Customer Reviews

Bioinformatics Basics: Applications in Biological Science and Medicine

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

 

 

I'm always looking for a good guide book for undergrads and biocomputing novices that covers the basics without getting carried away with algorithmic minutiae. I found this book a fair place to start for those who have no idea of what is out there. The tools and Web sites described are mainstays and likely won't be going anywhere. However, if you are already moderately knowledgeable, you will exhaust this book immediately. The nature of the field is constant movement toward newer and more thorough tools. This is not a users' guide: go to the referenced Web sites themselves to get the most up to date, accurate information.

I would refer a naive beginner to get this book at the library, but I wouldn't put it on my own shelf.

Books about bioinformatics are as diverse as the field itself. It may not be possible to do justice to this new and exciting field in 168 pages. My concern with this book, however, lies not with the choice of topics, but rather with its incoherent presentation. Distracting parenthetical remarks pervade the text as in this excerpt from the beginning of the 3rd chapter: "DNA sequences are often found based on predictive tools, meaning that sequence similarities of newly discovered genes yield information about their physiological functions and structures, PCR (polymerase chain reaction), finding sequence fragments of significance (how is significance judged? By predictive biology, once again), finding distribution of genes or mRNAs (often an indicator of gene activity in an organism), and amplifying the amount of DNA for purification, sequencing, and mutational analysis." (p. 143).

Chapter 5 entitled "The Computer Revolution in Neurobiology" we find the following unexpected text: "One rationale for human cloning is that it could alleviate many of the problems associated with our unique characteristics. The genetic information (DNA) of a cloned organ is identical to that of the individual needing the organ. Hence, the cloned organ would be accepted by the individual's body as part of itself and would have a smaller probability of rejection." (p. 159). [Nevermind the enormous ethical implications!]

Throughout, one has the sense of a book rushed to market to take advantage of an exciting scientific trend. The book presents nothing that can't be found on-line and it gives readers no sense of the computational challenges of the field. ...

I am a novice in bioinformatics and have found this book to be invaluable in getting me started without intimidating me. I have owned the book for over a year and still find it very useful but I am waiting for an update to this title soon since I have enjoyed the organization of the book. It has given me a global picture of informatics and chapters with specific examples and applications. I am sure a second edition to this book will be well recieved by the audience and I am hoping to see it soon since the new bioinformatics book I have just purchased is not to my liking.

I wanted to learn something about informatics...The book was easy to understand but it lacked practice problems... This is not a religious book...Obviously the book takes an evolutionary stand point since the entire concept of bioinformatics is based mainly on evolutionary similarities of proteins and other cellular components. If you are new to bioinformatics but have some understanding of Biology, then you should get this book...

This is truly a great book. I had always wondered about biological research and the use of computers. The future of medicine and mankind will be changed drastically by new advances created by the coupling of science and technology. Bioinformatics is the wave of the future and Rashidi shows in his book that he is far ahead of his time. He has written the kind of book, a "gold standard" if you will, upon which all other texts in the field shall be judged. If I were taking a class which covered the subject of bioinformatics, I would definitely want this to be my resource for information. Clear, concise and unpretentious, Rashidi lays everything out vividly so that anyone from the undergraduate to the post-graduate student may marvel at the wonders of bioinformatics. My only complaint is that I think it should have been titled "The Bible of Bioinformatics" because its wealth of information is so epic and complete. There is no need to look for another book. Rashidi's has it all!