Biochemistry, Volume 2, Second Edition: The Chemical Reactions of Living Cells [Hardcover]

David E. Metzler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 11, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0124925413 | ISBN-13: 978-0124925410 | Edition: 2

Biochemistry: The Chemical Reactions of Living Cells is a well-integrated, up-to-date reference for basic chemistry and underlying biological phenomena. Biochemistry is a comprehensive account of the chemical basis of life, describing the amazingly complex structures of the compounds that make up cells, the forces that hold them together, and the chemical reactions that allow for recognition, signaling, and movement. This book contains information on the human body, its genome, and the action of muscles, eyes, and the brain.

* Thousands of literature references provide introduction to current research as well as historical background
* Contains twice the number of chapters of the first edition
* Each chapter contains boxes of information on topics of general interest

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

A well-integrated, up-to-date reference for basic chemistry and underlying biological phenomena.

About the Author

By Dr. David E. Metzler

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 1973 pages
• Publisher: Academic Press; 2 edition (April 11, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0124925413
• ISBN-13: 978-0124925410
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 9.4 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #958,402 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the best biochemistry textbook for the post-genomic era, March 13, 2007

By 

Johann Heider - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Biochemistry (2 volume set), Second Edition: The Chemical Reactions of Living Cells (Hardcover)

In this book you find classical biochemistry, and a lot of it. In contrast to most other biochemistry textbooks which drift away from the topic and go more and more into cell biology, immunology and the like, Metzler concentrates on the central topics of biochemistry, the enzymes and their mechanisms. There is no other book where one is more likely to find detailled infomation on the structure-function relation of just about any enzyme (with the only downside of having only black-and-white pictures, even for structures). This book is, however, to be treated with caution: it is not covering the topics of most biochem beginners courses (or is providing too much information that is about to overwhelm inexperienced readers, respectively). Still, it will be an unavoidable desk reference to any biochemist who cares about enzymes and will be highly valuable at least as long as the previous edition from 1977.

4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A terrible textbook to study biochemistry, December 20, 2006

By 

P. Coldwell (Stanford, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Biochemistry (2 volume set), Second Edition: The Chemical Reactions of Living Cells (Hardcover)

The book is horrible! I used many textbooks to teach students biochemistry: Voet, Stryer, Lehninger, Devlin and others. Voet's Biochemistry although too detailed in some places is good for chemistry majors, but is a nightmare for medical students for which Stryer and Lehninger is great. In all tasks these books are better then Metzler.

Metzler's Biochemistry is simply overwhelming. You will hate it if:

- you are medical student or just a novice in the field. What's the point in reading a whole page about "Does lysozyme distort its substrate?" or next 5 pages about xylanases, hemicelluloses, galactanase, glucocerebrosidase..? Though if you know organic chemistry inside out you'll find 300 pages of bioorganic chemistry quite a good review (of what you probably already know).

- you are a graduate student in biochemistry and need a reference. Get something else. For example, speeking about proteases and phosphatase Metzler mostly enumatates some thirty enzymes, but gives the details for only a few. In this book you'll find excessive treatment of one thing on 50 pages and a brief mentioning of 100 things on the next 50 pages.

To sum up I'd like to say that this book is good for a professional biochemist who likes reading encyclopedias before going to bed or wants to expend his/her knowledge in bioorganic chemistry.

You've got to bear in mind that it weighs 16 pounds and trust me you'll never want to take it any where from your shelf (unless you are fond of powerlifting). Such books like dinosaurs will either get extinct or be covered with dust in the library.