Fundamentals of Biochemistry: Life at the Molecular Level [Hardcover]

As far as content, this book wasn't too bad. However, I feel that the Lehninger Biochemistry text is an easier read, and I also believe it does a better job of explaining the interactions between molecules, proteins, etc. For that reason I switched to that text mid-way through Biochemistry I. On the plus side, this particular textbook has a little more content in the area of bioenergetics, but other than that, I'd stick with Lehninger. The main problem I had with this binder version is that the pages tear very easily. The paper is extremely flimsy, and because of this I tore multiple pages in this binder version. If you're going to buy this edition, I strongly recommend you do not buy the binder version - especially if you plan on selling it later.

I have to begin by question for whom exactly this textbook was written. I had to use the 2nd edition of this text for an introductory biochemistry course, and it has been the single most atrocious textbook I have come across in my entire 10 year academic career.

The fundamental problem with learning "Fundamentals of Biochemistry" from this text is that there is appalling amount of in-coherency and discontinuity in the topics presented. The final result is something that is entirely incomprehensible and very painful to learn from unless you already have had substantial amount of exposure to the elementary topics of biochemistry before. The author has included a girth of information, often randomly distributed, so much so that trying to understand the most basic principle in each section becomes a mind numbing task of trying to comb through what feels like a tomb of the entire biochemical science known to man-kind.

Just to give an example, when trying to understand something as basic as the Kreb Cycle, the author utterly fails to present first a comprehensible overall picture of what the entire process entails, its significance, and consequences. Instead we are presented, in quite vomit-inducing detail, details down to the shape and step by step mechanism of function, chemical structure, and shape of each of the enzymatic reactions involved so that by the time you have spent an hour in one single subsection, you are lost and not even sure how any of this even relates to the original topic. This made worse by the authors digression from the immediate topic,and back references to figures and section of many chapters past, which means almost none of the sections are self-contained and the reader is sent on a wild goose chase trying to piece all the information together.

Be advised, this item does not come with access to WileyPlus, the online program that accompanies the text. I noticed the item description has changed since I bought and returned the text, so Amazon must have gotten complaints.