Customer Reviews

Molecular and Cell Biology For Dummies

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

 

 

This book did just what I had hoped it would do. It took a very complex subject and explained it in as simple terms as possible. I've never had a formal course in biology, but I had watched all the lectures in an MIT Open Courseware course on the subject that had left me confused about a number of things. Of course, this book is not as comprehensive as a full course, but it did clarify a number of things for me. Many of the illustrations are much better than in the textbook that the MIT course was based on. Near the end of the book the author began giving specific study tips -- what things a student needs to be familiar with and what things they need to have down cold. In fact, the last chapter is entitled "Ten Ways to Improve Your Grade." I thought this a little strange, because the introduction does not mention this aspect of the book. It is done unobtrusively, so it shouldn't lessen a non-student's enjoyment of the book. I mention it because it might be a big plus to some prospective readers.

This book is written by an excellent teacher, with clear explanations. An excellent supplement to a course on this difficult topic. Most texts in this area are highly technical, and this book can help orient the reader and resolve a lot of difficulties. I would love to take the course from the author, who shows enthusiasm and and a great capacity to communicate.

I think this book would be great for someone with a non-science background who wanted to understand molecular and cell biology in a simple way. I however bought the book to serve as a quick-read adjunct to college level cell and molecular courses, and the book is totally inadequate for this purpose. The book is far too simplistic and surface oriented to be a study guide to undergraduate cell and molecular biology classes.

I have read similar books on this topic, and this one is by far the best. It explains everything very well, and makes biology seem much easier. I believe that anyone can excel in science, if they want to and try hard enough. I would highly recommend this book for students who want to improve their grades in biology.

This book put complicated concepts into understandable ideas and helped me ace my oral final!

I'm taking a graduate level environmental biology class this summer even though I knew I was a bit short on the prerequisites. I didn't try to convince anyone that the prerequisites were unnecessary, just that I was willing to do whatever was necessary to fill in the gaps. Still, it's been 20 years since I was last a student, and 30 since I'd taken a biology class, so I definitely needed help. I bought a copy of Molecular Cell Biology (Lodish, Molecular Cell Biology) to fill in the molecular biology gaps and then I bought this so I could understand Lodish.

So far the combination works quite well. I find that if read this great little book by Dr. Kratz first, I can master a chapter of Lodish in a couple of hours. Without it...well, I'd figure it out but it would take much longer.

Dr. Kratz nicely explains the basic functions of cells and their structures, then devotes a chapter to the chemistry that is especially relevant to cell biology, covalent and ionic bonding, redox reactions, pH and polymers. Subsequent chapters cover carbohydrate, protein, DNA and RNA, and lipid synthesis. Cellular communication, metabolism, respiration, and photosynthesis are nicely briefed. I have not read the remaining chapters yet, but they appear to be equally well prepared.

It certainly will not replace your molecular biology textbook, but if you are feeling a bit behind on the background knowledge you need to be successful, I think this will fill the bill. Altogether, a nicely done book.

This book is very well written. It's easy to understand and you will learn a lot with little effort. I'd love to take a class from the author. This is a great book !!!

I bought this book to help me study for a test so that I could get into LPN school. I had to either take a biology class or challenge out of it by passing a test before I could even start nursing school. I chose to try to challenge out of the class so that I could start nursing school earlier. There is no way I would have passed the test without this book! I have been out of school for over 15 years and had to learn biology all over again. With the help of this book and a lot of prayer I passed the test and get to go straight into nursing classes this fall! I plan to buy more of these "Dummies" books to help me with my nursing classes!

This book is an excellent introduction to the subject of molecular and cell biology. Like all "for Dummies" books, it is written for the person who has little or no background in the subject, and is slightly whimsical and presented in language I could understand. I recently read a couple of other books that talked about how genes play an important part in driving our behavior and I wanted to check it out. I wanted to understand just what DNA is and why it is important and how it fits together with molecules, cells, genes and chromosomes. This book did the job.

The periodic table in this book does not have the Roman number and Column designations, although this is referred to using the table numerous times. Very confusing and time consuming sorting this out. The formula to determine valences is written 2N2, which is completely different than indicating the square root of N. if you are trying to unconfuse yourself, the Kindle version of this book may cause more problems than it solves. Still trying to muddle through but am having to seek out other resources due to poor typography.