Book Description
The Biology of Cancer is a comprehensive, authoritative, up-to-date textbook written by a major researcher in the field. It clearly presents the principles of cancer biology in an organized and accessible fashion. The information unfolds through the presentation of key experiments which give readers a sense of discovery, and provides insights into the conceptual foundation underlying cancer biology.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent overview .......2007-10-13
This book is an excellent source of information for both students and professionals. It overviews the basics of cancer and cancer treatment in a detailed and accessible way.
Great Book.......2007-10-05
It's a great book for a concise and comprehensive review of cancer and its pathways.
fantastic book.......2007-06-14
This book is a fantastic read for anyone interested in the cancer biology. It is well-written, comprehensive, current, and the illustrations are superb. The enclosed CD-ROM of the book's figures has proved invaluable for creating Powerpoint presentations on various topics in cancer.
Biology of Cancer by Robert A. Weinberg.......2007-05-14
Excellent, clear, comprehensive overview with useful CD supplement
The Biology of Cancer CL, by Robert A. Weinberg.......2007-05-07
it is a must have book for someone in cancer research. It covers both molecular and biological aspects of cancer very well.
Product Description
Ancestor is the world's most-popular "podcast novel." A serialized audiobook delivered in 20 weekly episodes, Ancestor's first run played to an audience of more than 30,000 die-hard fans in 31 countries. All told, fans have downloaded more than 700,000 episodes of Ancestor. En route to a rousing final episode, Ancestor was the #1 literary podcast on iTunes and every other podcast index, including Morpheus, FeedBurner, Podiobooks.com and Podcast Alley. The book's popularity caught the attention of the broadcast world, and was the first audiobook broadcast on Sirius Satellite to the company's 4.3 million subscribers. ANCESTOR On a remote island in Lake Superior, scientists struggle to solve the problem of xenotransplantation -- using animal tissue to replace failing human organs. Funded by the biotech firm Genada, Dr. Claus Rhumkorrf seeks to recreate the ancestor of all mammals. By getting back to the root of our creation, Rhumkorrf hopes to create an animal with human internal organs. Rhumkorrf discovers the ancestor, but it is not the small, harmless creature he envisions. His genius gives birth to a fast-growing evil that nature eradicated 250 million years ago -- an evil now on the loose, and very, very hungry.
Customer Reviews:
Scott Sigler Does It Again!.......2007-09-27
I found the book to be exciting and fun to read. It's a real page turner. I am looking forward to Scott's next book.
GNARLY FUN!.......2007-09-13
Scott Sigler's writing is fast, fun and furious. This book is a quick read and left me wanting more. This isn't your typical "gore-fest" horror novel. Sigler takes a unique subject and injects enough tech stuff without it tripping all over itself. I've read too many books where the author spends way too much time trying to explain the technical jargon that the story gets lost. Sometimes you just got to believe that the stuff, no matter how far-fetched, can really happen.
I really hope to hear more from Scott. I'm officially a "Junkie!" Besides, with a name like Scott, he's bound to be huge!
Genetic engineering, monsters and action.......2007-09-11
A terrific "genetic engineering gone horribly wrong" (Frankenstein) story, with wonderful monsters, interesting characters and good villains. This book is non-stop action, but has characters you care about. Excellent.
Retro adventure.......2007-09-07
It's been a while since I have read a "corporate-greed-leads-to-mutant-disaster" style book. This one for me, was a better one of that genre. While the plotting, dialogue and characters fulilled the time honored dances of the genre, it was done with sophistication and depth. My rating? Four stars for what it is!
The First Book I Every Threw Away.......2007-08-24
I got about half way through and had to throw this book away. I found the depiction of women in this novel to be offensive. ALL of the women are cheaters or socially and morally inept. I'm Not sure why it's necessary to make the women so fundamentally flawed. Also, all the men - at one time or another - referred to women as "bit**."
The dialog seemed artificial and unrealistic. For example, different characters commonly used the same phrases ("bit**"); and the narration would suddenly shift from calm to frantic.
There sure were a lot of BIG men in this book. Not sure why so many BIG men.
This is one of the worst books I have ever read.
Customer Reviews:
Really Fast.......2007-10-09
The book was delivered the second day after booked on the net, and in a fair price.
Operating compatability.......2007-09-15
A well priced product and from its description ideal for lecture purposes.
Unfortunately it does not work using Windows Media Player, Nero Showtime or Open Source media player on my computer using Windows XP.
Amazon returns system worked well with full refund but I would have liked a version that worked.
review on STUDY GUIDE.......2005-10-10
after being utterly discusted with this poor excuse of a study guide, i thought i would read some horrible reviews on the guide to make me feel better. to my dismay, people can't read and they only posted reviews for the text book, which is actually good but those reviews should be posted elsewhere.
You know there is something wrong with this guide when you see them call CH3-CH3 methane (pg 3 not to mention they got linoleic and linolenic mixed up) or on the multiple choice on page 19 has ribosomes as one of the right answers for proteins involved in transcription.
i have not done a lot of the questions in the book and all ready i see errors on every second page. i wonder if i will actually recieve lower grades if i study from this poorly written book.
I love study guides and have used them for stewert's calculus, campbell's biology and bruice's organic chemistry in college. were there some occasional mistakes... yes but overall they were good. this study manual however seems to have been written by a tribe of wild monkeys pounding on a keyboard. Save your 23 dollars
Inferior in every way.......2005-08-18
The Alberts text (Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fourth Edition) is superior to this text in every way. It is clearer, more precise, and contains more information. This one manages to make simple concepts become quite difficult.
