Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry

I have always loved chemistry but I know little about biochemistry. Now I believe that I know and understand a lot of this subject. Thanks to Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry, with its easy-to-understand text and super-clear illustrations you can grasp and understand the subject. I have high expectations for the next edtion because biochemistry is one of the fastest growing sciences.

I take exception to the lavish praise heaped on this textbook. This may be the best biochem text available, but, it has numerous flaws that I believe Lubert Stryer's "Biochemistry" does (did) not have. First, the authors have a poor writing style, which includes long winded, convoluted sentences containing several ideas that could have been put in shorter, simpler sentences. The result of this is unclear meanings, loss of continuity of ideas, and awkward sentence structure. Second, terms are used without definiton. Third, appositon is used inappropriately and is so over used as to lead to confusion and obscurity of meaning. Fourth, verb phrases are sometimes separated so far from the subject and main idea of the sentence that you find yourself rereading the sentence, not so much for meaning, but more so for sorting out the structure. I could go on. There is much to be said for short, direct, simple sentences such as was Stryer's style. In conclusion, this text may have the relevant information necessary for an undergraduate course in biochemistry, but in my opinion, it is not well written.

If you are looking for a good biochemistry text book for an introductory course in biochemistry, this book is highly recommended. Even though Lehninger passed away years ago, his famous book "Principles of Biochemistry" has stood as one of the best. Drs. Nelson and Cox from U of Wisconsin had updated this text 7 years ago when the second edition of the text was published. I used this text in my first year biochemistry class and I found that it was really help me learn this complicated yet fasinating materials. In 2000, the 3rd edition of text , still written by Nelson and Cox, is available in the market. I look through the book and I find that this book has been thoroughly updated while maintaining the excellent organization of the ordinary text. The CD-ROM is also included in this edition and there are lots of wonderful pictures and animation that can help you teach and learn biochemistry. Unlike Voets' text, this book is not chemistry oriented. So if you are looking for mechanism behind the metabolic process, Voet&Voet can serve as a better one. However, if you want to learn or teach biochemistry in general...this book is a book of your choice.