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The basics of organic chemistry

Martin Clowes - Author

Readers encounter core organic-chemistry ideas, from carbon bonding and chains to polymers, alongside everyday applications and a biographical section on Friedrich Wöhler.

More about this book

"Students see chemistry in action in this thorough but accessible informational text is aligned to science core curriculum, includes crosscutting concepts, and covers carbon bonding, chains, and rings, alcohol and acids, other organic compounds such as esters, aldehydes, ketones, ethers, amines, and halides, and polymers. Fact boxes about key terms, events, people, discoveries, and technologies, along with sidebars that give everyday examples of chemical applications help make the subject fun for readers."--

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Book Analysis

At a Glance

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Carbon bonding· ExplainedHydrocarbons· ExplainedFunctional groups· Explained

Personalised Fit

Beyond the Cover

carbon bondinghydrocarbonsfunctional groupspolymers

Non-fiction

Themes in Context

Building an account of organic chemistry

The book moves through foundational carbon structures and named compound groups, then addresses polymers and includes examples of chemical applications.Exploratory / explanatory

How the book presents it: Its stated approach is informational: it presents chemistry concepts and applications rather than a narrative plot.

Talk about: Which ideas seem to build on one another, and where do examples make the concepts clearer?

Why It May Be Worth Reading

Fact boxes, everyday examples, a glossary and reference sections offer several ways to revisit unfamiliar terms and connect chemical ideas with applications.

What Deserves Attention

The subject includes specialised vocabulary and many categories of compounds, including alcohols, acids, amines and halides; readers may want support unpacking terms as they arise.

A Conversation Worth Having

Which everyday application or example helped you understand a chemical idea, and what made that connection useful?

Reading Approach

Read a section at a time, pausing to use the fact boxes and glossary for new terms; revisit the contents or index when a topic connects with earlier ideas.

Confidence & Basis

Theme indicators describe how the book presents a topic; they are not a verdict on the whole book or your family's values. Confidence reflects how much book-specific material was checked. Only part of the book information was available, so some details remain unconfirmed.

What remains unconfirmed

Building an account of organic chemistry: The precise explanations, depth of each topic and balance between concepts and examples remain unclear.

The Basics of Organic Chemistry - Martin Clowes - Google Books

Limited information

Checked: 1 October 2026.

Relevant to: Building an account of organic chemistry

The basics of organic chemistry by Martin Clowes | Open Library