Principles of Biochemistry With a Human Focus

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding professor
Review: I took the Comparative Biochemistry at UVa taught by Prof. Garrett and it was the best class I took at UVa. He had an amazing way of organizing lectures so that I kept wanting to learn more and more as the hour went by. I didn't even have to take a lot of notes, because he made things clear and it all sunk in. I was really inspired to do a good job on our research papers and really learned alot because of the types of things he taught us to think about. I was a terrible student, had awful grades especially in chemistry and biology but this class really stuck out. Oh, and I got an A too. Unlike alot of professors, he didn't have a loud or condescending tone. While I didn't pursue biochemistry any further, I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had because he was such a great professor and I enjoyed his class so much.

Rating:
Summary: Obnoxious Clown Man writes book!
Review: This man likes to laugh at his own jokes! Do you want to be TAUGHT by a BOOK by a man that laughs at his own JOKES! He plays the banjo! There was a picture of him playing banjo, which happened to be the most interesting thing in the book, but he removed it, so be sure to get an old version.

Rating:
Summary: All in all, most suitable for a general audience
Review: Undergraduate biochem at my school is taught by the biochem department (not surprising). However, as a result, we have all sorts of people taking the course from prospective chemists (me) to premeds and general bio sci majors. So the dept. uses this book and it's probably the best compromise out there. Voet and Voet would be perfect if the course was taught exclusively for chemists, Stryer if the course was loaded up with premeds (horrifying thought, I know :) ) But Garrett and Grisham have managed to write a rather well balanced text (one is in UVA's bio dept., the other UVA's chem dept) with plenty of both chemical insight and medical relevance. Based on (I'm sure) similar experiences they've had teaching biochem to a mixed audience, and knowing that most undergrad biochem courses tend to be taught to similar groups of students nationwide, this is the best book for a case like that. (However, I'm getting Voet and Voet as a reference for me personally one of these days.)