Biology With Infotrac: Concepts and Applications (Brooks/Cole Biology Series)

Rating:
Summary: too wordy, too advance for an intro book
Review: cecie starr, gets mixed up in her own poorly written (and many times, poorly organized) textbook and produces numerous grammatical errors that make her sentences have two meanings, or mean something else that's completely wrong. the textbook uses too many pronouns, like "it" "them" "they" and you end up wasting time finding out what "that" was 2 to three sentences ago. one ends up spending too much time figuring out what she tried to mean, and the logic of her grammar, rather than learning the new material. so you end up reading a chapter over and over again without much help. her pages are jam packed with new and therefore hard concepts to grasp, without much explanation. starr needs an editor big time, especially when it comes to simplifying her complicated and poor writing of the already not so simple concepts of biology to new students. i do not recommend this book (or most of cecie starr's textbooks) to novices, this book is an easy read for bio experts.

Rating:
Summary: Good book, helpful for college bio
Review: This was my text in my undergraduate biology classes. It is filled with a lot of information and can be intense at times. However, I must say is very complete. Topics such as ecology, evolution, animal structure and function were particularly interesting. I also used more than one source to study from. Patrick Leonardi's "The Ultimate Study Guide for Biology: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations (Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3) were right on the mark for great test preparation questions. They were just awesome and so helpful for helping me really get a hold on what is important to study for in biology. Cecie Starr's Biology: Concepts and Applications helped me to first learn biology. Patrick Leonardi's study guides showed me what kind of questions to get ready for on my bio I and II exams. These books helped me to pass biology with very good grades. I thank both these authors for writing these books.