Excellent but starting to get outdated.......2005-03-06
Excellent. Hands down the best book out there for cell biology. Gives a thorough look at the exciting unraveling of the cell. Figures are exceptional. However, being now ~3 years old and due to the intense output and growth of scientific literature this book is starting to get outdated. There have been several advances in a number of transport systems (i.e. Nuclear transport and regulation of gene expression). A new edition in the next year or so would hopefully address these issues.
Book Description
This mainstream, full-color physical anthropology text is the best-selling text in the market! While it continues to present a comprehensive, well-balanced introduction to the field of physical anthropology, this is a major revision and the book has shifted emphases in critical areas of biology, including molecular biology and genetics, to reflect the field as it stands today. Now, as a Media Edition, INTRODUCTION TO PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY automatically comes with the new BASIC GENETICS CD which responds to growing interest in genetic variation driven by advances in molecular biology enhance.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent, brand new and shipped fast.......2007-02-21
This was a good deal, it was brand new and it shipped very fast. I was impressed.
Book Description
Read it.
You're already living it.
Was diabetes evolution's response to the last Ice Age? Did a deadly genetic disease help our ancestors survive the bubonic plagues of Europe? Will a visit to the tanning salon help lower your cholesterol? Why do we age? Why are some people immune to HIV? Can your genes be turned on -- or off?
Joining the ranks of modern myth busters, Dr. Sharon Moalem turns our current understanding of illness on its head and challenges us to fundamentally change the way we think about our bodies, our health, and our relationship to just about every other living thing on earth, from plants and animals to insects and bacteria.
Through a fresh and engaging examination of our evolutionary history, Dr. Moalem reveals how many of the conditions that are diseases today actually gave our ancestors a leg up in the survival sweepstakes. When the option is a long life with a disease or a short one without it, evolution opts for disease almost every time.
Everything from the climate our ancestors lived in to the crops they planted and ate to their beverage of choice can be seen in our genetic inheritance. But Survival of the Sickest doesn't stop there. It goes on to demonstrate just how little modern medicine really understands about human health, and offers a new way of thinking that can help all of us live longer, healthier lives.
Survival of the Sickest is filled with fascinating insights and cutting-edge research, presented in a way that is both accessible and utterly absorbing. This is a book about the interconnectedness of all life on earth -- and, especially, what that means for us.
Customer Reviews:
Engaging but Sometimes Misleading.......2007-10-17
If Moalem and Prince were more careful with their facts, and pointed their readers to other works in this field, I would rate this book 5 stars. It is lively and readable, and will please many light readers.
On the other hand ... while there is a reference in the notes to a Scientific American review article by Nesse and Williams, there are no mentions of their excellent books "Why We Get Sick" and "Evolution and Healing". While a light reader may find those books a bit dry, a more scientifically minded reader will find much food for thought. Moalem and Prince are not trying to be scholarly, but they should acknowledge their scholarly antecedents. There are echos of Nesse and William's "Evolution ... " in the structure and style of Moalem and Price's "Sickest ...", and that should be noted.
The material on human cryonic suspension (page 42 of the first hard cover edition) should either be properly researched or left out of future editions. Wood frogs cannot depend on external interventions to recover from freezing - humans have more options. Whether cryonics will eventually work or not, cryonics practitioners focus on the minimization of freezing damage to cellular structure, and perfuse their subjects with high concentrations of ice-thwarting chemicals. Research in this area is already improving preservation for transplants. There is still massive cell damage, of course, and the cryonic subjects beginning the process are already "dead", so there will be a lot to repair. However, the structural, chemical, and genetic information necessary to make those repairs and replacements is preserved by the modified freezing process. Molecular scale nanomachines and external computation and direction will be essential to repair the damage, but high-tech external manipulation is needed now to cure many diseases. The necessary technology is under development. Check the Alcor (www.alcor.org) and Foresight Institute (www.foresight.org) websites for pointers to these fascinating subjects. They, too, can be a little purple in their prose, but they usually acknowledge the speculative nature of their work, and the long road ahead of them.
I hope the other unreferenced material in "Survival ..." is more firmly grounded. While the "on the one hand, on the other hand" style of many scientific works is aggravating to readers who want blinding certainty, it does help careful readers understand the actual state of knowledge. Even if banished to the notes, such "weasel wording" can keep the authors of review books such as this from being tagged as exemplars of error, as they note happened to Lamark. Moalem can write a better book than this, and I hope he gets the opportunity.
Very,very, interesting.......2007-09-21
This is one of those books that is a delightful read, educating, interesting, and entertaining. The author puts forth his theories that many modern diseases are variations of evolutionary traits that were held by our ancestors that enabled them to survive the ice age and bubonic plague. He goes on to describe how viruses cause certain behavior in their carriers to help the viruses survival. The common cold leaves you well enough to stay moving and go to work so you can spread the virus to others, while the parasitic malaria wants you immobile and in bed because mosquitos can continue to carry it even better with you immobile.
The author also presents a case currently making head way in evolutionary science that is challenging the savannah theory. He proposes that we are evolved form aquatic apes as opposed to grassland dwellers, which would explain our hairlessness like other aquatic mammals and being bipedal. We also have fat stored at the skin like water dwellers and our infants have swimming instincts at birth that have been proven by water birthing that is very successful.
And finally I was really fascinated by the finding that what scientists have believed were "junk DNA" is slowly being shown to actually be a creative force that causes mutations in DNA for the benefit of survival of the species. I have always had trouble believing in the evolutionary theory because no mechanism could be created with causing it outside of God, and God would not need it. I also believed that the key was in DNA. Now I have a cause, the DNA itself creates and casues beneficial mutations.
