It never ceases to amaze me, the power of analogy and story telling. As I learn these very basic things about chemistry I find that being able to make these truths analogous to other things, I begin to understand, not memorize. I have tried to encourage a thread like this on other boards with no success. With the strong bent towards soap operas that you guys have, maybe you can tell me a story? For instance, my methyl skin idea. Once I started looking at hydrogens and methyl groups as skin something clicked and all of the sudden I was able to memorize a whole handful of compounds without even trying. Same thing goes for functional groups, seeing these warts on the skin made things instantly absorb where rote memorization had failed me.

I'm sure as I continue to read Advanced Org Chem Part A I will learn a lot more. I love the way that book is written, I can hardly put it down when I start reading it. I read slow, though. I have to read a paragraph several times to fully absorb it, but I do achieve absorption  I'm sure the details about amalgams are in this book and I will get to them, but can someone spin me a tale about them? I don't understand the mechanics behind amalgams.  What is happening? What are all the characters doing? Or, if one of you is feeling extra frisky, talk about the hoffman rearrangement, THAT, I'd love to hear.