Instant Notes Biochemistry (Instant Notes)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent overview
Review: People often make the mistake of hitting the bigger books with the hope that they will gain a more complete understanding of a subject. However the problem with such an approach (particularly when beginning a subject) is that more often than not, one loses sight of the key concepts and broad principles. This where i feel this book is a gem. The strength of this book is that each chapter succinctly provides you with all the main points you need to know about each subtopic. In this way you are given a solid basis and contextual understanding, enabling you to gain a deeper appreciation of biochemistry from larger texts.

At the start of each biochem topic in your course, read the corresponding chapter in this book first, then use your lecture notes or larger texts to fill the gaps/details.

This happens to be one of a very few review books i've kept in my extensive library.

Dr A.M.

Rating:
Summary: Tight, concise, pretty nice, right price.
Review: This book is a super concise quick read on the subject. It covers the main points without boggling you with information overload on deatils. I wish it would show more chemical structure at times to make the logical of transformations more transparent;in the metabolism sections particularly. The graphics are minimalmistic, this mode is not exploited by the authors. It does not make much of an attempt to help you better understand the logic of the subject in the metabolism section. Overall I believe the book delivers what it promises. Still I wish there was a concise review book with good graphic displays, interesting writing that revealed the beauty and logic of the subject more. I give this book a C to B- overall.

Rating:
Summary: I love this book!!!
Review: This book was my lifeline when I took Biochemistry this past year. Everything is logically organized and the chapters are easy to read and quick to comprehend. The level of detail provided is perfect for an undergraduate level biochemistry course. The diagrams, while simplistic, are easy to understand and remember for use on exams. The only drawback might be a failure to integrate all the different metabolic pathways, but this is a shortcoming found in many textbooks.