Biochemistry (Saunders Golden Sunburst Series) (Hardcover)

Having been recommended this tomb by my fellow peers, I - like many others - opened Biochemistry: Molecules, Cells and the Body with great anticipation and excitement. I was sure that dispensing of my superflous second kidney to fund this £40 purchase would be a most invaluable and worthy investment.

However, I must say with utmost solemnity that it was not to be the case...

From the outset, one is immediately struck by the poor layout and organisation of this publication. Chapters (and i use the word loosely) seem to have been group based on some form of Random Allocation, with very little consistency of thought from one topic to the next - resulting in a stunning dyslexic collocation of information. This is only matched by the utter confusion of the'Index'; searching for a valuable piece using this tool at times takes on the style of a Treasure Hunt, with much linkage and referral to related pieces of text situated many hundreds of pages from each other. The language is most inconsise and verbose - 50 words are used for what could be said in 10 - and one feels like one is being taken on a biochemical journey from A to B via Z.

However I did find that this book had some redeeming features; for example, i obtained much shelter from the elements using this book (very important in rainy Glasgow!). And its most excellent paper quality ensured that my fireplace was kept going nice and sprightly throughout the night.

I feel obiged to point out to propective buyers that although not an actual medical doctor, Jocelyn Dow is currently head of 2nd year medicine at Glasgow University - an incredible feat - and as such one should expect that this work would tie in closely with the sylabbus as taught at that institution. (While it may not be highly thought of by (un-named) fellow faculty members, the book is in fact is very freqeuntly referred to at lectures and has repleced Baynes' and Dominiczak's book as being the 2nd year text of choice).

I would advise fellow peers to hold out for a second edition of this work - which will inevitably be an improvement, and i cannot understand why the publishers did not push for this one- but until then, i still believe that texts such as Stryer and Baynes are more worthy of your purchase.

Thank You

unfortunately if you are a medical student in scotland-especially glasgow-then it is pretty much essential to buy this book as the author heads up this part of the course-sorry!