Biochemistry Eighth Edition

My biochem book is online, but I need a paper book to read. My biochem professor said they're all fairly similar in the basics so I just chose one that was well reviewed on Amazon. This was the one. It's great though - for my fundamental biochem class, this goes into exactly the amount of detail I need. I like the way it feels too.

I absolutely love this Biochemistry book. It has a beautiful classic clothbound cover and is filled with beautiful illustrations with easy reading to simplify the complexities that go along with learning Biochemistry. I highly suggest it!

Excellent book, just what I was looking for. It was delivered very quickly, and packaged as it should be. The book was unboxed in perfect condition. Luckily no surprises!

I'm oddly a bit obsessed with how this book feels. It's a hardcover book, but the outside is sooo soft. It's like velvet or felt or something (I'm not so great with knowing fabrics). I just wish all my books felt this way. It was also a great book for studying biochemistry. It came in handy.

I am an historian and a non-specialist who did serve eight years in a poison-research laboratory, and an historian is no better than the tools he or she brings to the table. I have owned a second edition of this work (1981) for decades, and simply stated, Stryer was the best.I purchased this edition as an update, since clearly biochemistry has advanced a great deal in 40 years. And, this edition certainly has additional material. If your major be biochemistry, you're going to need either this or the most recent edition.For the rest of us, understand that this is a text book with limitations on size and scope. I have yet to read my new edition thoroughly, but my present-sense impression is that the new authors have taken Stryer's base and condensed too much of the master's superb explanations that they might fit all of the new material into a one-year course.Think of the problem an historian would have in adding 40 years to an introductory U.S. history class!For my non-specialist purposes, therefore, the second edition is better, hence only 4 stars for the new one. To give an example of the difference, Stryer's treatment of sickle cell trait and disease is detailed and excellent, and if one is trying to introduce U.S. history students to what race really is, this definitely is the place to start. Sickle cell is a condition detrimental to humans generally but benefits populations in Africa where deadly forms of malaria are endemic. Of course, sickle cell disease (two alleles) is fatal, but sickle cell trait (one allele) protects against malaria because the plasmodium parasite will not fit inside the sickled red-blood cell.However, place the same Negro so protected atop Kilamanjaro, and the change in altitude will do him in too.This, of course is an excellent introduction to the concept that race is an evolutionary process, and that it makes no sense biologically to speak of one race being "superior" to another -- without reference to environmental conditions, any idea of racial "superiority" is silly.The new editions do contain the basic sickle cell facts, but the explanation is truncated and makes the historical lesson more difficult. I recognize the problem the authors face, of jamming too much material into a text. Nevertheless, the loss of detail in those areas important to me oblige me to dock the work a star, at least in comparison to the earlier edition.

Excellent textbook. Really a 'go to' textbook for anyone interested in Biochemistry.Only concern was with the shipping. The book was placed in a box without any wrapping to protect it during shipping. One corner was damaged during transit. Really a minor issue, but for a new, and relatively pricey textbook, I expect 'pristine/perfect' condition.

I receive it in two days as well as the return slip already printed out and slipped in the book for me! That was a nice surprise because I always get busy and forget to print it off and then I may be late. It was great!

dense but very clear language.