Friday, January 7, 2011

Goodbye, Organic Syntheses books.


Goodbye, old friends.
Photo credit: me.
Just the same as many of you, I got an e-mail late last year saying that they were going to discontinue sending the paper copies of Organic Syntheses to Division of Organic Chemistry members. The decision makes some sense, I suppose -- costs are up, and they're opening up a new DOC fellowship with the savings (scroll down). Fair enough.

In memory of these awesome little brown books, a list of my ten favorite things about Organic Syntheses books:

1. You can learn about fields and molecular classes that you didn't know about.
2. You can read awesome mini-biographies about older chemists (the Buchi biography is one of my favorites.)
3. Fits on the back of a toilet.
4. A pile of them can be used to hold up a child at a dinner table or perhaps a car in need of a tire change.
5. Good size to take on a bus or plane ride.
6. To the uninitiated, they make you look like you really care about chemistry on your bookshelves.
7. Fits nicely on a bedstand.
8. You typically can learn about a methodology that you didn't really know or care about; but it's checked -- so hey, why not run this reaction?
9. Makes a great beer coaster.
10. Checked procedures -- how awesome is that?
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8 comments:

  1. JohnJanuary 7, 2011 at 9:45 AM

    I agree with all of list except #5. On the plane I really prefer to take a big stack of papers. Besides the direct benefit of actually being able to read them, I've found that they completely stifle unwanted conversation from the person next to you that would otherwise tell you about how their second cousin from Pokono went to see the doc about this terrible rash and...

    Books just aren't as intimidating for some reason.

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  2. Dr. ZoidbergJanuary 7, 2011 at 11:04 AM

    One of my favorites is the synthesis of anhydrous HCN, with the first footnote being a recommendation to smoke while running the reaction.

    http://www.orgsyn.org/orgsyn/prep.asp?prep=cv1p0314

    John, I have a nice pair of black earbud headphones that I spent quite a bit of money on, but ended up having to replace them with white ones because I found that people on planes didn't seem to notice the black ones and disturbed me too often for my liking. EVERYBODY knows the distinctive white that has become synonymous with iPod headphones, so now I travel in peace.

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  3. AnonymousJanuary 7, 2011 at 10:31 PM

    I didn't get this email.

    How sad. I knew when they started putting the content online, the books would soon die a quiet death. However the last I used their search engine it sucked. Hope they have worked out the bugs.

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  4. bad wolfJanuary 8, 2011 at 9:21 AM

    You're right that they're a very convenient size. Look at them next to all the doorstopper texts in your photo! Maybe they would have a good second life if Wiley collected some popular methods by technique or substrate and published handy little paperback books of those.

    i remember my advisor once saying these books were a nice perk of the Organic Division being well-funded and supported by the (healthy) industry. Guess it's just another sign of the times.

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  5. milkshakeJanuary 8, 2011 at 11:43 AM

    headphones or a big stack of paper - another way to avoid conversation on the plane is to put on working clothes in which you previously spent couple nights in the lab

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  6. ChemjobberJanuary 8, 2011 at 5:55 PM

    bad, I suspect that they're telling the truth about the cost reasoning. From the explanation:

    "In regard to the paperback edition, Organic Syntheses Inc. bore the cost of printing of these volumes and the division the cost of distribution. Both of these costs have increased over the years, but particularly the mailing costs have increased dramatically."

    Sounds fair -- what do you think?

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  7. bad wolfJanuary 10, 2011 at 7:29 AM

    Well, it's true many magazines have been migrating to the web to avoid printing and mailing costs, USPS prices have been going up rapidly, and that postal prices in general probably operate by economy of scale and the less we all use them the higher the prices go. But if it's just the price of mailing it out, especially at book rate in bulk? Man, i will give you the $2 to mail me my book.

    While i'm reluctant to cut the ACS some slack, i have to wonder at their curious economics. These are the same people who offered the C&EN in digital-only subscription form for...exactly zero difference in member dues last year, which i just laughed at.

    So what are our dues paying for? Scholarships for top students from the biggest and best organic groups? Honestly those are the people i'm least worried about at the moment. I hate to retread the tired issue of excessive employee salary but it sounds like Rudy Baum's salary alone could support another twenty Organic Scholars if that was important to them. Well, sic transit gloria mundi...

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  8. ChemjobberJanuary 10, 2011 at 8:05 AM

    I think Organic Syntheses' finances are separate from DOC, C&EN and/or ACS.

    But you are right about the DOC ACS fellowships -- they seem to support the, um, less-than-needy groups.

    ReplyDelete

looks like Blogger doesn't work with anonymous comments from Chrome browsers at the moment - works in Microsoft Edge, or from Chrome with a Blogger account - sorry! CJ 3/21/20

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