Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry 4th Edition

This Biochemistry textbook is extremely well-written. The figures, tables, and boxes are quite informative, and the problems at the ends of the chapters will challenge you a lot! I really don't know why anyone in the sciences would not like this book. First of all, an incredible amount of data and research went into the making of this book -- so there is A LOT to learn. Second of all, this is a Biochemistry textbook, which means that the material will seem mind-numbing and dry. But since when does "interesting" entail "fun"? No one can be automatically excited by the subject matter; it requires a conscious effort to GET excited, once you get past the mind-numbing part -- exercise your brain!The only reason I can think of which would turn people away from this book is having a short attention span! The whole point of learning is not to be entertained but to be educated, and this book is the perfect tool for educating. There aren't any goofy cartoon characters or child-like drawings in this book, which may seem why many are turned off by it. But the subject matter is extremely interesting, and if you are willing to learn about the amazing chemical processes within cells, then buy this book! (Learning Glycolysis and the Citric Acid Cycle for the first time will NOT be a fun task -- take my word for it, it's extremely dull -- and no amount of cartoons can make metabolic processes fun. But such processes should be appreciated, regardless of the level of difficulty in learning them.)

What I like the most about this book is that it contains almost all the information that you need to understand biochemistry, information that is not traditionally covered in biochemistry books, but that is needed as background to a complete understanding of the subject. For instance, the first chapter of this book gives background information on the biological, chemical, genetics, evolution basis of biochemistry. It explains the cell in enough detail to understand references made to the cell components later on in the textbook. Another thing I found is a detailed explanation of D and L configuration, as opposed as just saying all amino acids found in proteins are L isomers. No other book I've read explains where the L, D configuration convention came from and students usually confuse it with levorotatory and dextrorotatory, when they are different things altogether. It also has an entire chapter dedicated to water chemistry, which serves as both a review and a basis for understanding the importance of hydrogen bonding in biochemistry in later chapters.In essence, this is a very COMPLETE book, in the sense that it covers material not found in traditional biochemistry books (ex. Berg, Stryer), but that is necessary to understand other aspects of biochemistry. If you are planning to specialize in the study of biochemistry, you definitely want this book as part of your reference collection.

I love this book. I have an earlier edition of this book that I got when taking undergraduate biochemistry in college. That was about a good decade ago. Technology changes so fast. Though its true molecules and their basic structures tend to stay the same, but technology in which biochemistry is being used is constantly advancing.I bought this item as an inexpensive used book on Amazon, and I am so glad I did. The simplicity of understanding remains true in this 4th edition book. It still packs it with new technology (proteomics, etc.). I bought this at the same time of buying a proteomic book, but the small discussion the Lehninger book provided on proteomics was good enough that I regret buying the other book. I'm constantly amazed by how well the author(s) of this book presents information in a logical, accurate, and non-overly complex format.

This college level text by Lehninger is for the ages.

Good book. Helpful for any level of biochemistry class one pursues within the college environment. Has enough adequate details as well. Really enjoyed the figures which can supplement the text of the book or the figures which can stand alone to describe other relevant processes. Has an online access password as well for reviewing other relevant information. Only caveat is that the book can be very bulky.

Yay Biochem! This was way cheaper than the newer edition and is essentially the same book!

There's a lot to like about this textbook. The level of detail is not overwhelming, it's not too long, and the explanations are mostly clear. It has a good glossary, and includes short answers to all the problems at the ends of the chapters. It provides some physiology in a chapter on mammalian metabolism.The problems with this book are in organization. There is no subsection numbering, as if all subsections are of equal importance. But they aren't – there is almost always a hierarchy of relationships, which these authors ignore, and this makes the chapters much harder to understand. Topics are sometimes presented out of order; for example, the authors present an overall table of transporter classifications, but describe the various transporters in a confusingly random order. Subsections and paragraphs are sometimes poorly organized, so that instead of “A leads to B leads to C leads to D leads to conclusion,” you find “A, C, conclusion, B, D.” The “Boxes” which provide supplementary material are especially poor, so much so that I stopped reading them after the first few chapters. This text really needs extensive editing (I used the 4th edition, so maybe later editions are better).In spite of the problems, I like this textbook and refer to it often. But if it's the textbook for your class (or for self-study), you should get another textbook as a backup, or prepare to spend some time online to understand the less well-explained sections.

My favorite Biochem book. Well written and easy to understand concepts. I had it in undergrad and ironically it was on my book list for med school- I referenced it all the time.