[.ca] Biochemistry (ISBN 047119350X)

From Amazon.co.uk:
Aimed at first/second year courses in biochemistry particularly those with a chemical bias, this text is authoritative, comprehensive and reflects current research in biochemistry--especially the advances in molecular and protein structure. There is increased emphasis on Human Disease and more extensive use of molecular techniques. It includes extensive molecular biology material and presents biochemistry from a chemist's perspective. As with the previous edition an annual update Supplement will be published to accompany the text, keeping it as up-to-date as possible. A Solutions Manual is available to accompany this text. Contents: Introduction and Background: Life; Aqueous Solutions; Thermodynamic Principles: A Review; Biomolecules: Amino Acids; Techniques of Protein Purification; Covalent Structures of Proteins; Three-Dimensional Structures of Proteins; Protein Folding, Dynamics, and Structural Evolution; Haemoglobin: Protein Function in Microcosm; Sugars and Polysaccharides; Lipids and Membranes; Mechanisms of Enzyme Action: Introduction to Enzymes; Rates of Enzymatic Reactions; Enzymatic Catalysis; Metabolism: Introduction to Metabolism; Glycolysis; Glycogen Metabolism; Transport Through Membranes; Citric Acid Cycle; Electron Transport and Oxidative Phosphorylation; Other Pathways of Carbohydrate Metabolism; Photosynthesis; Lipid Metabolism; Amino Acid Metabolism; Energy Metabolism: Integration and Organ Specialisation; Nucleotide Metabolism; The Expression and Transmission of Genetic Information: DNA: the Vehicle of Inheritance; Nucleic Acid Structures and Manipulation; Transcription; Translation; DNA Replication, Repair and Recombination; Viruses: Paradigms for Cellular Functions; Eukaryotic Gene Expression; Molecular Physiology.

Voet and Voet Biochemistry:
This book is complete garbage, especially considering the price. Explanations of relatively simple ideas are often made unnecessarily complicated. A good deal of the writing is unnecessarily flowery, and sentence structure is quite often more complex than is necessary or desireable for a book of this sort. I wasted an enormous amount of time rereading sections that turned out to be extremely confusing ways of explaining relatively uncomplicated concepts. In my view, potentially confusing scientific concepts should be explained in the simplest possible way. There's enough substance in the actual material that decorative language is definitely not necessary. For the price, I would have expected better editing as well, quite a few noticeable typos (3rd edition Vol. 1). I haven't read any biochem textbooks besides this one, but I'd recommend avoiding this one at all costs.

A very deatail oriented text:
My biochem class "officially" uses the Lehninger textbook, but my professor also uses the voet & voet as a reference. I'll say the Lehninger book is good to read as intro, but if you really want to learn the details you've to use this book instead. I think not a single biochemistry book out there is good enough for every aspects, but i'll highly recommend using the voet text along with another one so they can fill each other's holes.

Very good and detailed text:
This book is extremely detailed in chemical pathways and those explanations for them. The explanation is even very complicated for some seemingly-to-be-simple concepts. Maybe that's why some people hate this book. But I personally like it. When I was very frustrated to find out that Lehninger textbook hasn't included how to calculate pI value, I could find the simple calculation here. The text of this text book is also simple to read and ,not like Lehninger , it is quite fluent.

The very best biochemistry textbook out there:
I've used the 1st edition of this textbook during my undergraduate days as a B.A. in biology (but concentrating in molecular biology and biochemistry), and then I used the 2nd edition during medical school and my fellowship in biophysical chemistry. If you are in the medical sciences, biochemistry, biophysics, physical chemistry, and even organic chemistry, this is the "must-have" book for you. It contains a more detailed explanation of the topic than typical undergraduate textbooks, but it still has excellent coherence and clarity to each and every topic despite the amount of information. I feel this book satisfies even the most "physical sciences" minded of us. I'm still waiting for the 3rd edition!

THE BEST:
If you're looking for a biochemistry textbook, this is it. I have used everything from Stryer to Matthews and Van Holde, and this book tops them all. Great illustrations, extensive topics covered, and well-written text. A+++