Customer Reviews

Random Walks in Biology

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

 

 

I bought this book in 1995 to get an understanding of random walk phenomena.
The random walk equations are mostly biologically based.
That is equations that describe the motion of biological things.

Type of things covered ( including but not limited to)
Ficks equations
Diffusion
Drift
drag
Diffusion at Equilibrium
Derivation of Boltzman equation
Importance of KT
Mean Square Velocity
Einstien-Scmoluchowski relation

Flagellar propulsion
Motility of Escherichia Coli
Probability Distributions (Gaussian , Binomial , Poisson)

etc

The book is a fairly easy read.
You'll need at least high school to uni maths background.
The maths is fairly practical stuff ( translatable to s/w code )

There are plenty of graphs and diagrams.

Random walks in Biology explains concepts of diffusion driven processes in a lucid, intuitive and didactic fashion. The approach lacks mathematical rigor, but abounds in examples to incite interest in one and all. For physicists, this book offers a delightful peek into biophysical processes where their mathematical skills and knowledge of random processes can be utilized and tested. For biologists and chemists, the book presents an erudite route to understanding how these random processes, diffusion and fluctuations influence function and design of biological contrusts.

This book intertwines the physics and the mathematics of basic diffusion phenomena within a biology setting in a very well balanced manner. As such, it may appeal to the biology/biochemistry/biophysics student interested in the role of diffusion phenomena in biology, including chemotaxis and bacterial motility. No doubt this little book has its value. Howard Berg is an authority in the subject, a member of learned societies, and teaches at Harvard.

However, I found the book a little meagre for its price. You can find similar material intended for the same audience for free on the internet. Moreover---perhaps due to its age, most probably deliberately---, the text does not discuss the role of stochasticity in biology in general, an important topic in modern molecular and cell biology. Definitely does not worth the dollars. I read an exemplar from the local library---with much profit---, but would buy it only if its price were half the current price tag ($32), at maximum.

Really brings things to light in this book. Starts with very basic derivation, goes on to where it is found. Just really a very nice read.

If you're interested in learning the physics underlying cellular biology, then you should read this book.

The physics is pithy and the language is clear.

Awesome. You will learn a lot about diffusion, stat mech, and even transport phenomena a tthe cellular level. Not worth 27 bucks tho.