Customer Reviews

Understanding Biotechnology

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
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I just finished reading this book for an independent novel project for my Biology 104 course. Throughout the reading of this grammatical-error-strewn book, I realized something. This book had no real-world implications. It was written for the common person to understand biotechnology in their daily lives. However, the book flowed at such an esoteric level, explaining only a quarter of the bio-heavy terms it used, that it was impossible to understand unless you were a bio major. Then I realized: if you're a bio major, you've already understood these concepts. Again, no real world applications.

To make matters at hand worse, the book was incredibly dull. Most of the topics it covered were explained so dully, with such drab examples, that I continually fell asleep. I won't mention that I was reclining in a, well, recliner. But it was pretty mundane. The diagrams and pictures in this book are a joke. One is Pacman eating a blob, which corresponds with "some bacteria eat toxins and eliminate pollution."

I found the bioterrorism section, a fascinating subject, to be also mundane, and extremely uninformative. Some pathogens, such as cholera, were given a sentence description which simply said "this is used in bioterrorism". Thanks. I'm REALLY understanding biotechnology.

Don't read this book. I'm sure there are much better ones that will help you understand these important biological concepts.

Covering topics like genetic engineering, cloning, gene therapy, forensics and bioremediation, this is a highly informative book that not only deals with the science but the laws, social and economic implications of biotechnology.

For those interested in knowing more about these topics before they invest in biotechnology, this book is packed with plenty of useful information. However, the information is presented in a technical, not very reader-friendly way.

I suggest keeping it as as reference book and zooming in on specific topics when you need information on them.

Good read, covers the basics. The delivery was very fast. Think it was ordered on a Tuesday afternoon and delivered by Thursday with expedited shipping.