Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry, Third Edition

This is a slightly earlier version of the textbook I rented during my time in biochemistry. As a recent grad, I wanted a copy for myself to have always. This book is absolutely amazing. It presents biochemistry in a way that is relatable and easy to digest. Honestly? I can't imagine a better biochem textbook. The figures in 4th edition look a bit dated now but overall is aesthetically great still. There are one or two things I noticed right away (phosphoglucose isomerase is called phosphohexose isomerase), but nothing mind blowing. Basics tend to hold up very well through the years. Highly recommend.

The book was not what I expected, or as pictured, being considerably larger (low price edition) and actually hardcover (instead of paperback). But I believe the product was worth its price, seeing as the regular version costs a lot more and this version, although not like new, is still very good.

It is far too often that lecturers erroneously prescribe Voet for introductory biochemistry courses. This makes students suffer and dislike the subject; but truly, biochemistry is a remarkably interesting topic, provided one has the appropriate source of information. I am a Chemistry major who suffered at the hands of my inarticulate lecturer and also the intially hated Voet & Voet Biochemistry. To recount my position, I had just finished introductory organic chemistry and went into biochemistry. For student such as myself, I found Voet not to have those transient features to fully make the migration from structural and mechanistic elucidations of organic chemistry to analysis of macromolecules and complex metabolic pathways. The major flaw of Voet is in its first two parts, the final part is actually quite good, once you understand the basics. That was the problem! an introductory biochemistry course is supposed to teach you the basics with great emphasis placed on biopolymer structure (i.e. carbohydrates, complex fatty acid polymers (sterols and phospholipids) and finally proteins). I didnt follow my lecturer's lectures as he was difficult to understand; he is often in the habit of reading exactly what was on the powerpoint presentations....no reiterations, no further explanations. I was scared that I would not do well in the unit and so I purchased Lehninger. It was the greatest decision I had made in context of studying Biochemistry. The authors know very well the plight of students who have to contend with not only biochem but a multitude of other challenging units. They have made this book lucid with detailed, "easy to understand" conversational explanations of various pertinent topics in biochemistry. Great emphasis had been placed on the fundamentals and how to implement these principles in solving biochemistry associated problems. Voet on the other hand is an encyclopedic, condensed dictionary that defines terms and other features in a very precise and often complicated way. This is something that becomes handy once one actually understands what Voet and Voet are talking about, it is only useful AFTER an introductory biochemistry unit. The CD presented with lehninger uses much more complex graphical engines to present information...it actually presents it in a more beautified manner than voet. This is imperative to the student as it reduces the learning curve in understanding the fundamental basics which are all important to biochemistry such as the detailed features of protein structure, how alpha helices and beta sheets differ. THe differences in the various levels of protein structure (i.e. primary to quaternary), the WHY and the HOW of many of these topics are discussed in detail not as text but as vivid animations which would make the user in awe of biochemistry. Enzyme kinetics is also very well dicussed, Voet uses calculus and mathematical proof to explain the Michaelis-Menton formula and the constant. However Lehninger

Is there something about biochemistry, which one does not get in the other science (and engineering) fields? My first encounter with Lehninger was as an undergraduate student at Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria. Though I was majoring in Chemical Engineering, I followed four voluntary courses from the Biochemistry department. Lehninger (2nd edition) was a sine qua non text especially for its thorough, albeit introductory treatment of amino acids, peptides and proteins; carbohydrates; fatty acids and lipids; as well as nucleic acids. I also used it extensively for a course on Bioenergetics. Years later, I am a graduate student in Chemical Engineering. Yet I chose to order this book to brush up and improve my knowledge of biochemistry. How often do you come in contact with terms such as genomics, proteomics, gene expression and recombinant DNA, wishing you fully knew what they meant? Well, that in part was what drove me to buy this book, coupled also with my desire to become involved in research that cuts across the life sciences and engineering sometime in the future. This is a great book. It is very much an introductory text and provides a wealth of information on further texts where one can get hold of advanced information. The authors have done a wonderful job by writing an up-to-date text in which inspires one to learn and look for ways of applying what has been learned. I am not a scientist but an engineer and my field is one that relies on scientific breakthroughs to manufacture products, which make life more comfortable. The frequent references to medical applications in the text are so beautiful.

There basically are two top contenders for the #1 position for a biochemistry textbook: Lehninger vs Voet. At first sight, the 1650+ pages Voet text for 'chemistry' oriented students seems like it is too much for the competition. So, how can Lehninger do better in 1100 pages? There are several factors at play, and the 4th edition of Lehninger simply dominates Voet and the rest of the biochem texts out there as follows. The Lehnninger text has a long history, but given that biochemical knowledge doubles every 5 years or so, it matters what a text offers now, not in the past. The writing style is simple, direct, engaging, not too easy but neither too esoteric. The principles (as the title suggests) and the unity in diversity are emphasized, so that the student understands biochemical principles not merely facts, acronyms, pathways. The graphics are very professional. They are comparable to any review article in hot journals such as Nature, Science, Cell, etc. The rendering of protein surfaces, and the different angles through which a structure is seen is outstanding (a good example is the section on the ribosome). The structures have been rendered from the PDB (protein data bank) coordinates. Most are rendered in the ribbon representation, but in many cases the surface is rendered in grey, depending on the level of detail. Contrast this with the 3rd edition of Voet: the authors have not bothered to re-render their graphics, most are identical to the 1995 edition, a time when people only cared if you could generate a structure. Voet's graphics are not done uniformly; the backgrounds can be white, grey, black, some structures are taken directly from the original literature and vary widely in the format and rendering. It is not enough that Voet updated the text on biochemical developments from 1995-2004. The Lehninger pages on the most important protein folds, for example, are very helpful in giving the student a feel for the fold, the domain composition, the size, and names of model proteins one is expected to encounter over and again in the research literature. But pretty pictures are not the only thing that sets Lehninger apart from the rest. The material is distilled such that almost the same ammount of information is contained in this text, even though Voet is 50% bigger. There can be no such text as "Advanced Biochemistry" for grad students etc. -- if one is looking for that sort of thing, then one should purchase a life sciences encyclopedia. For undergraduates, any text is bound to be a bit overwhelming, but Lehninger is clear enough that the above average student should assimilate the material preparing for an exam without too much confusion or difficulty. I also like the typesetting in Lehninger much better than Voet, which again, uses the same boring format as the 2nd 1995 edition. The quality of paper is good in both texts. Lehninger's text feels like the space is utilized well, whereas Voet's space is a bit overcrowded, though strangely,

I'm not a scientist or a student, just someone who was interested in biochemistry as I've been reading a lot about astrobiology and felt I needed a better background in this area. I found this book to be really quite wonderful - beautiful in fact! - with terrific diagrams (my favorite being the e. coli DNA which goes all around the text of the page) - and very well written. It has some incredible diagrams of the proteins involved in biochemistry. Also it has some interesting "asides" covering scientific discoveries or items of medical interest. The discussions of hemoglobin and vitamin B12 were particularly memorable. Anyway, I can't stop talking about this book to people. I think biochemistry should be required in college for all students, it really makes you appreciate life in a different way than you did before.