I really can not do this book justice in a review with out making it far to long so buy the book if the above sounds interesting. The book presents an excellent case and has made me a believer.
Evolution in a way you never knew!.......2007-09-08
Everything out there is influencing the evolution of everything else. The bacteria and viruses and parasites that cause disease in us have affected our evolution as we have adapted in ways to cope with their effects. In response they have evolved in turn, and keep on doing so.
There are many dietary diseases that have had an evolutionary advantage in our ancestors but that today do more harm than good. In a person with hemochromatosis, for example, the body always thinks that it doesn't have enough iron and continues to absorb iron unabated. The excess iron can lead to liver failure, heart failure, diabetes, and even cancer.
Why would a disease so deadly be bred into our genetic code? Remember how natural selection works. If a given genetic trait makes you stronger--especially if it makes you stronger before you have children--then you're more likely to survive, reproduce, and pass that trait on. People with hemochromatosis have therefore an evolutionary advantage--protection against the bubonic plague!
On one set of experiments, macrophages from people who had hemochromatosis and macrophages from people who did not were matched against bacteria in separate dishes to test their killing ability. The hemochromatic macrophages crushed the bacteria. They are thought to be significantly better at combating bacteria by limiting the availability of iron than the nonhemochromatic macrophages. So though hemochromatosis will kill those inflicted with it decades later, they are much more likely than people without hemochromatosis to survive plagues, reproduce, and pass the mutation on to their children.
Diabetes also provided an evolutionary advantage to our ancestors by providing superior ability to withstand the cold by eliminating water and driving up sugar levels (like alcohol, sugar is a natural antifreeze). As a theory, it's hotly controversial, but diabetes may have helped our European ancestors survive the sudden cold, including the ice-age.
Malaria is an infectious disease that infects as many as 500 million people every year, killing more than 1 million of them. But not everyone who gets bit by malaria-carrying mosquitoes gets infected. And not everybody who gets infected dies. So what's helping the malaria survivors? People with a genetic tendency for sickle-cell anemia, another inherited blood disorder, had better natural resistance to malaria.
As you've seen with hemochromatosis, diabetes, and sickle-cell anemia, one generation's evolutionary solution is another generation's evolutionary problem.
At the end of the day, every living thing shares two hardwired imperatives: Survive. Reproduce. To achieve this, some organisms have inherited ingenious techniques to manipulate their hosts--the phenomenon that occurs when a parasite provokes its host to behave in a way that helps the parasite to survive and reproduce.
Orb weavers are a family of spiders that experience host manipulation. A wasp bites the spider, temporarily paralyzing it, then deposits its egg in its abdomen. The spider then goes on with his life oblivious to the egg in him. The egg then hatches, and the larva slowly feeds off the blood of the spider. When it is ready to cocoon, it injects chemicals into the spider's bloodstream to manipulate the spider into building a special web for it--instead of building circular webs, it goes back and forth building a rectangular web. Once the web is completed, the larva kills the spider by sucking off all its blood, and then throwing its carcass to the jungle floor below. It then uses the specially built web for it to cocoon by hanging on it.
A worm that infects ants is a classic example of another host manipulator. As the worms being carried by the ant develop, one of them makes its way to the ant's brain where it manipulates the ant's nervous system. Suddenly, the ant behaves in completely uncharacteristic fashion. At night, it leaves its colony and hangs on the tip of a grass, waiting to be eaten by a sheep. If it does not, it returns to its colony only to resume again its journey at night to the tip of a grass waiting to be eaten. Once eaten by a sheep, the worm would have succeeded in its manipulation, and would grow inside the sheep's stomach, its intended host.
The rabies Virus is another interesting host manipulator. It manipulates its host into becoming aggressive, which will make its host bite others and thus also infecting others.
Here is one amazing example of host manipulation: One researcher has discovered that women infected with T. gondii spend more money on clothes and are consistently rated as beings more attractive than women without the infection. Infected women were more easy-going, more warm-hearted, had more friends, and cared more about how they looked. However, they were also less trustworthy and had more relationships with men. Infected men, on the other hand, were less well groomed, more likely to be loners, and more willing to fight. They were also more likely to be suspicious and jealous and less willing to follow rules.
A normal sneeze occurs when the body's self-defense system senses a foreign invader trying to get in through your nasal passages and acts to repel the invasion by expelling it with a sneeze. But sneezing when you've got a cold? There's obviously no way to expel the cold virus which is already lodged in you. The cold virus has learned this reflex so it can infect your colleagues, family and your friends. Your body is actually being manipulated by the virus into sneezing!
The herpes virus may heighten sexual feeling, which will increase the probability of transmission. In other words, sometimes the herpes virus may want you to get some action in order for it to spread to other hosts.
So what if we made it easier for a given type of bacteria to survive in a healthy human than to survive in a sick human? Would this create evolutionary pressure against behavior that harms us? In fact there is an evolutionary advantage for the malaria parasite to push its hosts toward the brink of death. The more parasites swarming through our blood, the more parasites the mosquito is likely to ingest; the more parasites the mosquito ingests, the more likely it will cause an infection when it bites someone else. Cholera is similar--it doesn't need us moving around to find new hosts, so there's no reason for the bacteria to select against virulence. The bottom line is that if an infectious client has allies (such as mosquitoes) or good delivery systems (such as unprotected water supplies), peaceful coexistence with its host becomes a lot less important. In those cases evolution is likely to favor versions of the parasite that best exploit its host's resources, allowing the parasite to multiply as much as possible. Some researchers believe that we can use this understanding to influence the evolution of parasites away from virulence. The basic theory is this: shut down the modes of transmission that don't require human participation and suddenly all the evolutionary pressure is directed at allowing the human host to get up and get out. According to this theory, the virulence of a cholera outbreak in a given population should be directly related to the quality and safety of that population's water supply. If sewage flows easily into rivers that people wash in or drink from, then the cholera strain would evolve toward virulence--it can multiply freely, essentially using up its hosts, relying on its access to the water supply for transmission. But if the water supply is well protected, the organism should evolve away from virulence--the longer it remains in a more mobile host, the better its chance of transmission.
