Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology [Hardcover]

Anthony Smith (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0198506732 | ISBN-13: 978-0198506737 | Publication Date: February 24, 2000 | Edition: Revised

Arranged in A-to-Z order, the more than 17,000 entries provide basic information about fundamental, physiochemical laws, chemical compounds, constants, and formulae. The Dictionary also describes the essential features of some 2,000 enzymes and proteins, the reactions they catalyze and the functions they perform. These entries also include filenames to facilitate the location of entries in databases of sequences and definitions of 950 abbreviations and symbols. Designed for students, teachers, researchers and other professionals in any area of the biomedical sciences, the Dictionary has been fully updated anf revised to incorporate new information discovered since the original edition was published in 1997.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Just as its title suggests, this work is a dictionary of more than 17,000 terms currently in use in the fields of biochemistry and molecular biology. Entries are uniformly concise, with entries for the most complex topics (such as protein) covering only about half a page. In a single alphabet, the dictionary includes topics and methods, chemical substances, and brief biographical entries of key scientists. The only illustrations are structure diagrams of the more complex chemical compounds. Appendixes help the reader understand scientific nomenclature and Greek symbols, list organizations and Web sites of interest in the field, and cover current hot topics in biochemistry. Despite its low price (especially for a science reference source), this dictionary is not for every library. Because it will require a significant scientific background to be able to understand the content of this work, it is beyond the reach of the casual reader. Libraries supporting research or college-level study in the field will find it useful, but other libraries will be able to rely on existing chemical and biological reference works to cover this material. For public libraries, the eighth edition of the McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology [RBB S 15 97] and The Merck Index (12th ed., Merck, 1996), which is an excellent source for information on chemical compounds, will fill most needs. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Praise for the First Edition:

" . . . a wealth of useful and interesting information."--SGM Quarterly

"The best conceived and produced specialized scientific dictionary this reviewer has ever seen . . . enthusiastically recommended."--Choice

"A quite useful book . . . can be recommended for one's office or laboratory [and] should certainly be obtained by libraries."--Journal of Medicinal Chemistry

"An invaluable source for biochemists as well [as] other biologists, for teachers and their students . . . has to be on the shelves of each biological laboratory."--Immunological Investigations

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 672 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; Revised edition (February 24, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198506732
• ISBN-13: 978-0198506737
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,161,439 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars FAIR: DEPENDING ON YOUR NEED, January 3, 2003

By 

reviewer (Zurich, Switzerland.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (Hardcover)

This revised edition of "Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology" is comprehensive, clinically relevant, and fairly up-to-date. It has a good coverage (for degree students), although that advanced researchers may need something more extensive. Its ability to correlate biochemical terms and data is appreciated. But with just over 17,000 definitions, its listed price is a bit on the high side. Buyers could get a better illustrated, more voluminous Biochem dictionary at that price.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars keep handy when you're trawling through science literature, July 9, 2003

By 

dreschrode - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (Hardcover)

As someone involved in biochemical research, I spend loads of time reading a variety of life science journals. Just keeping up with the latest research is hard enough, but as my areas of interest become ever larger and intermeshed with other disciplines such as medicine and physics, I've found myself delving into this book more and more. But the pace of research is also a problem for a book like this, because to remain useful, new editions cannot appear fast enough to keep up with the latest batch of techniques, genes and proteins. Ultimately an Internet version of this book that gets updated on a regular basis would be the most useful. Never the less, once you get in the habit of using this dictionary, you'll want to keep it nearby when you're browsing the life science literature. Is this book good value? I think it's expensive compared to all other books, but well priced for an academic textbook. I find that using this book is still more rapid and direct than browsing the web for the definition of a word I don't know, and the brief definition given in this book is a good starting point for hunting down more detailed information.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent reference for the biochemist!, December 19, 2004

By 

Andreas Ehrensberger "Andy" (Stanford, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (Hardcover)

I have been using this book as a general reference since I bought it three years ago. It describes most terms in general biochemistry, molecular biology, organic chemistry and genetics. I find it easier to have one reference book where one can look up terms, than having to search through various textbooks to find the descriptions.