Customer Reviews

Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry, Fourth Edition

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Before I say anything about this book, I offer for your consideration the fact that I am not a student of biochemistry; I am a physics graduate student. My desire to learn about biochemistry had nothing to do with receiving any sort of degree. Then consider the fact that this is the only Amazon.com review I have ever written. These facts alone should tell you that I must have found this book pretty remarkable.
This text was required for all three of the biochemistry classes I took as an undergraduate student, and it never let me down. It contains a positively HUGE amount of information, which Nelson and Cox have somehow managed to digest and present for the layperson in a way that is both engaging and understandable. The writing style is superb, and the visual aids are numerous and of exceptionally high quality.
How many times while cramming for the next day's test at 3:00 am have you caught yourself reading material that isn't even covered on the exam, just because it's interesting? It happened to me. And while I will admit to having some pretty nerdy tendencies some times, I don't think I'm quite that abnormal.
Don't listen to the reviewers who say they wish this book went into more depth on some issues, because they should know better. I can assure you that there is no lack of depth here. This is an introductory text. You read it if you want an introduction. If the nitty-gritty were found in introductory texts, there would be no need for advanced texts, now would there?

Coming from a great lover of textbooks, I'll put it to you plainly and simply: Among my top 5 favorite textbooks, this is the only one that isn't about physics. If you are looking for an introductory biochemistry texbook, then I don't believe you can go wrong with this one.

It is far too often that lecturers erroneously prescribe Voet for introductory biochemistry courses. This makes students suffer and dislike the subject; but truly, biochemistry is a remarkably interesting topic, provided one has the appropriate source of information.

I am a Chemistry major who suffered at the hands of my inarticulate lecturer and also the intially hated Voet& Voet Biochemistry. To recount my position, I had just finished introductory organic chemistry and went into biochemistry. For student such as myself, I found Voet not to have those transient features to fully make the migration from structural and mechanistic elucidations of organic chemistry to analysis of macromolecules and complex metabolic pathways.

The major flaw of Voet is in its first two parts, the final part is actually quite good, once you understand the basics. That was the problem! an introductory biochemistry course is supposed to teach you the basics with great emphasis placed on biopolymer structure (i.e. carbohydrates, complex fatty acid polymers (sterols and phospholipids) and finally proteins).

I didnt follow my lecturer's lectures as he was difficult to understand; he is often in the habit of reading exactly what was on the powerpoint presentations....no reiterations, no further explanations.

I was scared that I would not do well in the unit and so I purchased Lehninger. It was the greatest decision I had made in context of studying Biochemistry. The authors know very well the plight of students who have to contend with not only biochem but a multitude of other challenging units.

They have made this book lucid with detailed, "easy to understand" conversational explanations of various pertinent topics in biochemistry. Great emphasis had been placed on the fundamentals and how to implement these principles in solving biochemistry associated problems.

Voet on the other hand is an encyclopedic, condensed dictionary that defines terms and other features in a very precise and often complicated way. This is something that becomes handy once one actually understands what Voet and Voet are talking about, it is only useful AFTER an introductory biochemistry unit.

The CD presented with lehninger uses much more complex graphical engines to present information...it actually presents it in a more beautified manner than voet. This is imperative to the student as it reduces the learning curve in understanding the fundamental basics which are all important to biochemistry such as the detailed features of protein structure, how alpha helices and beta sheets differ. THe differences in the various levels of protein structure (i.e. primary to quaternary), the WHY and the HOW of many of these topics are discussed in detail not as text but as vivid animations which would make the user in awe of biochemistry.

Enzyme kinetics is also very well dicussed, Voet uses calculus and mathematical proof to explain the Michaelis-Menton formula and the constant. However Lehninger has a more practical approach with a built in application which allows the user to alter values and see their impact on the relationship between substrate and enzyme metabolism, in light of various governing factors.

The text is both lucid and colourful with only relevant, useful and well explained graphics. The idea behind Lehninger is to build up on the basic principles and always implement them in the understanding of biochemistry. Voet does not have this primary feature.

I would strongly suggest anyone to have a look at both texts prior to purchasing. Voet is a good reference after you have understood concepts and I use it out of guilt, the guilt of spending so much money on it. I actually ENJOYED studying biochemistry with Lehninger.

To conclude, I cannot stress how good Lehninger is compared to Voet for introductory students. IT LITERALLY IS ONE OF THE BEST ACCOUNTS OF BIOCHEMISTRY.

