap. It gives you a basic rundown of mathematical concepts with examples relating to phys chem. Of course, if your school does pchem in the same sequence as mine (2 semesters intro pchem, quantum, and then spectroscopy), you'll only need multivariable calculus (cal 3) for the first 2 semesters. Differential equations is needed (and should be taken before) quantum.

This is one of my favorite books. I have a bookshelf hard cover copy, and a carry around soft cover copy. Nobody escapes looking at it when I'm out and about.

Trying buying it and supporting the author http://www.amazon.com/Pushing-Electrons-Students-Organic-Chemistry/dp/0030206936

For grad school in pharmacology, you really don't need MO theory. In med chem, only if you are doing theoretical calculations. Klein's organic text or his books mentioned u/rightbackatcha/ are good with arrow-pushing, as is Week's book on the subject. https://www.amazon.com/Pushing-Electrons-Students-Organic-Chemistry/dp/0030206936

You beat me to it. As soon as I saw the question, I thought of that book. Another good one might be The Disappearing Spoon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316051632/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If you've a mathematical bent, Szabo and Ostlund gives a good overview of modern quantum chemistry. Less than $15, and much more readable than most quantum books out there (I'm looking at you, Atkins)

Here's a cheeky affiliate link to my favourite book. I hope you all understand.

Flashcards. Reaction on the front, mechanism on the back.

*If that doesn't work, this book saved my life in undergrad.

McQuarrie is quite well-regarded. I like it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Organic-Synthesis-Disconnection-Stuart-Warren/dp/0470712368

I think this is the one I have, it's definitely by Warren anyway.

Edit:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Designing-Organic-Syntheses-Programmed-Introduction/dp/0471996122

This is the one I have, you might have to shop around to find it a bit cheaper. I think I ended up with the Indian edition or something.

Here are all 4 books for less than $170 total

• Book 1
  
• Book 2
  
• Book 3
  
• Book 4
  
  You are in college, be a smart consumer.

Have you had any physics? It's normally required for a P-Chem class. Perhaps starting with physics would help you with the regular p-chem textbooks? The P-Chem textbook I see recommended the most here is probably this one, but it isn't really biology based.

The Hartree-Fock method builds molecular orbitals for a given molecule out of atomic orbitals of a given basis set. Depending on how much calculus you know, this project may be difficult, as it is more appropriate for a 3rd year university student. If you're still interested though, these two books and ppt should help:
linus pauling
Attila Szabo
An Introduction to Quantum Chemistry

Another idea you guys could look into is researching the chemistry of semiconductors in computer chips, how semiconductors work, and possibly look into the future of quantum computing (if there is one).

Sorry to take so long to get back to you.

We used a general P-chem textbook I'm afraid, and either focused only on questions that were biological in nature, or the professor used them as jumping off points for biologically-relevant examples.

https://www.amazon.com/Physical-Chemistry-9th-Peter-Atkins/dp/1429218126

(I personally used the "international" edition which was far cheaper)

Get this:
https://www.amazon.com/Organic-Chemistry-As-Second-Language/dp/111801040X/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1494750631&sr=8-3-fkmr0&keywords=ochem+as+a+se

Ochem 1 was pretty memorization and concept heavy. Not much to do other than practice and get concepts down.

For Ochem 2, do a lot of practice problems until you see the patterns. Treat it as math rather than chemistry. Each reaction is an equation that can be applied to specific situations. Learn to see those situations and apply the equation to it. Get help when you need it, go to office hours for the hell of it, and stay on top of things. And you dont really need to memorize the reactions. If you know the reagents, just remember that nucleophile attacks electrophile, e source to e sink. Just think and look.

The class itself isnt that hard. Theres nothing special about it. Its just chemistry. Go in with a good attitude rather than thinking its the hardest subject in the world and you will do just fine.

I took a grad course on the history of chemistry and we used The Development of Modern Chemistry by Ihde.
Another comprehensive (but style-wise a little hard to read) is
Crucibles:The Story of Chemistry from Ancient Alchemy to Nuclear Fission.

I have yet to read The Disappearing Spoon, a pop-sci read on the history and stories behind discoveries of elements.

Read something interesting about this recently from The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Keane. Won't answer the question but it's food for thought:

"Every amino acid in every protein in your body has a left-handed twist to it. In fact, virtually every protein in every life form that has ever existed is exclusively left-handed. If astrobiologists ever find a microbe on a meteor or moon of Jupiter, almost the first thing they’ll test is the handedness of its proteins. If the proteins are left-handed, the microbe is possibly earthly contamination. If they’re right-handed, it’s certainly alien life.

[...] All of our carbohydrates have a right-handed twist. Regardless, Pasteur’s main point remains: in different contexts, our bodies expect and can only process molecules of a specific handedness. Our cells would not be able to translate left-handed DNA, and if we were fed left-handed sugars, our bodies would starve."

--The last bit confuses me, I always thought that DNA twisted to the left.. ?

I'm sure it's the quality of the illustrations that really make the book.

I'd recommend Zumdahl's Chemistry (http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Steven-S-Zumdahl/dp/061852844X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409839212&sr=1-2&keywords=zumdahl) as a good introductory text. It's relatively straightforward for someone approaching the subject outside of class.

I'd ask you to remember also, Chemistry is a messy subject, it just isn't as concise as mathematics by nature. If the text isn't to your taste it is probably a reflection on the haphazard nature of the subject, not the author.

That said, if you want the original gangster, old school text, Pauling's Chemistry is the die that all modern chem texts have been cast from, and it's cheap, printed by Dover in their classic style (http://www.amazon.com/General-Chemistry-Dover-Books/dp/0486656225/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409839362&sr=1-1&keywords=pauling+chemistry)

http://www.amazon.com/Prentice-Molecular-Model-Organic-Chemistry/dp/0205081363

This one has flexible bonds, you can even make tetrahedrane with it.

I taught myself general chemistry in high school using Pauling's General Chemistry text. It's a whopping $11.52 on Amazon right now.

There is an electronic version on iTunes for $20, if your students would prefer that.

I have a book called "Applied Mathematics in Physical Chemistry" by James R. Barrante. It is a comprehensive review and most of its examples are motivated by chemical problems. However, don't use it to teach yourself calculus -- use it to brush up on the calculus in context.

It also teaches matrices, vectors, etc. (Again, in context, but it should not be used for the first time you meet the topic.)

This

http://www.amazon.com/Organic-Chem-Lab-Survival-Manual/dp/0470494379/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322973072&sr=1-1

and this

http://www.amazon.com/Pushing-Electrons-Students-Organic-Chemistry/dp/0030206936/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322973131&sr=1-1

to supplement Morrison & Boyd or Brown, Foote, & Iverson.

The Disappearing Spoon is a Brysonesque look at the history of the Periodic Table.

I dont find "invisible Spoon" is maybe The Disappearing Spoon ( http://www.amazon.com/The-Disappearing-Spoon-Periodic-Elements/dp/0316051632 ) ?

Gallium disappears.

https://www.amazon.com/Disappearing-Spoon-Madness-Periodic-Elements/dp/0316051632

Here is a couple, the first two are Pop-sci and may be more of what you are looking for. The third is probably the most dense.

​

https://www.amazon.com/Disappearing-Spoon-Madness-Periodic-Elements/dp/0316051632

http://home.theodoregray.com/bookproducts/the-elements-autographed-copy

https://www.amazon.com/Chemical-Tree-History-Chemistry-Science/dp/0393320685/ref=sr_1_16?keywords=chemistry+history&qid=1574340632&sr=8-16

The Disappearing Spoon?

Have a look at this book.