Biochemistry

I am currently enrolled in an undergraduate biochemistry course and have been for about two months. So far (the first 15 chapters), I am very pleased with the textbook. Most explanations are clear, and the illustrations are usually helpful. Also, there are asides that link concepts to real world applications that are interesting. But, I wish the protein chapters included a more comprehensive coverage of motifs.

Finally, an introductory biochemistry text with a decent amount of chemistry in it! After seeing most biochemistry texts slowly turn into boring biology tomes over the past decade or more, it is heartening to see the latest edition of Stryer's Biochemistry. Jeremy Berg has done an excellent job of bringing back the chemistry into this classic text.

This is a superb book to understand the excitement of biochemistry and to understand its relevance to human health. Stryer's book presents biochemistry in a completely different manner. Unlike traditional textbooks, it presents each chapter giving a representative molecule or system for explanation and characterization of the material in that chapter. For example, haemoglobin and myoglobin are illustrated for explaining the three dimensional structure of proteins, lysozyme and chymotrypsin for explaining enzyme action, and a host of others. Each example is critically chosen, considering its role and function in life and metabolism. This makes the matter very interesting and practical. In parallel with these examples are descriptions of diseases and biochemical disorders as well as historical perspectives. Key points are italicized and help the reader to concisely and quickly summarise the material. The last part, molecular physiology, gives a lucid exposition of the fundamental biochemical processes in living organisms. In fact, the whole point of view in the book is a physiological one and the book does an outstanding job of presenting biochemistry in the context of human health and medicine. The book also has a generous dose of drawings of proteins, molecules and nucleic acids which makes it easy to visualize the material presented. The book is unlike Lehninger, which is essentially a traditional textbook. Even though Lehninger is great as an introductory book, Stryer is, in my opinion, the book to read if you want to learn biochemistry as a discipline which should be viewed as an exciting excursion into human metabolism and life. Review of new edition (Berg, Tymockzo): I had written a favourable review earlier for a previous edition of Stryer. I rest my case for the latest edition too. Jeremy Berg and John Tymoczko, both accomplished authors, join Lubert Stryer in producing this time tested and comprehensive book. If you are someone like me, who believes that enzymes and proteins are the key to understanding the mysteries of life, then this book is for you. While it may not have as much coverage of nucleic acid chemistry biochemistry as some of the other books, many believe that the next revolution in biology is going to hinge upon our understanding of SYSTEMS. And while an understanding of genes is crucial as enabling knowledge, if you really consider all the actual action that happens in biochemical systems, almost all of it is mediated by enzymes and receptors. Stryer's new edition has literally hundreds of pictures and discussions of proteins and enzymes which explain the structure and function of these magnificent biological agents. The book has still retained the concise and yet comprehensive style which made its previous edition so good. Again, the book strikes a good balance between textbook and medical biochemistry, which is its great strength. Small boxes and side discussions throw light on the most interesting events connected with

Stryer's biochemistry is a very well-known text in the field. This book contains hundreds of topics but the author explains them so concisely and understandably. It may not be a good text book for a beginner to start learning some biochemistry language ( I recommend Lehninger's for this purpose) but for someone in the field, this text can serve you more than a simple reference. I hope the new edition of this text will come up soon and I am quite sure that Stryer will do a great job editing his creation with many new concepts this edition does not cover. Overall, this text deserves an five-star comment.

I have used this book throughout my undergraduate years and now into my graduate studies. This book provided tremendous insight and enough curosity to make me really appreciate biochemistry as a whole. I agree that additional (disease description) information is needed but this book really does suffice!