[.ca] Essential Cell Biology: An introducton to the Molecular ... (ISBN 0815320450)

A lively and clear introduction to cell biology:
I read this book during the summer prior to me senior year in high school, and literally could not put it down. I read the whole work cover-to-cover in a week. Going in, my background in biology was an introductory cell biology course and my background in chemistry was an introductory chemistry class. That I had little formal training in the sciences was irrelevant when reading this; it explains all the concepts so clearly that I think even a person with no background in science at all could understand it. The diagrams and photos are well-done and highly pertinent. This is not to say that this book is only for non-scientists. Indeed, I even used knowledge gleaned from this fantastic book to teach my teachers a thing or two. Perhaps the section on muscle contraction is the best written of all - no other book I have ever seen comes close to this in clarity, and this section was one that I recommended to my Anatomy and Physiology teacher for clarification about a few concepts. I am soon to be a sophomore in college, and this book continues to inspire me on my path to be a professor (I study chemistry with an emphasis on chemical biology). This book was invaluable even in a rigorous microbiology course, not to mention other introductory courses. In summary, I rarely leave home for extended periods without this text (literally). If there is ONE BOOK that you should buy for studying cellular and molecular biology, let it be this one (or, if you are so inclined, its larger brother, Molecular Biology of the Cell).

A fairly useful introduction to cell biology:
This is a beautifully presented book. My students like it enormously, because of the conversational style, the illustrations, and the overall readibility -and this is perhaps the highest aim a textbook can aspire to achieve. However, I find that the authors have gone too far in their attempt to abridge and simplify their previous opus -Molecular Biology of the Cell (MBOC): some topics are insufficiently or superficially discussed. Also, the style is slightly verbose at times. Finally, I think that the book could benefit from some reorganization. The following examples illustrate my point. *Osmosis is given a very brief mention.(p 382). *The repulsion for anything mathematic continues the tradition started by MBOC. The Nernst equation, is given just a little box in page 393. The Donnan effect doesn't even have a walk-on part. *The discussion of action potential contains the usual story of the voltage gated K+ channels, when these channels are not found in myelinated mammalian neurons. *Myelin itself is not even mentioned. *The discussion on G protein-linked receptors -a key topic- is very superficial. *Membrane potential is introduced in a rather convoluted fashion. Furthermore, the concept is used several times before it is finally explained. *Certain sections may leave the reader confused. For example p53 is described as a gene regulatory protein which arrests the cycle when DNA damage occurs (p 580). But when tumor suppressor genes are discussed, only retinoblastoma is given as an example, which would tend to convey the mistaken idea that p53 is not a tumor suppressor gene.

Great aid to understand the cell and cellbiology:
The book excells in didactic qualities by a systematic evolment of the main topic, by preceding each chapter with a keyword like abstract of the chapter topic, by ending each chapter with a list of the presented key concepts and questions which are propperly answered at the end of the book, by a clear print where text runs down on two thirds of the page while the remainder of the page shows an unbelievable number of color illustrations, and by a readable, understandable and precisely written style. Since the book is an introduction into it's field, it will necessarily not cover too intricate details. And certain things are still under research, even seemingly simple ones like: Does the myosion filament in muscle cells really "float" like on p.539? There was a different picture in the PROCNATL, some time ago. The chapters are: 1.) Introduction to Cells, 2.) Chemical Components of Cells, 3.) Energy, Catalysis, and Biosynthesis, 4.) How Cells Obtain Energy from Food, 5.) Protein Structure and Function, 6.) DNA, 7.) From DNA to Protein, 8.) Chromosomes and Gene Regulation, 9.) Genetic Variation, 10.) DNA Technology, 11.) Membrane Structure, 12.) Membrane Transport, 13.) Energy Generation in Mitochondria and Chloroplasts, 14.) Intracellular Compartments and Transport, 15.) Cell Communication, 16.) Cytoskeleton, 17.) Cell Division, 18.) Cell-Cycle control and Cell Death, 19.) Tissues.

A textbook that inspires you to think:
This book contains essential stuff enough for medical students, although not enough for biochemistry or biology students. But this book is still useful because whenever you read the book, you will be inspired to that particular field. It is written not as tedious and complex as those "big" textbooks. Easy to read. Interesting. I highly recommend this textbook. But if you are looking for every detail in molecular biology, this book is not satisfactory.

A great help for a 1st year Med Student:
"Essential Cell Biology" by Bruce Alberts literally saved my 1st semester. The course went hard and the lectures were long and boring. And then - I opened the Essential, started reading, and suddenly things got clear for me. I got an A on the test, and now I know my Cell Biology well - all thanks to this book. Strongly recommended!!!