Customer Reviews

Introductory Plant Biology

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This text offers students a solid introduction to the plant sciences. At an undergraduate level, the text material is well complimented by diagrams, photos, and drawings. Each chapter begins with a chapter outline and ends with review questions, discussion questions, chapter summaries, and additional readings. The on-line student resources (available via McGraw-Hill Higher Education site) offer weblinks, chapter quizzes, flash cards, and other study aids. This latest edition has an additional chapter on biomes, an expanded biotechnology chapter, etc. I did not find chapter 22, the gymnosperms, to be full of the inaccuracies stated by a previous reviewer. Cycads are plainly listed as the cycadophyta division; ginkgo in ginkgophyta, etc. While no text is perfect, this introductory text comes close and is my chosen text for both the continuing education and the undergraduate botany courses that I teach.

Introductory Plant Biology is a classic and continues to improve with each edition. I've used several editions and have always been pleased to see that it is one of the few textbooks that actually contains pertinent and updated information. The artwork is easy-to-understand. The straightforwardness and clarity of cell biology, metabolic schemes, genetics, and especially life cycles are what make this book a success. This 9th Edition of Introductory Plant Biology is the best yet. I've used several college botany textbooks and this is the most straightforward, accurate, error-free, and current book on the market. There are some new authors - Drs. Jansky and Bidlack - who have joined with Stern in this edition. They write like Stern and that makes the book flow very well. The new cell, metabolism, genetics, and biotechnology chapters bring the book up-to-date. And, as expected, Stern et al. have put together the most current taxonomic treatment of plant-related kingdoms on the market. This has been, and continues to be, the only botany textbook that my students read and understand.

This book provides a very good introductory lesson to Botany. Being an introductory book, it is 100 miles wide and 1 inch deep. It covers quite a bit of material that stretches the mind of someone with a little science background and certainly presents a challenge for those without any background. No introductory book will be right on target with everything; as for systematics, there are two sides to every issue and this book claims one side of the classifications controversy.

I bought this book for my plant biology class. Even though I was required to only study about 3/4 of it, I read the entire thing from cover to cover. If you want to find out about plants and the natural world, take a course with this book or just buy it and read it like a good non-fiction book. The layout and format are very modern and appealing. There are sections on ecology, which are very important in understanding what is happening to our environment right now. Plus, the book doubles as a plant reference/gardening book because it has a monster appendix with stats and care information on tons of common and rare plants you might grow at home. Wonderful book, you won't be disappointed if you are curious about natural science!

Saved $140 by getting this older edition compared with the newer edition with all of the same information. Makes it a little bit more difficult to follow the syllabus, but its worth it IMO.

Great Intro to botany...kept this one after college. Easily understood information and well organized.

This book is simple and straight to the point. It has detailed information on this material...

Bryophytes life cycle (mosses)
Vascular plants life cycle (non-seed plants)
Gymnosperms life cycle (seed plants)
Angiosperms life cycle (seed plants capable of flowering)

Also has chapters on fungi & bacteria & protists (eukaryotic single celled algae). Book goes into central dogma of biology, genetics, plant breeding. Everything is clear & if you didn't understand genetics in other texts, you might want to start here! Coverage is wide. Chapters dedicated to evolution, ecology, & biomes also present. Throughout the book there are 'awareness' reading sections. Almost all are interesting & informative (i.e. PCR reaction).

SUMMARY (for those who don't want to read the review!) = Book very clear, probably one of the clearest out there. Very easy, very simple, go buy!

This is a botany text that students actually read. The appendix offers additional information on medicinal plants and gardening. Many non-traditional students like the book for reference at home. Among textbooks on the market, this is one of the most useful books after students complete the course. I kept my book and use it frequently for gardening tips.

I've given Dr. Stern another chance (since my review of his 1994 version) and he came through with an excellent revised basic botany text. I'm using it for my course and will continue using it.

This text has one strong point in the physiology and economic botany chapters. The systematics are at best antiquated. Poriferans are not "Protoctistan" (????) and Gymnosperms Cycads, Ginkgoes, Gnetophyta, and Conifers are in their own DIVISIONS instead of Classes of Pines. This is not a good text for anyone that is going to introduce plant systematics (classification).