A series of cholera outbreaks that began in Peru in 1991 and spread across South and Central America over the next few years provide compelling evidence that this theory might actually work. The water supply systems from country to country ranged from relatively advanced to seriously rudimentary. Sure enough, when the bacteria invaded nations with poorly protected water supplies, such as Ecuador, the virus became more harmful as it spread. But in countries with safe water supplies, such as Chile, the bacteria evolved downward in virulence and killed fewer people. The implications of this are huge. Instead of challenging bacteria to become stronger and more dangerous through an antibiotic arms race (which we are currently losing), we could essentially challenge them to get along. If mosquitoes didn't have access to bedridden malaria patients, the microbe would be under evolutionary pressure to evolve in a way that allowed the infected person to remain mobile, increasing the opportunity for it to spread.
A series of groundbreaking research has shown that certain compounds can attach themselves to specific genes and suppress their expression. Let's take a look at a few examples. Depending upon the time of year the vole (a type of mouse) is due to give birth, baby voles are born with either a thick coat or a thin coat. The gene for a thick coat is always there--it's just turned on or off depending on the level of light the mother senses in her environment around the time of conception.
One species of lizard is born with a long tail and large body or a small tail and small body depending on one thing only--whether their mother smelled a lizard-eating snake while pregnant. When her babies are entering a snake-filled world, they are born with a long tail and big body, making them less likely to be snake food.
This is a fascinating book and I highly recommend it. I truly enjoyed reading it and I have learnt things I never imagined! Now that's what I call precious reading!
Understanding genetic disease from an evolutionary point of view.......2007-09-01
We really don't "need" disease. This is a bit misleading. It just so happens that some genetic disorders, such as sickle-cell anemia, favism, diabetes, hemochromatosis, the tendency to obesity, etc., confer on the afflicted compensatory advantages. Thus a predilection for getting fat is adaptive if a drought or a long winter beckons, or a person with a genetic tendency toward sickle-cell anemia is less likely to get malaria, and so on. Note that it is only diseases caused by genetic mutations that Dr. Moalem is talking about.
One of the techniques our bodies use when fighting infection is to reduce the amount of iron available to the invaders. Bacteria need iron to reproduce. If there is a lot of it available their numbers can grow quickly. Without iron they can't reproduce at all. Iron is a limiting factor for many kinds of life. Vast stretches of ocean support little in the way of life because the microorganisms that begin the food chain can't grow where there is so little iron. As Dr. Moalem reports in this wide-ranging and eyebrow-lifting book, sprinkle some iron onto those patches of ocean and they will quickly turn green with microorganisms.
So it is a bit of an irony that people who have hemochromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes them to retain large amounts of iron in their bodies, are able to survival infections like the plague. This is because they starve the invading microbes through "iron locking." They have a lot of iron in their bodies, but they keep it away from the bacteria. Other people who have low levels of iron in their bodies are able to withstand bacterial attacks because they also keep what little iron they have away from the germs. In fact, one of the body's initial responses to microbial invasion is to limit the amount of free iron in the system.
Genetic coding for levels of iron in the body is an example of evolutionary adaptation, part of the ongoing arms race between us and the microbes that live in and on our bodies. This is just one of several interesting and new ideas coming from the growing science of evolutionary medicine that I found in Survival of the Sickest. Incidentally, one way to manage hemochromatosis is through donating blood on a regular basis, which explains in part why physicians of old were sometimes successful when they bled their patients.
This got me to thinking about "only women bleed" which led me to think about hemorrhoids (which prove that it isn't only women who bleed). Perhaps bleeding instead of retaining blood, which seems like the more natural thing for our bodies to do, has adaptive value in some people in some environments.
Another interesting idea is this from page 58: "ACHOO syndrome--its full name is autosomal dominant compelling heliopthalmic outburst syndrome." It is a "disorder that causes uncontrolled sneezing when someone is exposed to bright light, usually sunlight, after being in the dark." Dr. Moalem suggests that "way back when our ancestors spent more time in caves, this reflex helped them to clear out any molds or microbes that might have lodged in their noses or upper respiratory tract." Now this may sound a bit far fetched, but I have suffered from low grade allergies all my life, and used to have asthmatic attacks. I came to believe that the buildup in my lungs and the sneezing were signals to me to move on! Of course now I clean and vacuum like a germaphobe, but the idea is the same. My symptoms were adaptive. They more or less forced me to reduce the level of potential irritants and microbes in my environment.
But there is more. I noticed long ago that sometimes the sun in the morning would cause me to sneeze. I never figured out why until I read the above from Dr. Moalem. I am just the kind of person who would need to sneeze those molds out.
