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Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: An excellent overview Review: Good: This book gives an excellent overview of molecular simulation techniques starting with quantum mechanics ab initio type calculations and going up through molecular dynamics and polymer simulation. It gives a good step up from your standard physical chemistry text (such as Atkins or Chang) to being able to read the literature on modern molecular modelling techniques.Bad: The treatment of many methods is somewhat superficial. The book was first written in 1996 and updated in 2000 - it is starting to get a bit out of date. Overall I would recommend this as a solid introduction and reference.
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: One of the first... Review: I hear that the Jensen book is very similar... But, until I read it I'll keep my trap shut... This is a very good book at providing some of the foundations for how many comp. chem. methods function. Gives a good overview for almost all methods, but some newer concepts (which weren't exactly developed at the time) are a bit sparser... The math isn't overly daunting if you can follow most QMech stuff, and he provides many many references in case you do get stuck... Overall, good, but perhaps needs to be overhauled for the next generation of comp. chem.
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: One of the first... Review: I hear that the Jensen book is very similar... But, until I read it I'll keep my trap shut... This is a very good book at providing some of the foundations for how many comp. chem. methods function. Gives a good overview for almost all methods, but some newer concepts (which weren't exactly developed at the time) are a bit sparser... The math isn't overly daunting if you can follow most QMech stuff, and he provides many many references in case you do get stuck... Overall, good, but perhaps needs to be overhauled for the next generation of comp. chem.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Review by a molecular tyro Review: I'd like to recommend this book from the perspective of someone who is new to the field. I have only an informal background in chemistry and biology and an undergraduate physics degree that's 20 years old. Mr. Leach works through a broad range of material, from numeric solutions to the quantum equations for a molecule to algorithms for searching through the conformational space. His descriptions have to be concise in order to fit the enormous volume of material he has to cover, yet I found that I had no trouble following along. He often takes a historical approach. I found this effective. I would find myself wandering down blind alleys when examining the early solutions, then read the later art and have a greater appreciation for the problem than if the ultimate answer were presented first. I have been able to use much of the book as a practical guide in my work. Frankly, I'm amazed that someone with a professional life can find the time to put together a book of this scope.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: The bible Review: If you could choose only one book about molecular modelling - this should be it. Everything is covered, more or less thourough, from ab initio to molecular docking, algorithms, force fields, molecular dynamics, etc. It is well written, but also works well if you want to look up single key words. The book can be read by novices to molecular modelling as well as it is useful for experts. I can highly recommend it.
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: Good overview of the field Review: Leach provides a very good overview of the entire computational chemistry field, discussing everything from ab initio quantum mechanical methods to molecular mechanics. The book is fairly easy to read and is appropriate for beginners. However, I did detect certain typographical errors in sections of the book discussing QM methods that may confuse those just being introduced to the field. Hopefully these will be removed in later printings. For a more detailed discussion of QM methods try Introduction to Computational Chemistry by Jensen.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: The best starting point for molecular modelling Review: This book is probably the best starting point if you are approaching molecular modelling for the first time. In the first part it contains a description of the models generally used to develop forcefields; I found the description of the molecular mechanics forcefields very clear and not oversimplified; then it describes the most common calculation methods, some tricks of the trade and some very interesting applications of molecular simulations (for example the basics of drug design, that I found particularly interesting). The book is not useful if you want to learn writing your own software for molecular modelling, but it's very useful for software users who want to understand how programs work and how to make the best choice among different calculation options (not an easy task for a biochemist). The author always provides the basic theory underlying molecular simulations, and the mathematical and physical parts enable the reader to understand the fundamentals of the most used methods (MD, MC and conformational analysis expecially). You don't need to be an expert in the computer field or in theorethical chemistry to enjoy the book: everyone who has a background in chemistry can take advantage of all the topics covered.
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