Biochemistry (Chapters 1-34) Description:

Biochemistry (Chapters 1-34) review:
1 stars (Only thoughts: WTF!!) - I helped teach three terms of upper division biochemistry with this book and this book is terrible!! Don't get this confused with the Stryer book (although he is listed as an author, the book IS NOT written in his style). For non-biochem people, get the real Stryer book and for biochem people get the Matthews or the Voet book.
1 stars (OMG! A how to manual for a badly written book) - I needed to purchase this book for my graduate class in biochemistry. I found it to be NOT user friendly in the least. Most books I have used for biochemistry come with a great set of definitions. This book not only doesn't come with an appendix with definitions but doesn't explicitely define words in the text. I finally found the "definitions" appendix at the only website (how nice of them...and how cheap can you get. Most books if they have a website also have definitions in the back).

I should also mention it does not have a thorough index. Major subjects are neither defined nor shown in the index. Several times I had to go to either my organic chem book (Morrison & Boyd...great book), the Lippencotes (spelling) biochemistry review text (also a great concise book), or my under graduate biochemistry book (and study guide. Garrett and Grisham) to find information due to either the lack of information in this book or difficulty in finding it.

Also, the layout of the book is terrible. Although proteins are now THE significant phase of biochemistry, the introduction of DNA and mRNA in later portions of the book is rediculous. If you follow the basic flow of genetic information from DNA to RNA to Protein it is much more easily understood. Throwing in the flow of genetic information at chapter 5 and later in chapter 27 discussing DNA replication, RNA synthesis and splicing (ch 28) and protein production (ch 29) makes no sense whatsoever. The order is correct but to place this information at the back of the book when it is necessary to understand some of the basic systems of the cell is rediculous. It is like learning all the organic chemistry reactions without understanding the basics and reasoning behind organic chemistry.
1 stars (Learn elsewhere) - A disorganized muddle of clinical correlations, chemical mechanisms, and pathways, the text attempts to destroy an otherwise beautiful topic. It is difficult to extract the main pts and organize the information into a coherent fashion. But fortunately there are other texts, and a map showing how all the pathways converge and a table w/enzymes organized by mechanism w/cofactor, rxn info will be golden. With books like Lippincott's Reviews and Voet&Voet, youll be biochemistry's biggest fan in no time.