Rating: 
Summary: Biochemistry at its Best
Review: The new (5th) Edition of Stryer is fabulous! I have been out of school for awhile and just started using this book for a course. The coverage of protein structures is outstanding (and check out the website!). Furthermore, this book uses the human genome project and bioinformatics to build up biochemistry in an elegant and easy-to-learn way. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the book throughout the course.
Rating: 
Summary: Good survey text for someone with a year of biology
Review: The simple fact of the matter is that, while not a classic on the level of "Molecular Biology of the Cell", this is a good introductory text. It is livened with examples of research applications, which keeps it from becoming a banal compendium of principles. On the other hand, it is relatively free from "gee whiz" fluff. It is not as quantitative as one might like, but some reviewers here have demanded a level of rigor which is inappropriate for classes full of pre-med students. A practicing structural biologist, for example, will invariably use a specialized reference for doing real work. To require too advanced a physical and chemical foundation for a book like Stryer's would be counterproductive. It provides a broad survey of biochemistry, rather than a deep discussion of particular topics therein.I used this book in a self-study ("autotutorial") course for introductory biochemistry. The overwhelming reaction from people taking the course, including myself, was that the textbook was fantastic. I find it difficult to believe that a student with a decent background in organic chemistry and biology would have any trouble with this book; it is quite readable, although the chapters could be more coherently structured. Overall, Stryer's book is more than adequate for an introductory biochemistry course, and its exposition is significantly better than most. None of the introductory texts I have encountered suffice as topical references for pursuits such as computational genetics or structural biology, so the question becomes, "is this a good biochemistry book to start with?" I submit that it is.
Rating:
Summary: Good survey text for someone with a year of biology
Review: The simple fact of the matter is that, while not a classic on the level of "Molecular Biology of the Cell", this is a good introductory text. It is livened with examples of research applications, which keeps it from becoming a banal compendium of principles. On the other hand, it is relatively free from "gee whiz" fluff. It is not as quantitative as one might like, but some reviewers here have demanded a level of rigor which is inappropriate for classes full of pre-med students. A practicing structural biologist, for example, will invariably use a specialized reference for doing real work. To require too advanced a physical and chemical foundation for a book like Stryer's would be counterproductive. It provides a broad survey of biochemistry, rather than a deep discussion of particular topics therein. I used this book in a self-study ("autotutorial") course for introductory biochemistry. The overwhelming reaction from people taking the course, including myself, was that the textbook was fantastic. I find it difficult to believe that a student with a decent background in organic chemistry and biology would have any trouble with this book; it is quite readable, although the chapters could be more coherently structured. Overall, Stryer's book is more than adequate for an introductory biochemistry course, and its exposition is significantly better than most. None of the introductory texts I have encountered suffice as topical references for pursuits such as computational genetics or structural biology, so the question becomes, "is this a good biochemistry book to start with?" I submit that it is.
Rating: 
Summary: Terribly messy and ugly.
Review: This book belongs to the past, when people did not know how to write nice biochem. books. Today, we have Matthews et al, Voet, Lehninger... All those books are easy to read and follow, have fantastic illustrations and pedagogcial aids - and do not contradict theselves in every other line. This book may have been the first, once - but it sure was not the last, too, so go and get a more modern account of biochem, in a new and brushed-off format, that you can read also if you do not have a heap of time on your hands!
Rating: 
Summary: Easy to read, but not so good to study from
Review: This book is considered a classic in its field, and, indeed, had few serious competitors up until about eight years ago. But, with new undergraduate texts that appeared since then, the weaknesses of Stryer's text became more apparent. 1. The text is not structured well enough: its 37 chapters are divided into a number of titled topics, but it is apparent that students would find it easier to manage if each chapter were divided into 4-8 major topics,just the way it has been done in 'Student companion for Stryer's Biochemistry' by Gumport et al. 2. It seems that the book owes part of its popularity to the fact that the most difficult topics have either been left out or are covered very briefly and with serious lack of rigor. The most notorious example is incredibly poor coverage of biochemical energetics. Since most readers are life science majors or medical students with little background in thermodynamics and electrochemistry, this ought be treated in a more detailed and more serious manner. Many students find the treatment of energetic aspects of oxidative phosphorylation and photosynthesis so unclear tham majority of them find it necessargy to consult some other text to figure things out. The same goes for enzyme kinetics - it is just inexcusable for a text of this size to completely ignore discussion of bisubstrate kinetics and other common complex kinetic systems. As a conclusion, Stryer's Biochemistry 4th ed. is still readable and up-to date text. However, nowadays there are several other texts of about the same size and aiming at the same audience, but with much less things to complain about. As a TA in an undergraduate biochemistry course, I found texts by Mathews and van Holde (1996), Garrett and Grisham (1995) and Lehninger, Nelson and Cox (1993) to be more adequate for the needs of most students. My students especially praise Matthews and van Holde as a book which enables them to easily grasp even the most difficult concepts.
Rating:
Summary: Skips on most details
Review: This book is fine for understanding the general picture, but it doesn't get detailed enough, it is better than some books though. Try Voet's Biochemistry, unless you are one of those biology people who can't understand things through the concepts of physics and chemistry. In that case you should find an easier subject that doesn't deal with rigorus academic topics.
Rating:
Summary: Chock full of good info, but extremely difficult to read.
Review: This book is packed to the gills with in-depth, complete information on every aspect of biochemistry. It has numerous charts and diagrams with lots of information in them, and very thorough coverage of most topics. It's only real flaw is that unless the reader has already had biochemistry training, the book is unreadable. It is specifically a graduate/high level undergrad text--contrary to the disturbing trend of introductory biology courses to use it. It's also very heavy, and makes a good door stop. It's bright red, so you won't lose it. And it looks really impressive on one's bookshelf.
Rating:
Summary: a little too simplistic.
Review: this book was a little simplistic for anything other than a gentle encounter with biochemistry. i would suggest voet and voet for a more in-depth and advanced coverage.
Rating:
Summary: A Superb book!
Review: This is a superb book to understand the excitement in biochemistry and to understand its relevance to human health. Stryer's book presents biochemistry in a completely different manner. Instead of traditionally presenting one topic after the other, it presents each chapter giving a representative molecule or system for explanation and characterization of the material in that chapter . For example, heamoglobin and myoglobin for explaining the three dimensional structure of proteins, lysozyme and chymotrypsin for explaining enzyme action, and a host of others. Each example is critically chosen, considering its role and function in life and metabolism. This makes the matter very interesting and practical. Paralleling this are given descriptions of diseases and biochemical disorders as well as historical perspectives. The last part, molecular physiology, gives a lucid exposition of the fundamental biochemical processes in living organisms. In fact, the whole point of view in the book is a physiological one. The book is unlike Lehninger, which is essentially a traditional textbook. Even though Lehninger is good as an introductory book, Stryer is, in my opinion, the book to read if you want to learn biochemistry as a discipline which should be viewed as an exciting excursion into human metabolism and life.
Rating:
Summary: Learn elsewhere
Review: This is a very colorful, well laid-out book. Stryer divides chapters concisely, so the reader can skip around without worrying about reading preceding material. There are some decent pictures and CGIs/Electron Micrograph images. Loads of fascinating material and information. Word of caution: the book weighs a ton (go to the gym the semester/year you take the course) and some of the reading is rather complex to the new biochemistry student (catered towards upper-division, graduate students). Good book but not a keeper, mainly because of the constant advancements in the field of biochemistry.
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