Customer Reviews

Introduction to Modern Virology (Dimmock, Introduction to Modern Virology)

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3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
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Virology is not the easiest of subjects to consider studying so it was with some trepidation that I ordered this book. My confidence was well founded as it is in every way superb. Chapters include definitions of viruses, lab techniques, biochemistry, processes of infection, virus-host interactions, vaccines, evolution of viruses and focus chapters on specific viruss/groups. Every page was fascinating and ,relatively easy to grasp if read in page order (though this is not a book for the complete layman, 'A' level biology or chemistry will be useful if not essential). Did you know that ME is caused by a virus, or that seals can catch human flu, or that at laest two infectious particle SMALLER than viruses exist? Read this book!

Granted virology is not the most organized branch of science, the author could have done a much better job organizing the information. At many times through out this book I felt lost, not because I didn't understand the information (if you've taken molecular bio virology will be a much easier course) but because I couldn't figure out how this example fit into the big picture. Later on after finishing a couple of chapters I had to go back through my notes, rearrange everything, and add notes to my notes.

On the good side, there was a lot of helpful information and background on the experiments used to assertain this information.

I teach at a liberal arts college and I chose this book because the other classically used virology text often feels like information overload, especially for an undergraduate. This book does a good job of keeping it simple and providing representative examples. However, it often leaves you feeling like it's not telling the whole story (an obvious lack of details) AND, even worse, its figures are screwed up time and time again. The 5' and 3' labels are often wrong, and those kind of details need to be the basis for a student's true understanding of virology. The figures need to be completely redone. They contain mistake after mistake. I plan on having my students write up their own comments before the semester is over, and I'm going to add my own list of errors and send them to the authors. I hope that they spend more time on the next edition's figures, as this is just plain sad.

I'm not sure if there is just a shortage of virology textbooks, but this reader, although well supported by cited work, is hardly well-written. The prose of a textbook shouldn't bog the reader down, but confer a good feel of the concepts being presented.