Later on in the book Moalem returns to an evolutionary idea that has been kicking around for decades. Beginning with the work of Elaine Morgan from the 1970s the public became aware of the notion that we humans had an aquatic past. She got the idea from marine biologist Alister Hardy. Through such books as The Descent of Woman (1972) and The Aquatic Ape: A Theory of Human Evolution (1982) Morgan argued that some of our unusual adaptations came about because we had an aquatic past. Taking up the idea, Moalem writes, "Every hairless mammal is aquatic or at least plays in the mud--think of hippos, elephants and the African warthog. But there aren't any hairless primates." (p. 198) Furthermore we have fat directly under our skin to help keep us warm just as aquatic mammals do. Also, Moalem notes, "the ability to survive on land and sea" gives us adaptive flexibility. If "chased by a leopard, the semiaquatic ape could dive into the water; chased by a crocodile, it could run into the forest." (p. 199)
These ideas are familiar but what I didn't know was that an aquatic past could have figured in our evolution toward bipedalism. "[S]tanding upright in water allowed...[aquatic apes] to venture into deeper water and still breathe, and the water helped to support their upper bodies, making it easier to support them on two feet." (p. 199)
This is an easy to read book, aimed at a general readership. An earlier, slightly more technical book that covers some of the same territory is Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine (1994) by Randolph M. Nesse and George C. Williams, which I also recommend.
Razzle dazzle them.......2007-08-27
This book embodies much of what I dislike in popular cience books, while having few of the qualities I admire in such books. It relies more on sleigh of the hand and razzle dazzle, you-wouldn't-have-thought-of-it than on throughly thought out, well substantiated lines of thought.
Let's start with the subtitle: "A medical maverick discovers why we need disease". That is a clear case of fiction: nowhere in the book does the author "discover" anything; he merely retells the study of others. This, of course, is not a demerit, as many interesting scientists have difficulties in explaining their work in clear terms, acessible to the layman. However, the author must be hyped as the "discoverer", as the center figure in the tale.
Since James Burke's "Connections", it seems that popular science must explore all the crossroads, no matter how irrelevant. So Moalem goes on long tangents that have little to do with the theory he is trying to substantiate. In order to show how diabetes works to protect the body against cold, the reader is taken through the mechanism of an ice age, how ice core samples are removed and so on. If one were to remove all this "extra" material, this book would be thin indeed.
The book seems to revolve around this material and the author's use of jokes. Unfortunately, his sense of humour tends more towards ha-ha than funny, which helped to further fray my patience towards this book.
All of this is indeed a pity, as the subject is very interesting. If more pages had been dedicated to developing a central line of thought and substantiation and to showing the debate behind all these ideas (in a real light, instead of "the thickheaded traditionalists who won't accept new ideas"), it would be well worth the read.
Book Description
The long-awaited new edition of James D. Watson's classic text, Molecular Biology of the Gene, has been thoroughly revised and is published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Watson and Crick's paper on the structure of the DNA double-helix. Twenty-one concise chapters, co-authored by five highly respected molecular biologists, provide current, authoritative coverage of a fast-changing discipline, giving both historical and basic chemical context.
Divided into four parts: Genetics and Chemistry, Central Dogma, Regulation, and Methods.
For college instructors, students, and anyone interested in molecular biology and genetics.
Customer Reviews:
Am Studying for the Biochemistry GRE - This book is golden.......2006-09-19
I got this book to assist for my prep for the Biochemistry GRE - I know a lot about Biology. So this is a great Book - First, It is very readable - I was surprised I was not able to put it down and knocked off 100 pages in record time. Besided that - it is enjoyable and not dull and boring - Second, The great experiments are given and insight into the science reasoning behind them also. This book makes the discover of genetics, DNA, RNA and protein building come alive. Third, this book is very current with research and cites the papers and journals where the important biology, Genetic, molecular & cell biology was published. That alone would save you the time to research and site these for your own research. Lastly, the pictures and recollections of the experimenters and "who knew who" are a total hoot.
Great Book.......2006-03-18
This book is an awesome teaching guide but the real prize goes to the CD and animations. Where a subject might be a bit hazy in the text, the flash animations on the CD are clear and concise.
Good book.......2005-11-05
Some books are just very well written-this is one of them!
I like that they leave space in the margin to write notes. Organized more like a book you can read in chapters compared to the Lewin Genes text. Concise and up to date.
Good disc included with lots of great animations.
Don't buy this book.......2005-09-24
Buy this book if you are really unintelligent and knows virtually nothing about biology. Really. if you are the person who wants to learn, find an alternative book.
Readable and Thorough, An Excellent Reference.......2005-07-13
I am a layman with a serious interest in biology. I read science news, especially in Nature and Scientific American, and I often find that I don't have enough background to understand articles at the level at which I want to understand them. I bought this book hoping to get that background, and I wasn't disappointed.
For example, once the human genome was sequenced, it appeared that there were far too few genes for an organism as complex as ourselves. But investigation shows that most genes occur in segments and that the messenger RNA must be cut and spliced before the protein can be formed. Often there are two or more ways the RNA may be spliced, so that one gene can specify more than one protein. Another problem is that the genome seemed to consist mostly of sections that don't code for proteins; these were called "junk". But it turns out that some "junk" DNA codes for RNA sequences that have catalytic and regulatory roles, roles which used to be considered the bailiwick of proteins alone. Articles about topics such as these used to confuse me thoroughly, but after reading this book I find them much clearer.
This book benefits from a great many illustrations and I recommend that you go through each one as you would a worked problem in a math text. Observe how the pieces fit together, how a particular group of atoms enhances or inhibits a reaction. The practice will help you to understand other things you will read later.
I called this a "reference" for good reason: I assume that I will come across many future articles which will send me back to it to fill in some background.
