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29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rigorous and authoritative, but unfortunately too terse, March 26, 2000
By A Customer
This book appears eighteen years after the famous Cantor and Schimmel three-volume "Biophysical Chemistry", and it is the first one to cover most of the topics treated there. That is why it was welcomed by biophysical chemistry teachers, although it is less then half the size of the aforementioned text. This is not a book for the unprepared mind. To be able to follow it satisfactorily, the reader must have a firm grasp of physical chemistry together with all of the advanced math it requires. Most of today's biochemistry students do not meet these requirements (partly because the most popular introductory biochemistry texts have turned into non-quantitative - or, better, anti-quantitative - picture books), so I would expect them to have trouble with the material presented in the book, and indeed, some students have already had. In the Preface, the authors brag that they "offer one of the best treatments of NMR and X-ray diffraction available". Not so. Maybe it is most up-to date, bu students (biochemistry majors) reported having a hard time with both of the chapters, simply because they did not understand the liberally used mathematical apparatus. Still, I am aware that many of the topics covered in the book are inherently difficult, and that the book serves well to the minority that meets all the prerequisites. As I am lucky enough to fit into this category, I found the treatment of biochemical thermodynamics and receptor-ligand interactions very good and very up to date. But, since much of the material covered here is essential to understanding biochemistry, I think that future editions of the text should be expanded in a direction that would serve those students with insufficient background. One way to do this would be to break up the most difficult chapters into two - e.g.a "concepts" and a "machinery" chapter, like in P.W.Atkins' "Physical Chemistry".
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26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This Is Just As Rigorous Mathematically, November 15, 2000
This physical biochemistry text breaks down into three major sections: Macromolecular structure and dynamics. spectroscopy, and solution behavior of macromolecules. In very simple words, this treatise is not easy to read. It is definitely NOT for beginners in the field. In fact, the materials covered in this book require knowledge of chemistry major to comprehend. Treatment n quantum mechanics and spectroscopy in this text go as deep as perturbation theory with all the rigorus mathematics. Readers might want to study ut Atkins' Physical Chemistry before flipping to sectins on statistical thermodynamics. Sections on X-ray, NMR, and absorption spectroscopy are written very clearly but smewhat too terse. Yet the terse treatment of these topics does nt necessarily make the concepts easier to understand. Overall this text is worth all the information. Yet readers should be cautious abut whether ther are prepared for the level of mathematics and chemistry.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book! More geared to P-Chem students and students in Physics., April 12, 2007
This review is from: Principles of Physical Biochemistry (2nd Edition) (Paperback)
I'm a graduate student in Physical Chemistry, and from my point of view Principles of Physical Biochemistry is a great book and a welcomed addition to my library! I can see how many students and reviewers can rate this book as negative without the proper preparation. As a matter of fact, most graduate students in Chemistry (organic, inorganic, analytical, materials,....) majors found this book and course to be very difficult and challenging. Let's face it, physical chemistry and all of its sub-disciplines ARE mathematical, and require extensive knowledge of physics. To comprehend and appreciate the material and scope of this book you need to be comfortable with single & multivariable calculus, differential equations (basic understanding of separation of variables; understanding how solutions to D.E.'s are applicable to the equation itself), basic linear algebra (matrix operation, inverse matrix, determinants, etc..), and vector analysis (vector integration, multiplication, etc..). It's not that the math is overwhelming or difficult, but you have to be comfortable with it in the sense that you can understand the basic structure of the equations presented. In addition, you need two semesters of undergraduate physical chemistry or physics courses that have taught statistical mechanics, classical thermodynamics, non-relativistic quantum mechanics (the Schrödinger equation, Dirac's bra and ket formalism, perturbation theory, eigenvalue problems, and so forth), physical kinetics, and some exposure to x-ray structure analysis (Bragg equation, reciprocal space, vector analysis, Fourier analysis). To those students taking a course of this nature not familiar with the physics or mathematics-this isn't the place to be learning prerequisites for the material presented. With the mentioned preparation this book becomes very accessible! It's geared more for graduate students or advanced undergraduates that are specializing in physical chemistry, chemical physics, and so forth. This is the audience that this book is geared for and I'm sure it's the audience that find this book very straight forward (well, at least I did). So, if you're in theoretical or physical chemistry, or any other of the physical sciences, this is your book. If you don't enjoy physics and its application to chemical systems stay away.
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