Rating: 
Summary: Big Error on Page 463, 464
Review: On page 463, allele frequency is described as (1/2 x N) (=0.5N). No that's wrong, the correct one is (1/2N)(=0.5 x 1/N). it's a typo, but a huge difference. I lost one question in my mid-term because of this!
Rating: 
Summary: Clear, well-written, and... (finally!) up-to-date.
Review: Take all of the nice comments written in the reviews below, and
then combine them with the fact that the 4th edition has now
finally come out: this book is up-do-date and GOOD. I'm not
going to go so far as to throw out my 4th edition of Lodish--
I've already found at least one omission in MBotC on a topic
that Lodish covered fairly well--but overall I'm happier with
the depth and breadth of this latest effort by Alberts et al.
If you're looking for THE basic text in the mol. bio. field,
this looks like one you'll have a hard time beating.
Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: Taking an online course in Molecular Cell Biology. This is the text.This is an incredible book. Well organized, very up to date. It is not a trivial book by any means. I recomend that during the first pass on reading an assignment - that you do NOT have a pen at your side, just read it. It is an incredible read. The hard part is the shear amount of information in 1300 pages. It will take me a while to plow through this text and the course, but I think it will be worth it in the end. The book is full of surprizes, at appropriate times information on evolution or medicines are thrown in. This is not a book for the timid.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Reading
Review: This book has brought molecular biology knowledge up to date. The fascinating discoveries in cell biology and signalling, neurobiology and gene expression have been well dealt. I would highly recommend this book to a beginner as well as to an expert.
Rating:
Summary: Available on the web!
Review: This book is an exemplary textbook on molecular cell biology appropriate for upper level undergraduate studies with clear explanations and excellent diagrams. However, it should be noted that the previous edition (which contains over 90% of the information of the new edition) of the text is available for free through the NCBI . ... Go digital age!
Rating:
Summary: On the definitive texts on cell/molecular biology
Review: This book is highly regarded by professors and students alike as the finest textbook on the subject matter. It is the required textbook in many universities for both undergraduate and graduate courses in cell biology and biochemistry.
I studied biology using the earlier edition of this text (when Drs. Dennis Bray and James Watson were co-authors)and even had Dr. Alberts as one of my teachers (he is an excellent instructor by the way!). As with this new edition, it provides clear, illustrative details on cell structure and functions, its replication cycle, growth and differentiation and some histological data.
This certainly is not a book for light, 'casual' reading (under most circumstances anyway!). But for biology majors and those seriously interested in the subject, it is one of the most comprehensive works out there, yet feels 'user friendly,' providing many graphs, figures, and illustrations to help the student better comprehend the complexity of this subject.
Rating:
Summary: The best biology book ever.
Review: This book is science writing at its best. The writing is clear and unpretentious. The authors lead the field of molecular biology. And they are superb teachers.
Rating: 
Summary: The best Cell Biology text, but...
Review: This book is the main undergraduate cell biology text required, and rightly so. However, although it browses all of the sub-fields within the gigantic field of cell biology, it overemphasizes some fields and neglects others. The shortcomings of this text are a classic example of how experts in one field assume that related material will be covered in a related text, and when that invariably doesn't happen, everyone points fingers at each other and nothing changes. The main shortcoming I am talking about is the field of Signal Transduction. This text very briefly gives a few pathways, and assumes that other texts dealing with Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Immunology, and Physiology/Pharmacology will take up the slack. Nothing could be further from the truth! Most undergraduate Biochemistry texts do give several dozen pathways, but these almost never continue on to gene transcription, a critical part of signal transduction. Molecular Biology texts like Genes VI only give examples of a membrane-to-DNA pathway, and the Immunology texts only give immune-related pathways. Signal transduction is by far the most important aspect of modern cell biology, and yet it is the most neglected sub-field in the texts! This needs to be corrected.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Book You'll Ever Buy
Review: This is a great book. I've used it for all of my undergrad and graduate level classes. It is well written, with complete explinations and in an easy to understand language. It is well organized and has excellent diagrams and images to help illustrate important concepts. This book is expensive but well worth the money.....the only thing I don't like...it's heavy.
Rating:
Summary: Cannot put book in shopping cart.
Review: This is an excellent book. However, AMAZON will not let me put the book into the shopping cart section. I wrote to AMAZON and they confused this book with the accompanying problems book which can be put into the shopping cart. I have had other AMAZON books which could not be put into the shopping cart and are thus impossible to buy. Amazon cannot apparently fix this problem. So far they have not recommended another source for buying the book. I am very disappointed. I have seen the library copy but I cannot keep it out for several years.
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