Biochemistry

Ronanc1

Can anyone here suggest a good biochemistry book for an undergrad preferably one with a fair amount of depth but easily read and understood plenty of pictures too

Capt'n Midnight

Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry
Stryer ?


Best bet is to go to a library and borrow one for a week or two, to see if it suits.


Has biochemistry changed much over the years, how old a book can you go for first year ?

Ronanc1

Already looked at both stryer and Lehninger they're very good, big and full of all the info you would ever want, i was just curious wanted to see if there were any other suggestions other than them or anyones favoured choice in particular.

A Neurotic

I hear good things about Lippincott's Illustrated Review - apparently has lots of simple, clear diagrams. Haven't checked it out for myself yet though.

Jessibelle

A Neurotic wrote: »

I hear good things about Lippincott's Illustrated Review - apparently has lots of simple, clear diagrams. Haven't checked it out for myself yet though.

I've used Lipencotts, it's very very good for the diagrams, but does gloss over some over the more technical stuff in the text. It's great for basic biochem, as in if you're doing a few modules in it, but if it was a biochem degree, I'd use it for diagrammatic reference only, and have a support textbook for backup, like one of the Instant notes series or something similar.

A Neurotic

Jessibelle wrote: »

I've used Lipencotts, it's very very good for the diagrams, but does gloss over some over the more technical stuff in the text. It's great for basic biochem, as in if you're doing a few modules in it, but if it was a biochem degree, I'd use it for diagrammatic reference only, and have a support textbook for backup, like one of the Instant notes series or something similar.

Do you think that the Instant Notes text goes into sufficient detail then? I've been using it but some of my classmates have expressed concerns that it's a bit basic, compared to Stryer or Lehninger. I'm just doing a module of Biochem for first year medicine.

Tree

Oh i do love lehninger, too dark to see what edition is on my shelf, but it's awesome.

Kevster

You just want a broad coverage of biochemistry, right?

*trumpets sound* ... ... I give you Principles of Biochemistry (not Lehninger's one):

http://images.pearsoned-ema.com/jpeg/large/9780131977365.jpg
http://images.google.ie/imgres?imgurl=http://images.pearsoned-ema.com/jpeg/large/9780131977365.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.pearsoned.co.uk/Bookshop/detail.asp%3Fitem%3D100000000246864&usg=__yJ6z8YshimQQ8c-qiXdqR6HqERM=&h=648&w=504&sz=93&hl=en&start=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=XpftLbHbo-igiM:&tbnh=137&tbnw=107&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522principles%2Bof%2Bbiochemistry%2522%2Bhorton%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26tbs%3Disch:1

mardybumbum

I found Voet particularly useful it. I came across when I was studying apoptosis which stryer didnt cover at all.

I have five biochemistry texts in my own collection.
- Stryer: easy to read. Didn't have any chapters on purine metabolism, apoptosis and a few other topics in my module.
- Meisenberg: this is geared towards medical students. Had everything I needed in it. Doesn't go into as much detail as stryer, but sometimes that was a good thing. Not sure why the Biochemistry department recommended stryer over this.
Lipincotts and Instant Notes: Just used them for revision really. They were handy when my head was too fried to go near stryer.
- Have another one whose name I will try to get for tomorrow. It was more or less the same as stryer with nicer illustrations.

Overall, I would recommend Voet and Voet.

HQvhs

I'm using Lippincott and occasionally Meisenberg from the library. Lippincott is great for an overview, and the diagrams and flowcharts are brilliant! If I'm having a bit of trouble with something then I get out Meisenberg and that usually does the trick!

A Neurotic

Bought Lippincott's from a final med this morning. €5, can't go wrong!

Piste

I bought Meisenberg but have since discovered I can learn much better from Lippencott, it seems to be laid out more clearly with fewer massively intimidating chunks of texts. That said, I tend not to refer to the biochem books all that much anyway, I usually stick to lectures.

KizzyMonster

Stryer!!

A Neurotic

Exam tomorrow. Instant Notes, Lippincott's and (shamefully, I know) Wikipedia are GO.

Jessibelle

A Neurotic wrote: »

Do you think that the Instant Notes text goes into sufficient detail then? I've been using it but some of my classmates have expressed concerns that it's a bit basic, compared to Stryer or Lehninger. I'm just doing a module of Biochem for first year medicine.

Sorry I'm so late getting back to you The instant notes does have a fair amount of detail and like I said, fills in the gaps in lipencotts nicely, IMO, they are both just good on their own but FANTASTIC combined!
Best of luck in the exams, between all three of your sources, you're well covered

Kevster

A Neurotic wrote: »

Exam tomorrow. Instant Notes, Lippincott's and (shamefully, I know) Wikipedia are GO.

Don't forget your amino acid one- and three-letter codes

Jessibelle

Well how'd it go?

A Neurotic

It was OK. Could've been better, but could've been far, far worse. I was able to throw down fairly decent essays on inflammation, adrenaline signalling, the enzymes of replication, and HDLs. No fantastic answers by any means, but I knew something about them at least. Tripped up on the experiment question on enzyme kinetics though, which will bring down my marks a good bit.

Cramming some MCQ's right now for tomorrow's MCQ exam - it's 20% of the module so all is not yet lost!

woop

just for reference I found voet voet and pratt difficult to pick up and learn

garret and grisham was my preffered, but I think it really depends on which you find easiest to learn from

CramCycle

I just got the new Eric Newsholme book:

"Functional Biochemistry in Health and Disease: Metabolic Regulation in Health"

So far I think its excellent (not finished going through it yet) and will be recommending it to my undergrads next term (at the very least for 1/2/3 year), other than that I would have pushed maybe Stryer, although there are one or two minor sections missing. The Instant notes is excellent for background and will get anyone a pass in first and second year. Wikipedia also ain't bad if your in a rush cramming in early years but misses bits of focus for 3/4th year. I would be against the Voet, Voet and Pratt as I remember finding it very hard to follow in my undergrad and being told by several that it was one of the worst books I could have gotten.

Improbable

Little bit late but I thought I'd post this in case you still need some advice. I just finished a biochemistry degree in UCD. Stryer was always good enough in first and second year. Used Stryer a bit in third year but the majority of the information came from reading up on the papers in pubmed. Fourth year was dependent almost exclusively on the papers.