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Fundamentals of Biochemistry: Life at the Molecular Level
Donald J. Voet, Judith G. Voet, Charlotte W. Pratt
Edition: 2
ISBN: 0471214957
ISBN-13: 9780471214953
Publication Date: 2005-03-31
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 1264


Editorial Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):

1) Product Description
This text uses a more brief and qualitative approach to present biochemistry with chemical rigor, focusing on the structures of biomolecules, chemical mechanisms, and evolutionary relationships. It is written to impart a sense of intellectual history of biochemistry, an understanding of the tools and approaches used to solve biochemical puzzles, and a hint of the excitement that accompanies new discoveries. This edition has been thoroughly updated to reflect the most recent advances in biochemistry, particularly in the areas of genomics and structural biology. A new chapter focuses on cytoskeletal and motor proteins, currently one of the most active areas of research in biochemistry.

Customer Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 out of 5

1) Solid Biochemistry Textbook   [Rating: 4 out of 5]
The title of the book is a very succinct description of the content. This is a solid text with alot of good, basic information. As a course text, I think the success with which this book may be employed depends a great deal upon the employer. If all you require of your students is that they skim the chapters and hear your lectures, the book will seem simple and lacking in detail to the student. If you require your students to memorize the diagrams, tables, reaction mechanisms, molecular structures, pathways, etc... (as my biochem professors did), then the book will seem very difficult, convoluted, and complicated. Unfortunately, when you get to a course like biochem with so much information for the students to absorb, and for which every text looks like an encyclopedia, I'm afraid a person's opinion of a textbook actually depends more upon the instructor who presented them with the text, rather than on the text itself. So I suspect many of the reviews on this page are actually reviews of professors who taught the reviewers and not of the book. Just something to keep in mind.That said, I enjoyed learning from this text and I did well in the course (a notoriously difficult course at my school).

2) This "Upgrade" is a Real Downgrade   [Rating: 1 out of 5]
Overview:I am reading this book in preparation for Biochemistry I and find it to be full of gross errors. Simple definitions like that of osmosis are incorrect. Table 4-1 is terrible, and there are other tables and figures (Figure 3-6 for example) that require much more attention than they have been given. I am seriously concerned and disappointed about the authors, editors, and long list of professionals that reviewed this book because of missing basic "fundamental" pieces of information.Professors:If you are a professor who is thinking of using this text in class, I would suggest you DO NOT! Your students could be a hazard in the end if they plan to got to medical school or into pharmacology.Students:If you are a student currently using this text for class, please find other resources. I am catching only the errors that I know to be false, but there could be many more.DO NOT USE THIS BOOK!!!Further Comments:My professor will be using the third edition of this book in class, and I can only hope that in the third edition Voet got it right.

3) Excellent Condition   [Rating: 4 out of 5]
The book i received was in excellent condition, it was listed under the used section, but when i received it, it was still in the original packing. The only problem was the CD was missing somehow, no big deal.

4) great pits   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
When I first used this book in undergrad I did not like it very much, however, in medical school, I found this book to be a huge asset. It is great for someone who learns visually and condenses all the info on to a few pages, my medical school bio chem book took 30 pages to explain what this book does in a few. Also, I like the way this book is organized, it seems to flow.... the only chapter that seemed to need a little work was nucliotide mab.. Undergrad texts seem to stress more chemistry and enzyme mechanics, while med school will stress inh points. Also, photosythesis is not covered in med school, vitamins are not covered in this text

5) Difficult to use   [Rating: 2 out of 5]
This was the biochemistry book for my undergraduate course, but I hardly used it because it is not written in clearly understood language. It does have a glossary which is useful for looking up definitions, but when I would go to the index to clarify something we learned in class, chances were none of the references would apply to the concepts I was looking for, and if it did, it was incomprehensible. The general consensus among my classmates was that the book was worthless. The only useful feature is the end of chapter problems, and the solutions to these are found at the end of the book. I understand Lippincotts biochem is supposed to be pretty good, so you may want to investigate that if you are looking for a biochemistry book.