This innovative text from acclaimed educator Paula Bruice is organized in a way that discourages rote memorization. It highlights mechanistic similarities and ties synthesis and reactivity together—teaching the reactivity of a functional group and the synthesis of compounds obtained as a result of that reactivity. Bruice's writing has been praised for anticipating students' questions and appeals to their need to learn visually and by solving problems. Emphasizing that students should reason their way to solutions rather than memorize facts, Bruice encourages students to think about what they have learned previously and apply that knowledge in a new setting. The text balances coverage of traditional topics with bioorganic chemistry, recognizing the importance of bioorganic topics to today's students.