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Summary: A great help for a 1st year Med Student
Review: "Essential Cell Biology" by Bruce Alberts literally saved my 1st semester. The course went hard and the lectures were long and boring. And then - I opened the Essential, started reading, and suddenly things got clear for me. I got an A on the test, and now I know my Cell Biology well - all thanks to this book. Strongly recommended!!!
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Summary: An easy-to-grasp introduction to cell biology,
Review: "Essential Cell Biology" comes to you from theauthors of the widely acclaimed "Molecular Biology of theCell." This new text has been carefully geared to introductory students, without any sacrifice of scientific rigor. The clear and concise text is lavishly illustrated in beautiful full color, with figures that (along with electron micrographs and photographs) systematically explain and clarify important priciples and concepts.
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Summary: A MUST HAVE FOR ANY EDUCATED PERSON
Review: A gem of a book. It puts at the hands of lay people the wonders of molecular biology. The best way of spending $65 I can think of.
The text is a most refined product distilled by an all-star team of leading scientists. Oriented towards the lay person or the would be specialist, it is simple, unpretentious, sometimes even funny, but always powerfully explanatory. The diagrams are exceptionally clear (a must for explaining such complex subjects) and the photographs are astounding. Love for their subject and passion for teaching are present all along. And mysticism is always around the corner... If you have ever wondered things like "What are exactly chromosomes?", "How do exactly enzymes work in the cell?", or "How the hell does all this machinery work at a purely chemical level ?" and you are not quite satisfied with popular science books, this one is for you. It will answer these questions and much, much more. An enjoyable, deeply satisfying tour the force through the molecular level of all living organisms. Don't miss it!
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Summary: Usefull illustrations, but it didn't help much for class
Review: After taking my first course in cell biology I discovered a number of things about the subject. 1) Cell Biology is a HARD CLASS! In my class, we covered about 18 or so chapters of material. Tests were based mostly on memorization of both relevant and obscure facts as well as many, many molecular processes. For someone that is pressed for time and tries to cram before tests, there will be problems. 2) It is difficult to understand many of the processes in cell biology without some chemistry background. When I took the class, I was also in organic chemistry 2, but that didn't help much. If I could have done it over again, I would actually take Biochemistry before Cell because processes in Cell Biology are explained briefly and mostly independent of the chemistry involved, which forces the student to memorize information without really understand why these processes occur. 3) In general, Biology is becoming more problem based and in order to understand cell, you need to have solve useful questions.
Based on the inherent difficulties of Cell Biology that I have mentioned, I don't think that this book did much to bridge any of these learning gaps. The molecular processes were explained briefly which was ok, but since there was so many of them, it was still hard to manage. The chemistry of cell biology in this book is poorly explained. Chemical structures are largely discarded in favor of acronyms. Obvisously, acronyms are favored for the long run, but a firm understanding of the chemical structures needs to be understand first. In my opinion, this book relied too much on acroynms.
Finally, the questions in this book were terrible. Some were just inane (Compare signs of life for a rock and a plant) while others were just pointless (Calculate something or the other). Also, there were many problems that I was just clueless to even though I had read the information in the book. These problems asked what would happen if some molecular process was somehow disturbed. Obvisouly, questions of this nature are essential in understanding cell biology, but the book did not provide enough information to come up with a feasible answer. In my opinion, this book should be much more problem based and should have fair problems that are able to be solved, and there should be a student solutions book available that provides clear explanations to all questions.
This book was decent for basic concepts, but not really useful for really understanding the subject matter. I would recommend looking for a different text, even if this is the required text for your class.
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Summary: Perfect book for undergrad cell biology
Review: I found this book to be easy to learn from. I used this text for my cell biology class in undergrad. The energy pathways were explained with clarity. I also liked the section on gene technology. I also found The Ultimate Study Guide for Biology: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations (Topics: Organization of Living Things & Chemistry of Life, Structure and Function of the Cell and Energy Pathways, Reproduction and Heredity, and Genetics) Volume 1 to be an excellent additional resource for test preparation. The questions and answer format in this guide is very helpful for studying. Both books I highly recommend.
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Summary: This book has already helped me in the first week of class.
Review: I have just started my Introduction to Cellular and Molecular Biology course at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, and already I feel supremely confident in my understanding of the material discussed in class. This textbook is extremely easy to follow, combining authoritative text with well-labeled diagrams and photos as supplement. I have encountered no better textbook than this one.