[Added 4 July 2006] As I assumed when I first wrote this review, I have used it for reference. I have read several books about what I call "enhanced evolution", where mechanisms that go beyond simple point mutations speed up evolution by providing more variation. For example, gene regulation, alternate splicing, and gene duplication all play important roles. I have surprised myself by remembering more than I expected to (thanks to the clarity of this book) but I have still used it for clarification.
Amazon.com
Inheriting the mantle of revolutionary biologist from Darwin, Watson, and Crick, Richard Dawkins forced an enormous change in the way we see ourselves and the world with the publication of The Selfish Gene. Suppose, instead of thinking about organisms using genes to reproduce themselves, as we had since Mendel's work was rediscovered, we turn it around and imagine that "our" genes build and maintain us in order to make more genes. That simple reversal seems to answer many puzzlers which had stumped scientists for years, and we haven't thought of evolution in the same way since.
Why are there miles and miles of "unused" DNA within each of our bodies? Why should a bee give up its own chance to reproduce to help raise her sisters and brothers? With a prophet's clarity, Dawkins told us the answers from the perspective of molecules competing for limited space and resources to produce more of their own kind. Drawing fascinating examples from every field of biology, he paved the way for a serious re-evaluation of evolution. He also introduced the concept of self-reproducing ideas, or memes, which (seemingly) use humans exclusively for their propagation. If we are puppets, he says, at least we can try to understand our strings. --Rob Lightner
Book Description
The million copy international bestseller, critically acclaimed and translated into over 25 languages. This 30th anniversary edition includes a new introduction from the author as well as the original prefaces and foreword, and extracts from early reviews. As relevant and influential today as when it was first published, The Selfish Gene has become a classic exposition of evolutionary thought. Professor Dawkins articulates a gene's eye view of evolution - a view giving centre stage to these persistent units of information, and in which organisms can be seen as vehicles for their replication. This imaginative, powerful, and stylistically brilliant work not only brought the insights of Neo-Darwinism to a wide audience, but galvanized the biology community, generating much debate and stimulating whole new areas of research.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent overview of evolution.......2007-10-08
Scholars pro-evolution can generally be divided into 1) those who believe in evolution at the group level (ie: The reason lions behave in a particular way is because they want to survive as a species) or 2) those who believe in evolution at an individual level (ie: The reason a particular bird behaves in a particular way is because he wants to survive as an individual bird). Dawkins' views are closer to the latter. In fact, he takes it a step further and argues for evolution at the gene level. I think he makes a very convincing case for his views. Of course nothing is certain (except uncertainty perhaps) so he does not prove his theory definitively.
The book can be hard to read at times and may be a bit slow for those with no background in biology or science. Nevertheless I think anyone with patience can read, enjoy and learn from this important book.
No matter what your views this is a very educational and important book. Highly recommended.
Fancifully Dark.......2007-09-21
In his play "Suddenly, Last Summer," Tennessee Williams writes of a young man who, on vacation at the seashore, watches newly hatched baby turtles struggling down to the safety of the water. Only a small percentage get there, though, because the gulls overhead scoop them up and eat them faster than they can crawl. The young man, observing this and already under great psychic tension, tells his cousin that now "I have seen God!" Later on, we realize the man is morally insane, and that perhaps this was the turning point; his descent into insanity.
Whether Williams himself thought of God the same way, I don't know. But certainly the example of the turtles and gulls had been chosen, out of thousands of other such biological observations, because the young man chose to find God - or truth - in it. He could, if he had been in a sunnier mood, chosen to look at nesting robins or a mare and her colt.
In "The Selfish Gene," Dr. Dawkins argues against the idea of altruism in nature: mothers take care of their young because they love them, etc. Dawkins says they do it because it's in their genes. But he takes it one step further: he says it's the genes themselves that are struggling to survive - not the whole animal. The analogy of genes "using" animal bodies for their own "selfish" ends, as if we were robots and the genes our drivers, is made over and over again.
Of course, Dawkins realizes this is not correct. Darwinism asserts that biological life came into existence blindly: cells and animals came (and continue to come) into being, not because they chose to, but because of natural selection. And the ones who survive do so because of serendipity.
This is a very hard concept, of course, to understand. I remember Sister Pauline laboring to explain to us girls in junior biology class that the white butterflies didn't decide to turn black; they turned black over generations, due to natural selection. She had a hard time of it. (Catholics are "allowed" to choose between a literal or analogous interpretation of the Bible, so she was not breaking any official rules!)
In other words, a "selfish" gene (or animal) makes no more sense in Darwinistic terms than an "altruistic" one.
Dawkins explicitly states this on page 196. But he uses the selfish gene analogy so many more times - hundreds of times - that, just from the sheer repetitiveness of the theme, it may sink in too deeply (and do some psychic damage) to people who are not currently living on the sunny side of the street, so to speak.
For those people, like the gentleman who wrote the touching review of how this book contributed to fits of depression, I'd say: This point of view has no more legitimacy than the altrustic point of view.
An additional (and, I think, unnecessary) weight on the sensitive reader's soul is the aspersions that Dr. Dawkins, an aggressive atheist, throws on the concept of God - limited mainly, I think, to his chapter on memes (he saves most of his vituperation on this issue for another book, "The God Delusion").
On that score, I'd say: please realize that scientists don't know everything. People in different professions develop different mental prejudices: lawyers think like lawyers, engineers like engineers, etc. And scientists, for whom scientific method is everything, tend to think that anything that's not measurable therefore doesn't exist. This is a logical fallacy. They also tend to think they are so intelligent, and the world outside science is so simple, that they can read a few survey books on religion, philosophy, or history and know all there is to know about the field. This leads them to made irresponsible, blanket statements, completely unaware of how little they know.
