Microbiology: An Introduction, Eighth Edition (Hardcover)

by Gerard J. Tortora (Author), Berdell R. Funke (Author), Christine L. Case (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
With every new edition, the No. 1 best-selling non-majors microbiology book wins over readers with its careful balance of concepts and applications, art that teaches, and its straightforward presentation of complex topics. For Microbiology: An Introduction, Eighth Edition, this successful formula has been refined with hundreds of research and disease updates, updated morbidity data, and an enhanced Mircobiology Place Website and CD-ROM. For college instructors, students, or anyone interested in microbiology.

From the Back Cover
With every new edition, the No. 1 best-selling non-majors microbiology book wins over readers with its careful balance of concepts and applications, art that teaches, and its straightforward presentation of complex topics. For Microbiology: An Introduction, Eighth Edition, this successful formula has been refined with hundreds of research and disease updates, updated morbidity data, and an enhanced Mircobiology Place Website and CD-ROM. For college instructors, students, or anyone interested in microbiology.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 944 pages
• Publisher: Benjamin Cummings; 8 edition (May 9, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805376143
• ISBN-13: 978-0805376142
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 8.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #327,965 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars not much help, August 11, 2005

By	Mandy (CA) - See all my reviews

As another reviewer stated, subjects were scattered all over book. Constant referrals to other chapters and sections. If you choose to do the review questions in back of book, you won't find the answers unless you go on-line, very annoying as I don't like to study in front of a computer. Lastly in other science textbooks there are often mid-chapter review questions to help you learn - this had none of that. Book was useless, learned more from instructor's outlines.

36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars NOT a keeper, April 29, 2004

By	hana jacobs "nursing-usa" (NH, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

We used this book in our Microbiology class (community college-pre nursing). Everyone, including me, disliked this book. We usually keep all our books for future use, but concensus was to get rid of this one. We have found the topics to be scattered all over the book and not organized well. DNA replication information was not clearly explained...In fact I found most of the topics to be better explained in "Biology" by Cambell-Reece-Mitchell. I usually read all my books. This class, I used the web for DNA replication and bacteria caused diseases, and biology book for the rest. One good thing came out of this. It forced me to use the web, and it is a great resource for Micro.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A lot of information....disorganized, April 3, 2006

By	mdelbruck123 "max" (MD United States) - See all my reviews

I taught a basic undergraduate microbiology class using this text book. The students were mostly pre-nursing so we had a clinical focus. My main problem with the text is it is trying to be all things to all people. It tries to present too much information that is scattered all over the text. Frequently, within chapters, students have to jump back and forth to material presented in other chapters and it simply becomes information overload. In addition, some of the study question, especially the clinically oriented ones, ask the students about areas that haven't been adequately covered in the text or assume knowledge that they don't have as yet. Finally, beware the Powerpoint slide presentations. These are also full of errors and need pretty extensive editing.