Customer Reviews

Biochemistry (4th edition)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The simple fact of the matter is that, while not a classic on the level of "Molecular Biology of the Cell", this is a good introductory text. It is livened with examples of research applications, which keeps it from becoming a banal compendium of principles. On the other hand, it is relatively free from "gee whiz" fluff. It is not as quantitative as one might like, but some reviewers here have demanded a level of rigor which is inappropriate for classes full of pre-med students. A practicing structural biologist, for example, will invariably use a specialized reference for doing real work. To require too advanced a physical and chemical foundation for a book like Stryer's would be counterproductive. It provides a broad survey of biochemistry, rather than a deep discussion of particular topics therein.

I used this book in a self-study ("autotutorial") course for introductory biochemistry. The overwhelming reaction from people taking the course, including myself, was that the textbook was fantastic. I find it difficult to believe that a student with a decent background in organic chemistry and biology would have any trouble with this book; it is quite readable, although the chapters could be more coherently structured.

Overall, Stryer's book is more than adequate for an introductory biochemistry course, and its exposition is significantly better than most. None of the introductory texts I have encountered suffice as topical references for pursuits such as computational genetics or structural biology, so the question becomes, "is this a good biochemistry book to start with?" I submit that it is.

This is a superb book to understand the excitement of biochemistry and to understand its relevance to human health. Stryer's book presents biochemistry in a completely different manner. Unlike traditional textbooks, it presents each chapter giving a representative molecule or system for explanation and characterization of the material in that chapter. For example, haemoglobin and myoglobin are illustrated for explaining the three dimensional structure of proteins, lysozyme and chymotrypsin for explaining enzyme action, and a host of others. Each example is critically chosen, considering its role and function in life and metabolism. This makes the matter very interesting and practical. In parallel with these examples are descriptions of diseases and biochemical disorders as well as historical perspectives. Key points are italicized and help the reader to concisely and quickly summarise the material. The last part, molecular physiology, gives a lucid exposition of the fundamental biochemical processes in living organisms. In fact, the whole point of view in the book is a physiological one and the book does an outstanding job of presenting biochemistry in the context of human health and medicine. The book also has a generous dose of drawings of proteins, molecules and nucleic acids which makes it easy to visualize the material presented. The book is unlike Lehninger, which is essentially a traditional textbook. Even though Lehninger is great as an introductory book, Stryer is, in my opinion, the book to read if you want to learn biochemistry as a discipline which should be viewed as an exciting excursion into human metabolism and life.

Review of new edition (Berg, Tymockzo):
I had written a favourable review earlier for a previous edition of Stryer. I rest my case for the latest edition too. Jeremy Berg and John Tymoczko, both accomplished authors, join Lubert Stryer in producing this time tested and comprehensive book. If you are someone like me, who believes that enzymes and proteins are the key to understanding the mysteries of life, then this book is for you. While it may not have as much coverage of nucleic acid chemistry biochemistry as some of the other books, many believe that the next revolution in biology is going to hinge upon our understanding of SYSTEMS. And while an understanding of genes is crucial as enabling knowledge, if you really consider all the actual action that happens in biochemical systems, almost all of it is mediated by enzymes and receptors. Stryer's new edition has literally hundreds of pictures and discussions of proteins and enzymes which explain the structure and function of these magnificent biological agents. The book has still retained the concise and yet comprehensive style which made its previous edition so good. Again, the book strikes a good balance between textbook and medical biochemistry, which is its great strength. Small boxes and side discussions throw light on the most interesting events connected with drug metabolism and disease. As a side point, the discussions about nucleic acid biology which the authors HAVE included are pretty good in themselves. Biochemistry is one of the most exciting branches of scientific research. This is because first of all it is highly interdisciplinary, enjoying a wonderful synergy with organic and inorganic chemistry, physical chemistry and physics, and of course, medicine. Secondly, Biochemistry is an extraordinarily dynamic subject and biochemical knowledge doubles every five years. Discoveries in biochemistry directly affect medical science. In the 21st century, it continues to promise us radical understanding into the working of life, and any good biochemistry book should ideally convey this excitement to the reader. This one does. The bottom line is, if you want to get excited about the miracle that is called life, and want to do it rationally, Stryer is still one of the very best. I hope it continues to be so.

This book is considered a classic in its field, and, indeed, had few serious competitors up until about eight years ago. But, with new undergraduate texts that appeared since then, the weaknesses of Stryer's text became more apparent.

1. The text is not structured well enough: its 37 chapters are divided into a number of titled topics, but it is apparent that students would find it easier to manage if each chapter were divided into 4-8 major topics,just the way it has been done in 'Student companion for Stryer's Biochemistry' by Gumport et al.

2. It seems that the book owes part of its popularity to the fact that the most difficult topics have either been left out or are covered very briefly and with serious lack of rigor. The most notorious example is incredibly poor coverage of biochemical energetics. Since most readers are life science majors or medical students with little background in thermodynamics and electrochemistry, this ought be treated in a more detailed and more serious manner. Many students find the treatment of energetic aspects of oxidative phosphorylation and photosynthesis so unclear tham majority of them find it necessargy to consult some other text to figure things out. The same goes for enzyme kinetics - it is just inexcusable for a text of this size to completely ignore discussion of bisubstrate kinetics and other common complex kinetic systems.