On page 201, he winds up a chapter by saying all is not gloomy; humans can still strive towards altruism; that "[w]e, alone on earth, can rebel against the tyranny of the selfish replicators." Then, in a long footnote, he writes that some of his colleagues disapproved of this passionate summation. "In some cases, the criticism came from doctrinaire sociobiologists jealously protective of genetic influence...." and in others, from "high priests of the left jealously protective of a favorite demonological icon!" (His exclamation point.) These latter, apparently, were objecting that he on the one hand implied a belief in free will while on the other hand talking like a genetic determinist. He objects to this, saying, if I understand it, that he's both, and ends the argument by saying, "We, that is our brains, are separate and independent enough from our genes to rebel against them. ...[W]e do so in a small way every time we use contraception."
Now, I don't pretend to have a handle on the philosophical and sociobiological arguments regarding whether or not humans have free will, or even what exactly free will is. But in the above I don't see that Dr. Dawkins really does, either: he treats it far too simply.
In sum, read the book, but don't let it get you down. After all, if the village priest doesn't have the right to bully people intellectually, than neither does the research scientist.
Mandatory reading for students/interested persons.......2007-09-17
This is an excellent primer to biological evolution and could also be a valuable co-text with a standard high school biology course. Written in British english, it is quite understandable though more academic than casual.
Dawkins' use of the 'gene's eye view' of the world permeates the text. It is very easy to follow. A great book to rebut any creationist's
viewpoint. This was Dawkins' first book in the field. It will not disappoint or talk down to you.
Enjoy.
a mixed bag.......2007-09-09
Parts of the book were utterly fascinating to me, such as the groundbreaking idea of the "meme" as a unit of cultural transmission. But the argument that species are survival machines for our "immortal genes" seems seriously flawed.
First and foremost in my mind, it is hard for me to swallow that organisms practice altruism because the gene or genes that are responsible for this altruism have a probability of existing in the recipient of the altruism, the probability increasing with the closeness of familial relatedness. How, then, to explain altruism beyond the family, or even beyond the species? The author mentions that there is at least one well-documented case of a dolphin rescuing a drowning human being. In the book this was suggested to be a mistake. One of Earth's most intelligent animals has a gene for rescuing long, narrow objects and cannot tell the difference between a human and its own species. I got doubtful when contradictory evidence was explained as a mistake. And what about organisms' adopting children originating from other parents? Always a mistake? Highly expensive practice for when the real deal arises?
I do not understand why there must be *a* unit of natural selection. Can't there be more than one, sometimes at odds with each other, sometimes in tandem? I do believe genes are selected over other genes, but I believe groups can be selected over other groups, too. Perhaps other units, both larger and smaller than genes (Why not the selfish base pair?), are also naturally selected.
Finally, especially considering recent discoveries in genomics that have downsized the number of estimated human genes, there cannot be one gene behind any behavioral trait you can think of, a gene for being nice to your cousin, for example. I get that a gene can have many functions and can have a net effect of being nice to your cousin, and in its absence you would be less nice to your cousin, but this makes for a complicated web which would get torn apart as succeeding generations inherit just part of the web. The influences of biology, environment, and history get harder to ignore.
a new way to look at the world.......2007-08-29
Dawkins challenges us to look at old ideas (Darwinian) in a new light. At times I found his mathematical calculations tedious to follow, however when I bothered to think them through, they did make sense. I esepcially enjoyed the chapter on game theory because it helped to explain why humans do not usually behave in blatantly exploitive ways in spite of our "selfish genes". I recommend the book to anyone who wonders how the world works.
Average customer rating:
- Everybody loves Max? Not quite.
- Satisfying thrid instalment
- Pleasant diversion
- If you are a teen you will love it!
- I hope this isn't the last for Max!
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Maximum Ride #3: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports (Maximum Ride)
James Patterson
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Maximum Ride Book #2: School's Out - Forever (Maximum Ride)
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You've Been Warned
ASIN: 0316155608
Release Date: 2007-05-29 |
Book Description
There's one last chance to save the world in MAXIMUM RIDE: SAVING THE WORLD AND OTHER EXTREME SPORTS, the closing chapter of James Patterson's thrilling trilogy. The time has arrived for Max and her winged "Flock" to face their ultimate enemy and discover their original purpose: to defeat the takeover of "Re-evolution", a sinister experiment to re-engineer a select population into a scientifically superior master race...and to terminate the rest. Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel have always worked together to defeat the forces working against them--but can they save the world when they are torn apart, living in hiding and captivity, halfway across the globe from one another?
Customer Reviews:
Everybody loves Max? Not quite........2007-10-07
I bought this book under the impression that it would be entertaining and at least relatively well-written. Unfortunately, I was sorely mistaken. Although younger readers may like Max and her companions, I would advise against the series for anyone over the age of eleven.
Many parts of the book were poorly thought-out, and there were gaping holes when loose ends should have been tied up. For example, there is no explaination of how Max's arm began functioning again, but the chip was gone. And what were Itex's motives for 'torturing the bird-kids,' as Max puts it? I could go on and on, but I would probably be typing for the next few weeks. Lastly, Max seems to have no flaws--she's pretty, strong, smart, and fast. And it's not just Max, none of the characters have any depth at all. The book would probably be about half as short if it weren't for the pointless space-filling details.
All in all, I think that Maximum Ride was a waste of time and trees, not to mention space and gravity. Don't waste your money.
