Customer Reviews

iGenetics: A Mendelian Approach (Book & CD)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I think this is one of my favorite text books that I've encountered to this point. It's wonderfully straight forward and has beautiful diagrams that clearly illustrate the subjects being taught. It's also very nice reading, which is more than I can say about most text books!

I am currently using this book for an upper-level university course, and I don't believe it could be much worse. I am no geneticist, but I find errors on every other page and even in the accompanying solutions manual. My professor often mentions during class "Your book is wrong here" or "This is a typo" or "This is what they meant to say." I do realize that this is the first edition, but it seems almost as though the author wrote the book and never bothered to edit it. It's also quite wordy and usually a bore to read. Overall, the book stinks. Molecular Biology of the Cell 5 is more helpful in this class and it's not even a Genetics book.

The most useful features in this book are "analytical approaches to solving genetics problems" and "questions and problems" at the end of each chapter. Many of the pictures and diagrams are also nice.

However, the writing style tends to be rather dreary and over wordy, which is great for insomniacs, but horrible for those who actually want to learn something. Most of the material is presented in a manner best "learned" by memorization, rather than understanding. As seems to be typical of many biology texts, the "what" is emphasized over the "how" and "why". The sections that approach genetics from a molecular level tend to be better than the others, but the writing style is still too verbose.

Probabilities are treated in a fast and loose manner, but I am willing to concede that such use may be common among geneticists.

I also found several errors and typos in many of the chapters.

I tend to find genetics intrinsically interesting and this book could be worse, but if my only exposure to genetics were through this book, I would probably like the field about as much as I would like to work with potassium cyanide.

iGenetics, despite it's silly name, is in fact a great textbook, especially for someone just beginning to study genetics. I found the book to be well written, and the figures make it easy for any type of learner, as the figures offer a mix of words and diagrams that make everything very clear (especially nice when things begin to get complicated). It is one of the few textbooks I have found enjoyable and easy to read. If you're using it for a class, I recommend Study Guide and Solutions Manual for iGenetics: A Mendelian Approach as a means of helping you understand the material and the various Genetics problems (assuming you do not use it to solve the problems, but do them yourself first).

The only negative is that I felt the book was not as sturdy as others I have used. The cover, by the end of my semester using it, was frayed at the corners. This was disappointing, but the damage was not too great.

Like the solution manual, this book explains the fundamentals of genes in a way that other books have not....its a must have for any molecular biology major out there..

material in the book is presented at a low level, though the book poses as a sophomore/junior level genetics textbook. if you want a review of mendelian/population genetics, use a generic biology textbook like Life. otherwise, for molecular genetics and gene regulation, learn from Lodish or Alberts' Molecular Biology of the Cell.

book was in pretty good shape with an unopened cd. received the product very quickly, and the price was great!

My bio class made a bad decision to use this book as our standard text, and it has had such a bad influence on me. I became so sick of genetics after reading a few pages of this book that i almost dropped this class. It is very verbose, dry and offers no or little explanation. It is absolutely one of the worst books I have gotten in my life. And I don't regret at all switching to the Morrison principles of biology as my own text.

The actual condition of the textbook is better than its description. It does not states 6th edition, but it's published in 2006 though.

The book arrived within a week of ordering and was in the condition promised. New and still in plastic wrap. I'm very satisfied with the product and the service.