As a conclusion, Stryer's Biochemistry 4th ed. is still readable and up-to date text. However, nowadays there are several other texts of about the same size and aiming at the same audience, but with much less things to complain about. As a TA in an undergraduate biochemistry course, I found texts by Mathews and van Holde (1996), Garrett and Grisham (1995) and Lehninger, Nelson and Cox (1993) to be more adequate for the needs of most students. My students especially praise Matthews and van Holde as a book which enables them to easily grasp even the most difficult concepts.

Stryer's biochemistry is a very well-known text in the field. This book contains hundreds of topics but the author explains them so concisely and understandably. It may not be a good text book for a beginner to start learning some biochemistry language ( I recommend Lehninger's for this purpose) but for someone in the field, this text can serve you more than a simple reference. I hope the new edition of this text will come up soon and I am quite sure that Stryer will do a great job editing his creation with many new concepts this edition does not cover. Overall, this text deserves an five-star comment.

I have used this book throughout my undergraduate years and now into my graduate studies. This book provided tremendous insight and enough curosity to make me really appreciate biochemistry as a whole. I agree that additional (disease description) information is needed but this book really does suffice!

Disclaimer: I've only used the 4th edition, even after the newest edition came out, because that's what I happen to own. From what I understand, the later edition includes most, if not all, of the 4th edition, and a couple of new chapters. My graduate class called for the latest edition, but I got through the class using my good ol' 4th.

I used the 4th edition of this book both in college and grad school, and it's served me very well. It succinctly covers the basics of biochemistry, including enzyme kinetics, protein structure, metabolism, and biosynthesis. It also includes helpful chapters on common techniques and assays. Diagrams and illustrations help understand the material (and there are diagrams for everything), and the text includes practice questions to solidify knowledge. Clear organization makes the book easy to use, and the text is sometimes surprising with unexpected humor. There are also charts for quick reference on the inside back cover. Oh, and handy side notes that define new terms and provide quick facts.

The book also links each topic to human disease, which makes it great for comprehending biochemistry as a whole.

All of this is done in simple, straightforward language that is nonetheless pleasant to read. (Really, this text is not as boring as one might think from a textbook!)

This book has served me very well, and I still refer to it to refresh myself on pathways. While, like most textbooks, it's not THE most detailed text you could get, it provides an excellent overview and jumping-off point.

I really like this book. It does a great job of explaining the topics in detail, yet not too esoteric that one without a background in either biology or chemistry won't be able to understand. I have neither and I feel I am progressing along well.
The progression of the information content in the chapters makes sense.

I recommend this book.

Stryer has once again in his style has come up with a biochemistry text book which includes all the major achievements in the previous years. The chapters have been rewritten and new material added in each chapter. The figures and illustrations have been redrawn and are very simple to understand. The simplicity in descriptions by stryer makes him one of the most read authors among biochemists.

I was especially moved by the short story, "Metabolic Energy: Generation and Storage"; it deals with the tale of a rag-tag band of organic molecules, the 'respiratory substrates', as they try to fight against the enzymatic exploitation of the established biochemical order and are finally defeated, suffering perhaps the ultimate defeat as they are fully reduced and their bonding energies are used to drive the oppressive machinisations against which they swore to destroy. Lured into a cytosol by the promise of favourable concentration gradients, and assisted by the obstensibly kindly GLUT, SL27 and the shadowy and secretive SLC family, stryer charts their progress through the cell; riding a wave of insulin-induced popularity, the substrates' utopian vision of a place of their own where they can escape the high-concentration hustle and bustle of the extracellular enviroment is gradually replaced with disillusionment as they are drawn into the tightly controlled, enzymatically driven world of the cell.

After witnessing the brutal and unprovoked phosphorylation of glucose at the hands of a hexokinase, wielding the enthalpic power of ATP to overpower glucose's repulsion and force the yoke of a phosphate group onto the aspirational monosaccharide, the substrates vow to do all in their ability to destroy the domineering cellular organisation. As the remaining members of the organic molecular group are forced to look on the horifying scene of glucose's torturous conversion to pyruvate - forced to provide the ATP that may enable the entrapment of his hexose kinsmen before being transported into the mysterious 'mitochondria' from which no substrate returns - they realise that they have become trapped within the cell, unable to escape through the transporters which have turned their backs on them and budded out of the cellular membrane into their vesicular enclaves.

Perhaps one of Stryer's most interesting flourishes is the tale of protein, who out of self-preservation turns his back on the plight of his companions, being converted by the cell to the ranks of the enzymes themselves and taking on the role of degrading his comrades as a proteosome. However, noticing the ubiquitin tagged to him unawares, protein's poignient repentance of his sins, his outpouring of his guilt over his pivotal role in the degradation of his fellow amines, and his final emotional acceptance of his fate make this complex and troubled character as one of Stryer's best.

Ultimatly, in a powerful conclusion to the tale, the last members of the substrates are broken down, being forced to carry the burdon of entropy neccecery to maintain the rigidly ordered nature of the cell. The detail to which stryer goes to as he describes the flow of the electrons forcefully ripped from the substrates' own atoms through the cold and uncaring electron transport chain where such scenes are no longer shocking but merely everyday is truly a masterclass.

The true power of this tragady, simultaniously modern and ancient, really hits home as the last remnants of the once idealistic compounds are broken down and spat out as fully reduced compounds, their remaining bonding energies being used to drive the very machinisations they were raging against. The quality of stryer's writing and the compelling story makes this an essential read.

I'm using this book for an undergrad biochem text, and I have never been very good at it, but this book is very helpful because it's easy to read and very well organised. It makes studying easier because it explains in a way that isn't complicated, and is concise so that it doesn't take forever to get through one section. I'd recommend it to any undergrad studying biochem.