Satisfying thrid instalment.......2007-10-05
It's nice to see that once again, the cast of Maximum Ride is portrayed as young people, rather than just little adults. Even in their not so perfect world, the episode where Max and Fang butt heads over Ari and Fang's reactions further down the line illustrate what it would be like to not only have to take on an evil multi-national conglomerate, but what it's like to be fourteen and taking on such a task.
The use of the internet as a rallying cry to bring other young people into the scene to help out the flock shows readers, young and old alike, that young people are bright and resourceful, not just running to the closest adult (who'd hear a kid telling a crazy story and blow them off) to resolve the situation.
Mr. Patterson has done a great job at creating a universe where young readers will very much enjoy themselves and want to come back for more. Heck, I've got a Master's degree and am ten years out of high school, and I can't wait for the next book in this series.
Pleasant diversion.......2007-10-04
Max Ride is a fun character. She and her companions have been well developed through the series. As the fifth book in which these winged adolescents appear, it is a pleasant way of relaxing into the world of one's imagination.
If you are a teen you will love it!.......2007-09-18
If this book was targeted for a broad audience then I would rate it a 1. However, and fortunately, it is not. If you are 9 to 14, buy it, you will love it! The series has a very specific range of readers: kids under eight will not be able to comprehend the concept (excluding the elite); teens over fourteen may be psycologically beyond accepting the elementary concept (for them I recommend adult science-fiction).
Patterson does a wonderful job of delivering an outstanding teen series. Read them all!
I hope this isn't the last for Max!.......2007-09-13
A great trilogy! I just hope this isn't all for this delightful yet action packed series. A great book series for any age.
Average customer rating:
- great
- Fascinating material
- Good introductory material for the technical
- Good overview but lacks technical rigor
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Molecular Biotechnology: Principles and Applications of Recombinant DNA
Bernard Glick
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ASIN: 1555812244 |
Book Description
Completely revised and updated, this second edition of the best-selling Molecular Biotechnology covers both the underlying scientific principles and the wide-ranging industrial, agricultural, pharmaceutical, and biomedical applications of recombinant DNA technology. This new edition includes expanded coverage of the types of organisms and cells used in molecular biotechnology, DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis, the methodology and applications of genetic engineering of plants, and microbial production of therapeutic agents. Updated chapters reflect recent developments in biotechnology and the societal issues related to it, such as cloning, gene therapy, and patenting and releasing genetically engineered organisms. "Milestones" summarize important research papers in the history of biotechnology and their effects on the field. TABLE OF CONTENTS: Fundamentals of Molecular Biotechnology The Molecular Biotechnology Revolution Molecular Biotechnology Biological Systems DNA, RNA, and Protein Synthesis Recombinant DNA Technology Chemical Synthesis, Sequencing, and Amplification of DNA Manipulation of Gene Expression in Prokaryotes Recombinant Protein Production in Eukaryotic Cells Directed Mutagenesis and Protein Engineering Molecular Biotechnology of Microbial Systems Molecular Diagnostics Microbial Production of Therapeutic Agents Vaccines Synthesis of Commercial Products by Recombinant Microorganisms Bioremediation and Biomass Utilization Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria Microbial Insecticides Large-Scale Production of Proteins from Recombinant Microorganisms Eukaryotic Systems Genetic Engineering of Plants: Methodology Genetic Engineering of Plants: Applications Transgenic Animals Human Molecular Genetics Human Gene Therapy Regulating and Patenting Molecular Biotechnology Regulating the Use of Biotechnology Patenting Biotechnology Inventions
Customer Reviews:
great.......2007-01-04
I found the the book in a very good shape. I'm very much satisfied.
Fascinating material.......2005-06-18
I used this book for one of my favorite classes in college on biotechnology. It will show you the cool side of science and all of the neat things you can do with biology and DNA. The level is low enough to where you only need a minimal background to understand it, basic biology classes and preferably genetics. After completing the book you should be excited about the future of biotech, and you will have some understanding about how it works.
Good introductory material for the technical.......2001-05-11
To those who are interested in the functional aspects of the DNA this is the right introductory stuff. It covers areas including basic molecular biology to commercial methods for manipulating the genes. Pretty useful for someone who's more interested in the technology than the biology!
Good overview but lacks technical rigor.......2000-04-07
I am currently using this book for a course in Molecular Biotechnology taught through the chemistry department. Although the book covers a wide range of biotechnology fields, from manipulation of gene expression in prokaryotes and eukaryotes through human gene therapy, it does so in a somewhat shallow and repetitive way. I have also seen clearer and more concise diagrams covering similar topics in other biochemistry books, and there is a paucity of in-depth coverage in any particular area. This is not necessarily the authors's fault, however, arising from the plethora of information found in the biotechnology field. If someone wants a broad review of molecular biotechnology, this is a decent book, but if you want to focus on a specific area within biotechnology, look somewhere else.
Book Description
Genetics: From Genes to Genomes is a cutting-edge, introductory genetics text authored by an unparalleled author team, including Nobel Prize winner, Leland Hartwell. The Third Edition continues to build upon the integration of Mendelian and molecular principles, providing students with the links between early genetics understanding and the new molecular discoveries that have changed the way the field of genetics is viewed.
Customer Reviews:
Not for the uninitiated.......2007-07-07
This is a good book if you already have a foundation in genetics. Oddly, the book is marketed as your basic undergrad genetics text. Yet instead of just explaining the concepts, it leads you on the path of discovery of how researchers figured all this stuff out. If you are still learning the subject, you may do better with Klug/Cummings/Spencer. If you are going into higher levels of biology and want to learn some research methods, this is a good book.
Genetics: From Genes to Genomes.......2007-03-09
The book came in very quickly and I am very happy with the purchase.
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