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Summary: Book Does Not Make the Grade
Review: I have read a good number of science texts, and this one just doesn't seem to be as good as the others. The explanations are adequate, though not to the level that Marieb's Anatomy and Physiology was or to the extent of Biology by Campbell and Reese. In class, the professor told us to refer to Campbell and to "Molecular Biology of the Cell" for better explanations.
The glossary is incomplete, and often key terms are just nt there. The index suffers from the same trouble, even when the chapters address the topic. Lastly the graphics, just don't seem to be as well planned as those in the texts mentioned above.
I understand that many do not have a choice given that most buy the book as an assigned text. My recommendation, therefore, is to save your old textbooks and to ask that your professor place a copy of Molecular Biology of the Cell on reserve at your school library.
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Summary: Superb introduction to cell biology for short courses
Review: I have used Essential Cell Biology for my one semester introductory cell biology and found it to be superb!! It's perfect for a one semester undergraduate course, as well as a terrific overview for laymen with a strong interest in how and why cells work. For introductory cell biology courses, nothing on the market comes even close to this text. Like its larger predecessor, Molecular Biology of the Cell, the text is clearly written, informative, and downright interesting, a rare commodity in textbook writing. Once again, James Watson's superb writing style shows through in this book. The numerous illustrations are a superb complement to the text, explaining and reinforcing the concepts presented in the text. In addition to its use as a text for one semester courses, I would also recommend this to interested laypersons who have an interest in how cells work at the molecular level and are not satisfied with the few popular-level books on the topic. Here they will find a gold mine of insights into the marvels of cell structure and function, all of it clearly written and accessable to anyone with a good high school or mediocre college background in basic chemistry and biology. The only drawbacks of this book is the limited suggestions for further readings and the sparse information on the techniques used to study cells. Otherwise, it is a terrific, attractivly presented, superbly written and illustrated book. It is a real asset to all who have an interest in the cell, except for publishers of competing texts, who are likely to lose most of their markets to this excellent book.
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Summary: A lively and clear introduction to cell biology
Review: I read this book during the summer prior to me senior year in high school, and literally could not put it down. I read the whole work cover-to-cover in a week. Going in, my background in biology was an introductory cell biology course and my background in chemistry was an introductory chemistry class. That I had little formal training in the sciences was irrelevant when reading this; it explains all the concepts so clearly that I think even a person with no background in science at all could understand it. The diagrams and photos are well-done and highly pertinent. This is not to say that this book is only for non-scientists. Indeed, I even used knowledge gleaned from this fantastic book to teach my teachers a thing or two. Perhaps the section on muscle contraction is the best written of all - no other book I have ever seen comes close to this in clarity, and this section was one that I recommended to my Anatomy and Physiology teacher for clarification about a few concepts. I am soon to be a sophomore in college, and this book continues to inspire me on my path to be a professor (I study chemistry with an emphasis on chemical biology). This book was invaluable even in a rigorous microbiology course, not to mention other introductory courses. In summary, I rarely leave home for extended periods without this text (literally). If there is ONE BOOK that you should buy for studying cellular and molecular biology, let it be this one (or, if you are so inclined, its larger brother, Molecular Biology of the Cell).
Rating:
Summary: A lively and clear introduction to cell biology
Review: I read this book during the summer prior to me senior year in high school, and literally could not put it down. I read the whole work cover-to-cover in a week. Going in, my background in biology was an introductory cell biology course and my background in chemistry was an introductory chemistry class. That I had little formal training in the sciences was irrelevant when reading this; it explains all the concepts so clearly that I think even a person with no background in science at all could understand it. The diagrams and photos are well-done and highly pertinent. This is not to say that this book is only for non-scientists. Indeed, I even used knowledge gleaned from this fantastic book to teach my teachers a thing or two. Perhaps the section on muscle contraction is the best written of all - no other book I have ever seen comes close to this in clarity, and this section was one that I recommended to my Anatomy and Physiology teacher for clarification about a few concepts. I am soon to be a sophomore in college, and this book continues to inspire me on my path to be a professor (I study chemistry with an emphasis on chemical biology). This book was invaluable even in a rigorous microbiology course, not to mention other introductory courses. In summary, I rarely leave home for extended periods without this text (literally). If there is ONE BOOK that you should buy for studying cellular and molecular biology, let it be this one (or, if you are so inclined, its larger brother, Molecular Biology of the Cell).
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