Customer Reviews

The Cell: A Molecular Approach, Fourth Edition

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

 

 

I already had 2 cell biology texts ("Molecular Cell Biology: 4th edition", Lodish, et al., W. H. Freeman & Co., 2000; and "The World of the Cell: Third Edition", Becker et al., Benjamin/Cummings, 1996) but they were both old, so I bought the newest one available at the time: this text. (Since then, a newer version of "Molecular Cell Biology" has come out, and it looks like a newer version of "The World of the Cell" has too).

Of the 3 texts, I would rate this one the lowest, behind "Molecular Cell Biology", with "The World of the Cell" topping the list. A simple comparision:

1) "The World of the Cell"
My overall favorite of the three. It is by far the best organized of the three texts. It's also easier to follow than "Molecular Cell Biology", and provides more detail than "The Cell: A Molecular Approach". It is written for undergraduates, but I think even high school biology students - even possibly the general public, with a little effort? - could read it and follow it.

2) "Molecular Cell Biology"
The most detailed and advanced of the three texts, but its organization is less than ideal. If you ALREADY know the basics of cell biology, then you should go with this one. However, if you are NEW to cell biology, then do NOT get this one!

3) "The Cell: A Molecular Approach"
It is less detailed than both of the other texts. Its diagrams are not as good as those in the other two. And it is less organized than "The World of the Cell". It's not horrible, but there are better cell biology books out there.

This is a textbook for undergraduates, but I'm not a student. I've been studying evolution from a variety of books and I finally decided I needed a systematic look at the biology of the cell. I shopped Amazon and decided on this book and I am well satisfied with it.

There is too much information for me to summarize, but the book's Table of Contents does an excellent job of that. (Click on "Search inside this book".) The book also has an abbreviated Table of Contents, not shown in this product page, which will help the reader locate a particular topic within the longer ToC.

The book starts with "Introduction", which provides background material and gives a glimpse of the book ahead. I think that a student using this as the text for a course for a one-semester course will probably need to know most of this beforehand. A person with more time will still need some background. You should already know what carbohydrates, amino acids, lipids, and nucleic acids are; the basics of the DNA-to-RNA-to-protein pathway; the fact that a membrane consists of a double layer of phospholipids, with other molecules embedded in it; and other basics of the cell. You will need at least a modest familiarity with diagrams of molecules and molecular processes. If the Table of Contents doesn't look like nonsense to you, you're probably prepared.

The exercises are important because they contain material that is not in the main text. For example, there are exercises that ask you to apply what you learned in the text to a problem similar to the ones scientists try to solve. It is doubly important for non-students because they let you verify your learning.

The Book Description says this book has "the most current information". This isn't possible in a book; in a field as active as cellular and molecular biology a lot happens between the time the manuscript is completed and the time the book is released for sale. What this book can do is to give you the background you need to read the science news articles. And that's doing quite a bit.


I mentioned that I had been reading other material wanted to fill in my background. The other material included such topics as molecular biology of the gene, signal transduction, mitochondria, and cancer. Since the cell is the basic unit of biology, The Cell is a gateway to many other topics as well. It would have been easier if I had read The Cell first, but I didn't know that. If you might be interested in some of the earlier books, they are listed in my Listmania "Natural Processes That Promote Evolution". There is a link to it in my Amazon Profile. (Click on my name at the top of this review.) But, of course, I recommend reading The Cell first.

If you're a student wondering what kind of nut reads books like this for fun, the Profile also has a bit about me under the title "In My Own Words".

I finished The Cell a few weeks ago and since then I have referred to it a few times for help in understanding science news. Given that I found it useful, there must be plenty of other people who would, and so I wrote this review.

The book is very informative and gets to the point in the various topics. The illustrations are very helpful and make the reader understand the topic with more clarity. Highly recommended.

This book was required for one of my classes. My teacher was not completely satisfied with the book because there was information that she felt was important in the figures that were missing. Her exams were mainly from the text and this text is very dense but overall this is a good book in my opinion to review cell physiology topics. In my experience reading the text was much more beneficial than the notes for my class so if you are having problems with the class notes sometimes the best answer is just to read and review the textbook.

This is a very in depth look at cell structure and function. For my purposes ( cell biology course) it is perfect!