Biochemistry, Solutions Manual

I started reading Voet and Voet a few months ago, in preparation for a transition into computational biology that I'll make making soon. The book is quite detailed, which is useful to me as a researcher, because it lets me get up to speed on the current state of biochemical knowledge without having to read too many papers first. As a class textbook, however, I can understand why it might not be an optimal choice. The level of detail can be overwhelming, and obscures the big picture. In my case, I'm looking to study specific biochemical structures and systems, so the more detail provided, the better.

This book covers much of the same material as Stryer with about twice the detail and vastly better illustrations. V & V's massive advantage is a detailed methods chapter that lets you understand how the advances in biology have been made, and why science is so slow and frustrating. If you're serious about understanding biological chemistry (as distinct from understanding how the cell works, in which case you'll want a book on molecular cell biology), look no further than this. The third edition will be coming out in 2002, at about the same time as the sixth edition of Stryer. Expect V & V to be more up-to-date, better illustrated and less verbose than its competition (although obviously I haven't seen either yet). If you're a medical student, try Devlin's Biochemistry with clinical correlations. If you want an integrated cell biology/biochemistry text, try Garrett and Grisham, including part 5.

Speaking as someone who suffered through what might be termed a "traditional" biochemistry sequence as an undergraduate (i.e. scads of memorization of every metabolic pathway on the planet; minimal emphasis on applying what you learned in general and organic chemistry to the class since it was assumed the premeds taking the class had forgotten it), the first time I read V & V was a breath of fresh air. I felt that biochemistry was not some obscure dark magic, but rather something that connected to the rest of chemistry. Now in what is termed "biophysics" ( I have a B.S. in chem and a doctoral degree in physics), I still reach for Voet and Voet whenever I need to check some obscure fact for whatever it is that I may be doing. To the 17 year old who said that all that chemistry stuff is "uncomprehendable", well, unless you've taken organic, inorganic and physical chemistry at a university level, it most likely is to you. However, for those of us who are actually trained in the physical sciences, Voet and Voet is the only real choice.

This is far and away the best general biochemistry text book I've seen. I used it in my undergraduate biochemistry courses, in which it made an invaluable contribution. The one drawback is that since the biotechnology world is changing so fast, the 2nd edition is a little out of date. For instance, it doesn't really acknowledge bioinformatics at all. Hopefully Voet & Voet are working on a 3rd edition.

Voet and Voet is meant for chemists. The legendary Stryer is meant for doctors, physicians, that just want to pull through biochem in some way, without having to revise all their calculus, physics and organic chemistry to keep their pride up high where it belongs. I believe that doctors in particular would find Voet & voet the superior text, because it always surveys the prerequisites that are needed for the moment. Stryer is likely to send you to other books all the time, to have terminology explained, to see mechanisms and to see tables that supply information to topics discussed. Styer supplies you with Anfinsen's anecdotes about Schoenberg to form an elegant surrogate of understanding the inherent beauty o Biochemistry, whilst Voet & Voet gievs you the information you need to understand biochemistrywell enough to see some of that beauty yourself. Do not by Stryer. There is nothing in it that you do not find in VOet & Voet. Styer has rotten pictures, rotten layout, a rotten index and a rotten binding - the book falls apart sooner or later; Voet is stitched so you can keep it forever and use it as much as you please.