Molecular Biology [Paperback]

Robert Weaver (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2007 | ISBN-10: 0071102167 | ISBN-13: 978-0071102162 | Edition: 4

"Molecular Biology, Fourth Edition" by Robert Weaver, is designed for an introductory course in molecular biology. The text is geared not only toward presenting concepts of molecular biology, but also the experiments that led to those concepts. Guided by this experimental approach, Dr. Weaver has been published by National Institutes as well as National Geographic.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Received BS in Chemistry from The College of Wooster in 1964 Postdoctoral work at UC-San Francisco with William Rutter American Cancer Society Research Scholar for two years

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Mcgraw Hill Higher Education; 4 edition (February 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071102167
• ISBN-13: 978-0071102162
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #941,409 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Text, But Not For Beginners, February 21, 2001

By 

greatabu (Greeley, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Molecular Biology (Hardcover)

I have used this text as an undergrad and now as a grad student (in the interest of full disclosure, I am currently taking a class with Dr. Weaver and we are using this text; surprise, surprise). I found the use of experimental data to be extremely helpful, especially since molecular biology is an experimental field. It really gives one a feel for how we arrived at what we know and what was the thinking that led to it. That said, this is probably not an ideal text for an introduction to molecular biology. Students using this text should have some familiarity with genetics and cell biology. When I used this text as an undergrad (at a liberal arts college in Kansas) I was a little overwhelmed by the amount of experimental information at first, but I grew to appreciate it greatly. It allowed me to better develop analytical skills that are important for the field. On the whole, this has been probably one of the best books I have seen in this field.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for the GRE and introductory graduate courses, June 13, 2003

By 

Ahmed Fazly (Winona, MN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Molecular Biology (Hardcover)

The approach of this book is based on experimental data rather than the deduced facts. I have tride many books to prepare me for the GRE subject text in Biochem/cell/Molecular biology. However, many of the books were concentrating on plain facts rather than on experimental data. Some of the GRE question especially the longer and difficult ones are not concerened with memorized facts. Rather, they present to you experimental data in the form of graphs and charts and ask you questions based on them. Of all the books that I sampled this is the only one that provided the necessary levels of understanding for me to tackle such questions. This is also true in a life of a beginning graduate student who is required to make sense out of graphs, numbers and charts in per reviewed journal articles. This book is most useful for such individuals. For lower level undergraduates this book is best when used with in conjunction with another introductory text book such as Molecular Cells biology by by lodish.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Experimental Approach Difficult for Most Undergraduates, November 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Molecular Biology (Hardcover)

I teach molecular biology at a respected liberal arts college in Indiana. As a first year molecular instructor I went looking for advice on textbooks. Under recommendations from the previous instructor of this course I chose Weaver's book as an alternative to the now aging Albert Text. Frankly, the text has been a flop.

Why? Because it assumes a certain level of understanding of molecular coming into the course. A highly motivated student who has a strong background in research will enjoy this book, but as a general text it just doesn't work well. I find my students are just lost in the chapters. They are getting bogged down trying to work through all the gels and are missing the concepts being presented. I find that I must use figures from Albert's or Stryer (Biochem) to make the concepts clear. Perhaps it would be a good grad textbook with a student population that has an excellent understanding of 'gel science'.

Mostly I find it is just missing in general concepts. They summarize sections up in little orange boxes at the end which seems to be all the class seems to understand from the readings. I think they need to put more effort into making the general text more understandable to students by working on the model end and less on the experimental end.

I am not alone in my poor evaluation of this text. A prof who has been teaching the class for 15 years finally made the switch to this book this year to replace Albert. She gave up on Weaver two weeks into the class because of her class' fustration.

I would recommend this book ONLY to those who have first read it and feel it is going to be PERSONALLY useful.