I'm not a scientist or a student, just someone who was interested in biochemistry as I've been reading a lot about astrobiology and felt I needed a better background in this area. I found this book to be really quite wonderful - beautiful in fact! - with terrific diagrams (my favorite being the e. coli DNA which goes all around the text of the page) - and very well written. It has some incredible diagrams of the proteins involved in biochemistry. Also it has some interesting "asides" covering scientific discoveries or items of medical interest. The discussions of hemoglobin and vitamin B12 were particularly memorable.

Anyway, I can't stop talking about this book to people. I think biochemistry should be required in college for all students, it really makes you appreciate life in a different way than you did before.

Is there something about biochemistry, which one does not get in the other science (and engineering) fields? My first encounter with Lehninger was as an undergraduate student at Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria. Though I was majoring in Chemical Engineering, I followed four voluntary courses from the Biochemistry department. Lehninger (2nd edition) was a sine qua non text especially for its thorough, albeit introductory treatment of amino acids, peptides and proteins; carbohydrates; fatty acids and lipids; as well as nucleic acids. I also used it extensively for a course on Bioenergetics.

Years later, I am a graduate student in Chemical Engineering. Yet I chose to order this book to brush up and improve my knowledge of biochemistry. How often do you come in contact with terms such as genomics, proteomics, gene expression and recombinant DNA, wishing you fully knew what they meant? Well, that in part was what drove me to buy this book, coupled also with my desire to become involved in research that cuts across the life sciences and engineering sometime in the future.

This is a great book. It is very much an introductory text and provides a wealth of information on further texts where one can get hold of advanced information. The authors have done a wonderful job by writing an up-to-date text in which inspires one to learn and look for ways of applying what has been learned. I am not a scientist but an engineer and my field is one that relies on scientific breakthroughs to manufacture products, which make life more comfortable.

The frequent references to medical applications in the text are so beautiful.

There basically are two top contenders for the #1 position for a biochemistry textbook: Lehninger vs Voet. At first sight, the 1650+ pages Voet text for 'chemistry' oriented students seems like it is too much for the competition. So, how can Lehninger do better in 1100 pages? There are several factors at play, and the 4th edition of Lehninger simply dominates Voet and the rest of the biochem texts out there as follows. The Lehnninger text has a long history, but given that biochemical knowledge doubles every 5 years or so, it matters what a text offers now, not in the past. The writing style is simple, direct, engaging, not too easy but neither too esoteric. The principles (as the title suggests) and the unity in diversity are emphasized, so that the student understands biochemical principles not merely facts, acronyms, pathways. The graphics are very professional. They are comparable to any review article in hot journals such as Nature, Science, Cell, etc. The rendering of protein surfaces, and the different angles through which a structure is seen is outstanding (a good example is the section on the ribosome). The structures have been rendered from the PDB (protein data bank) coordinates. Most are rendered in the ribbon representation, but in many cases the surface is rendered in grey, depending on the level of detail. Contrast this with the 3rd edition of Voet: the authors have not bothered to re-render their graphics, most are identical to the 1995 edition, a time when people only cared if you could generate a structure. Voet's graphics are not done uniformly; the backgrounds can be white, grey, black, some structures are taken directly from the original literature and vary widely in the format and rendering. It is not enough that Voet updated the text on biochemical developments from 1995-2004. The Lehninger pages on the most important protein folds, for example, are very helpful in giving the student a feel for the fold, the domain composition, the size, and names of model proteins one is expected to encounter over and again in the research literature. But pretty pictures are not the only thing that sets Lehninger apart from the rest. The material is distilled such that almost the same ammount of information is contained in this text, even though Voet is 50% bigger. There can be no such text as "Advanced Biochemistry" for grad students etc. -- if one is looking for that sort of thing, then one should purchase a life sciences encyclopedia. For undergraduates, any text is bound to be a bit overwhelming, but Lehninger is clear enough that the above average student should assimilate the material preparing for an exam without too much confusion or difficulty. I also like the typesetting in Lehninger much better than Voet, which again, uses the same boring format as the 2nd 1995 edition. The quality of paper is good in both texts. Lehninger's text feels like the space is utilized well, whereas Voet's space is a bit overcrowded, though strangely, some of the Voet structures are too large, and take up too much space. Lehninger encompases all the new developments up to 2004: RNAi, genomes, new facts on controversial enzyme mechanisms etc. Speaking of enzyme mechanism, both texts do a good job in deriving the Michaelis-Menten equation step by step rather than simply saying something like "through trivial algebra eqn 34 transforms into 45". The literature reference section of Lehninger is one of the best parts of the text: the references are a mixture of classic, outstanding work, and recent review materials, which should guide the more curious student to navigate the overwhelming ammount of information in modern biochemistry and molecular biology. I loved the numerous photos of key players in biochemistry. For example, Francis Crick is shown as a young man when the text refers to the model for DNA, and as a middle aged man in another chapter. The historical emphasis is well placed. The "working in biochemistry" boxes are similarly relevant and well placed. I only wish the current authors had added a brief sketch of Albert Lehninger. In fact, they do not mention the history of the text, which is a little strange. The text contains brief solutions to all the end-of-chapter problems so the solutions manual (unfortunately titled "The Absolute, Ultimate Guide...") is not really neccessary for the good student. I think the criticism that Voet is 'tougher' and has more 'chemistry' in it is not entirely fair. Any researcher cannot expect to find his/her answers for a particular mechanism in any textbook -- that's the whole point of research. The principles on the other hand, can be sufficiently explained with a selection of enzymes and their mechanism, which Lehninger delivers. The metabolism middle part of the book is a bit too large, but it is difficult to avoid this, as when it boils down to it, molecular biophysics and biology have to account for the behavior of a particular system. Grad students these days tend to ignore metabolism, but as they mature, they start to see its point (and the memory slowly starts to assimilate all these enzymes, substrates, products, inhibitors, conditions, pathways...). Voet, of course, also covers metabolism in a comprehensive way. In conclusion, contrary to what Voet reviewers said to "supplement Lehninger with Voet", I am suggesting students get a copy of Lehninger, either from the library or by purchasing their own copy, to supplement any biochemistry text with Lehninger. There is no other text out there that comes close to Lehninger. Which leads to the natural question, "why are there 10-20 biochem books currently in print?". Well, I certainly hope Lehninger will drive out of print most of them:-). Thank you professors Nelson and Cox for the hard and thoughtful work that went into this fourth edition.

