Rating: 
Summary: not so bad
Review: As a graduate student in biochemistry who has never taken a physical chemistry class, but who has a good background in physics and calculus, I really like this book as a reference. Standard physical chemistry textbooks I looked at, such as Atkins, did not cover the biologically relevant topics I was interetsed in.
This book contains just the right depth for a reference in biophysical chemistry. The concepts are always presented with biological applications in mind. The topics coveredare exactly what I was looking for, including thermodynamics, kinetcs, quantum chemistry and the theory behind the main biophysical techniques,
I was originally intending to buy the 3 volume Cantor and Schimmel series, but I have found that this book gives me everything I need for a much lower price.
Rating: 
Summary: Good reference
Review: As a graduate student in biochemistry, who has never taken a physical chemistry class, but who has a good background in physics and calculus, I really like this book as a reference. Standard physical chemistry textbooks I looked at, such as Atkins, did not cover the biologically relevant topics I was interetsed in.This book contains just the right depth for a reference in biophysical chemistry. The concepts are always presented with biological applications in mind. The topics covered, from thermodynamics to kinetcs, quantum chemisty and the physics behind the main biophysical techniques, are exactly what I was looking for. I was originally intending to buy the 3 volume Cantor and Schimmel series, but I have found that this book gives me everything I need for a much lower price.
Rating: 
Summary: Dry and confusing:Hardcover 3rd Edition
Review: For a very difficult subject this book is without any color or interesting text.The derivations of the already complicated equations jump steps so you have to redo them all yourself to see how they got to the end. I got through to nearly the end of the first chapeter but then gave up for now as I was falling asleep too often.I get the impression that the authors were approached by the publisher to write this textbook and that it was not written with any passion to show the excitement of scientific discovery.There is no background or history mentioned which would have made the whole thing more human.
Rating:
Summary: Dry and confusing:Hardcover 3rd Edition
Review: For a very difficult subject this book is without any color or interesting text.The derivations of the already complicated equations jump steps so you have to redo them all yourself to see how they got to the end. I got through to nearly the end of the first chapeter but then gave up for now as I was falling asleep too often.I get the impression that the authors were approached by the publisher to write this textbook and that it was not written with any passion to show the excitement of scientific discovery.There is no background or history mentioned which would have made the whole thing more human.
Rating:
Summary: No solutions manual?
Review: I have reviewed this book and I have to point out that it is too confusing. Maybe it would not be soo confusing if I had the solutions manual to check myself, if I am right or wrong. Otherwise haw will I ever learn anything, if I do not know the real answers.
Rating:
Summary: Better as a reference than a main text.
Review: I used this text in a physical biochemistry course and found it helpful in some areas, and not helpful in other areas. For one, the solutions are sometimes incorrect in the back, and there is not a solutions manual readily available (see other reviews for comment on that point). I feel that for a subject as difficult as physical biochemistry, a much clearer, more friendly textbook is required. If you are looking for a text to help you understand physical biochemistry for the first time, this is NOT the book for you. However, if you are already familiar with the subject matter, this book is a helpful reference. I still use it from time to time and find it more useful now than I did before I understood the material.
Rating:
Summary: how about a solutions manual?
Review: The text is pretty detailed and has clear concise explanations. Sorely lacking a solutions manual.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent Text, HORRIBLE SOLN manual
Review: The textbook is okay. The book features a lot of connections to biochemistry, which is where the world is going so that's good. The formula are listed at the end of the book, but their implementation isn't always clear from reading the book.
The book also makes you look up a lot of values on tables for the equations .... It's a bit of a pain.
The Solutions manual, however, was conceived in the eye of the PChem Devil. The manual features wanton plug and chug of equations, without showing which equations to use. Its methodology for some questions is confusing and, worse still, some of the answers are wrong. Whoever wrote this exam must have a brain tumor that's corrupting their knowledge of Pchem, because I've never seen a worse answer guide.
Rating:
Summary: A really confusing text
Review: This book is not intended for first time learner or a person who wants to study in depth about P-Chem or Bio-P-Chem.
If it were not due to uc berkeley's requirement, I would NEVER buy this.
The text is lacking of derivations. Easy problems are made to be too complicated. I had to refer to my physics book in order to do the problems.
I would not recommend anyone to buy this.
Rating:
Summary: Prepare to buy suplementary text
Review: This book is packed with information!!!... now good luck trying to sort through it all. The book is not organized very well, and in deriving some of the equations, they fail to explain how they reached the next step. For the part on Thermodynamics, they brush over some parts that I thought would be important in understanding the whole picture. If you already understand Biophysical Chemistry, this book could be for you, but if it is your first time learning the material, I would try another text.
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