Customer Reviews

Biology: Concepts and Connections

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I was assigned the 6th edition of this book at Palomar, and since that one cost $100 i figured i'd buy the previous 5th edition (for $10! woo!)

I compared both editions (borrowed a friend's 6th ed), and the book is basically the same. Except some of the pictures are a little different, and the sentence structure is different in some sections (but contains the same ideas in the same order)

Save yourself some money, just buy the previous editions for all your textbooks. Don't fall into the scam that is higher education. Ever notice how they assign books that your school's teachers wrote too? Such a big scam!

This text is not impressive. The book is light on information but heavy on redundant (and often bad) analogies. The layout is fine, but the writing uses superfluous examples that are irrelevant to the understanding of biological concepts. Moreover, the authors routinely begin sentences with "And" and use incomplete sentence structures, which can be very distracting during reading.

I'm terribly unimpressed; I wish my biology class used a better edited text because this one is not well written.

This book explains everything from cells to animals. I used this book for two different classes. The first half of the book deals with the cell, osmosis, mitosis, and common information learned in high school. The second part of the book deals with animal development over time. Animal actions, time periods, and animal behavior are all analyzed in this book.

Each chapter I believe is written to scale up in detail. It ends up being a frustrating mess that you have to sort through. I felt I spent way to much time trying to understand the rediculous analogies. It would of been easier to just explain the reactions out right.

Compare this book to the original, the big doorstop text that's best left at home, unless your bag is made of kevlar. Yes, it's most definitely easier to get through, lighter, has more pictures and ultimately will help you out to ace tests. There's a cursory level of understanding through analogies, but either than that you're left hanging. If you are a student who's main goal is to drone through tests and get a 5 on the exam, never looking at biology again, get this. If you want a strong introduction to Biology while concurrently taking a high school honors chemistry course, then go with the doorstop. The choice is yours. That said... get both if you can afford it XD

I purchased this book because I needed it for a basic college biology class. I have opened it no more than five times this semester. It tries to be useful and interesting, but I did not find it very helpful

Got the book I needed, but the seller's item description said "very good condition". I would hate to see what just plain "good condition" looked like. The spine was separated from the book which left the cover barely hanging on. If I didn't need it so badly, I would return it, but with a little hot glue, I think I'm able to temporarily "fix" it. Over all, I'm happy I got my book, but wish it would have been in better condition.

Biology: Concepts and Connections (6th Ed) is NOT an easy read, but it has key terms in bold throughout, and really good review sections at the end of each chapter. These and other thoughtful organizational features help make difficult concepts a little easier to understand. My book arrived in the exact condition indicated ("like new"), and I have had a wonderful experience buying books through Amazon so far!

My son wanted a high school level biology text. I have read through the first several chapters. As a physician who teaches cell biology, I am VERY impressed with the text, both its organization and its style of presentation. Very accessible.

Book came to me new without flaws or defects. Bought this for a class online because it was cheaper than what my school store sold it for. At the end of the class I sold it back to the school store for a profit. Can't argue with that.