This is the best Biochemistry book (recent edition 4 th edition published April 2004)from the collection of books I have (Stryer, Voet, Garett, Norton,Mathews, please add any other!)The book is very easy to understand specially if you don't have an intimate relation with Biochemistry. Nice illustrations, summary, and a lot more. Do not miss it!

This Biochemistry textbook is extremely well-written. The figures, tables, and boxes are quite informative, and the problems at the ends of the chapters will challenge you a lot! I really don't know why anyone in the sciences would not like this book. First of all, an incredible amount of data and research went into the making of this book -- so there is A LOT to learn. Second of all, this is a Biochemistry textbook, which means that the material will seem mind-numbing and dry. But since when does "interesting" entail "fun"? No one can be automatically excited by the subject matter; it requires a conscious effort to GET excited, once you get past the mind-numbing part -- exercise your brain!

The only reason I can think of which would turn people away from this book is having a short attention span! The whole point of learning is not to be entertained but to be educated, and this book is the perfect tool for educating. There aren't any goofy cartoon characters or child-like drawings in this book, which may seem why many are turned off by it. But the subject matter is extremely interesting, and if you are willing to learn about the amazing chemical processes within cells, then buy this book! (Learning Glycolysis and the Citric Acid Cycle for the first time will NOT be a fun task -- take my word for it, it's extremely dull -- and no amount of cartoons can make metabolic processes fun. But such processes should be appreciated, regardless of the level of difficulty in learning them.)

The fourth edition of Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry is the best book is the subjet. Like in the third edition the treatment of the topics is very goog. The first chapthers of the past edition were simplified in one single chapter. Also new is an innovative graphical style for depicting enzyme reaction mechanisms. Introduces the human genome. Biochemical insights derived from the human genome are integrated throughout the text.
Tracking the emergence of genomics and proteomics, this chapter establishes DNA technology as a core topic and a path to understanding metabolism, signaling, and other topics covered in the middle chapters of this edition. Includes up-to-date coverage of microarrays, protein chips, comparative genomics, and techniques in cloning and analysis.

This is the only biochem book that I've had, but I'm impressed with it. It explains the concepts to a lot of detail. My professor even uses the reaction mechanisms on his powerpoint slide. The book also comes with a very useful study guide, that makes learning biochem fun, with crossword puzzles and such.

This book has all the essentials for learning Biochemistry, but is not quite up to date with additional information from recent research such as amyloid disease progression. Also, the 5th edition contains several more end of chapter questions that contribute to overall understanding. I appreciated the answers to these questions in the back to check my answers when doing homework.