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Title: Physical Chemistry: Principles and Applications in Biological Sciences (4th Edition) by Ignacio Tinoco, Kenneth Sauer, James C. Wang, Joseph D. Puglisi ISBN: 0-13-095943-X Publisher: Prentice Hall Pub. Date: 06 August, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $106.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 2 (9 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: Dry and confusing:Hardcover 3rd Edition
Comment: For a very difficult subject this book is without any color or interesting text.The derivations of the already complicated equations jump steps so you have to redo them all yourself to see how they got to the end. I got through to nearly the end of the first chapeter but then gave up for now as I was falling asleep too often.I get the impression that the authors were approached by the publisher to write this textbook and that it was not written with any passion to show the excitement of scientific discovery.There is no background or history mentioned which would have made the whole thing more human.
Rating: 3
Summary: not so bad
Comment: Tinoco, Sauer, Wang, and now Puglisi, have written a fine text on both the foundations of thermodyanmics and physical chemistry, and the applications of these fields to biological phenomena (both natural and experimental.)
The 3rd edition of the book, in this reviewer's memory, was remarkable only in its staggering lack of focus and explanatory power. This 4th edition vastly improves on that effort.
It has to be said that thermodynamics without statistical mechanics is probably always going to be obscured by the fog of axioms, unless the reader exhibits some remarkable intuitiveness about entropy and partial derivatives. The first few chapters of the book focus on thermodynamics from this axiomatic approach, and may be the reason why so many undergraduate students find the whole thing so distasteful. But it has to be said that the authors spared some effort in trying to ameliorate the abstractness of thermo, by interjecting molecular interpretations of thermo phenomena every now and then.
Once the reader has sped past the thermodynamics, and free energy equilibria chapters, he can be expected to come upon a series of well-written chapters on kinetics. The chapters are generously illustrated with informative diagrams, and most modern and relevant topics are discussed, such as transition state theories, enzyme kinetics, allostery (although the section on allostery was slightly underwhelming. I recommend that the authors develop this section more carefully by considering the various regimes of allostery.)
A valiant attempt is made for discussing quantum mechanics and applications to physical chemistry problems. However, it would seem that quantum mechanics just can't be taught in one chapter, although it's essential in proper understanding of spectroscopy, which forms the basis for the subsequent 'applications' chapter.
The book ends with a discussion of statistical thermodynamics. If the reader begins here and reads it carefully, it is likely that he can surmount the comprehension problems in the initial thermodynamics chapters. This is only the opinion of this reviewer though.
In summary, this is a good book with a comprehensive collection of topics relevant to the modern biology researcher (be you biochemist, biophysicist, chemical biologist, or plain vanilla biologist). The undergraduate student may be bewildered by the variety of topics presented in such a succint manner. The book has easy to read type, sometimes crammed with too much text. There is an absolutely excellent selection of problems, with an accompanying solutions manual that bears only a few errors. Let it be said that there are many many worse physical chemistry books out there, and giving this book anything less than 3 stars would corrupt the usefulness of the ... ratings system.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good reference
Comment: As a graduate student in biochemistry, who has never taken a physical chemistry class, but who has a good background in physics and calculus, I really like this book as a reference. Standard physical chemistry textbooks I looked at, such as Atkins, did not cover the biologically relevant topics I was interetsed in.
This book contains just the right depth for a reference in biophysical chemistry. The concepts are always presented with biological applications in mind. The topics covered, from thermodynamics to kinetcs, quantum chemisty and the physics behind the main biophysical techniques, are exactly what I was looking for.
I was originally intending to buy the 3 volume Cantor and Schimmel series, but I have found that this book gives me everything I need for a much lower price.
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Title: Introduction to Protein Structure by Carl-Ivar Branden, John Tooze ISBN: 0815323050 Publisher: Garland Publishing Pub. Date: 15 January, 1999 List Price(USD): $58.95 |
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Title: Structure and Mechanism in Protein Science: A Guide to Enzyme Catalysis and Protein Folding by Alan Fersht ISBN: 0716732688 Publisher: W.H. Freeman & Company Pub. Date: 01 January, 1999 List Price(USD): $114.20 |
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Title: Statistical Methods in Bioinformatics by Warren J. Ewens, Gregory R. Grant ISBN: 0387952292 Publisher: Springer-Verlag Pub. Date: 20 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $89.95 |
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Title: Biological Sequence Analysis: Probabilistic Models of Proteins and Nucleic Acids by Richard Durbin, S. Eddy, A. Krogh, G. Mitchison, R. Durbin ISBN: 0521629713 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 01 July, 1999 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
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Title: Brock Biology of Microorganisms (10th Edition) by Michael T. Madigan, John Martinko, Jack Parker ISBN: 0130662712 Publisher: Prentice Hall Pub. Date: 09 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $128.00 |
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