Essential Cell Biology, Second Edition

Cell bio is a dense and difficult subject. Most universities (and authors) assume you have the necessary background knowledge to understand this basic text. If you don't understand chemical bonds (or other basic chemistry concepts) and if you haven't had a solid intro to bio (for biology majors, not for non-majors) this book will be deceptively difficult for you to follow. As far as beginner's texts go, this one is just fine. In fact, after an undergraduate class in cell bio several years ago, I sold the book back (I seem to lose more good books this way) and immediately regretted it. I recently re-purchased it so that I could refer back to it as desired.The only negative about this book, this edition (other editions may have fixed the problem) is its seemingly fragile physical state: the hardcover is weak. It bends and bows, and the spine usually collapses (this is my second book and the spine pulled away from the pages just as it did with my first copy of this book). I am NOT hard on textbooks. I don't highlight or mark in them, I don't toss them around, I don't cram them in backpacks. This is just from gentle use. If not for the easily-ruined cover, I would have given this textbook five stars.

It was compiled and written to update Cell & DNA Biochemistry.IF you can get one w/ the CD, or DVD,, Do so.. to supplement the bookwhich requires detailed reading and comprehension.. a Good studentreference to use to re-read key sections to realize how the body systemsall work together.. so that new research can help humans readjust on howbest to keep us in a healthy state.I liked to link this to L.McTaggart's "Field" book to relate to the force fieldswhich supplement how the total body functions, both chemistry, atomicand frequency nerve circuits.

If you want to save money - the 2nd edition is almost 100% the same as the 3rd. It is easy to find the differences.It is an okay book for cell Biology. Some books provide better info on certain subjects. Good luck with the class!

This is a good bio text for an undergrad (or maybe even high school?) class. It's very straight-forward. It was only used in my class for ten weeks, but I liked the way the material was presented, and the text served to reinforce what I learned in class. My class this year has used four books, and this one was probably my favorite overall and was definitely my favorite one that covered molecular/cell bio.

This book is jam pack full of information from cover to cover. However, it is quite readalbe for the capable biology student. My biggest complaint is that the vocabulary words are not listed off to the side or defined clearly in the text. Essentially, the vocab is used and bolded in the text. It is then expected that you will look it up later, which takes a fair amount of time. Other than that, this book does a fair job covering a dry subject to most biology students and makes it bearable. The diagrams are helpful, but could be slightly more ergonomic. Overall though, I am pleased with it.

This edition and the next one don't seem to have that many differences (i.e. page numbering, some graphical content). It's a useful tool in learning cell biology. Didn't really use it for the course I took, but whenever I consulted it, I was able to understand everything quickly.

This is a standard text book. Thankfully it's not riddled with errors like many other text books. It's got a ton of information that's well laid out. Thats all I remember from it as I went through it a while ago.

Ordered a biology book from the seller that was described as "like new". The book arrived in shocking condition. The pages were warped as if liquid had been spilled on them, the binding was broken and the corners of the book were mangled. I contacted the seller immediately informing him of the problem and included pictures if the damaged book. This was his response (cut and pasted directly from the email he sent in response): " I would not use any of my books as a cosmetic copy, I used them to study science, in which they are a fantastic tool. If you want to send it back and buy a prettier one, please do. The book looks very bad from what I thought I sent. The book was on a self for a long time as we use the third edition now. I cannot do much for you as it is a textbook and all the information about actin, golgi bodies, cell transport, apoptosis, stem cells, etc is all in there, which is why most would buy a textbook in the first place. I will not be covering shipping back though, as I find buying a book for its looks belongs in the "NEW" category. It is not like new anymore and maybe even less than good, but its not a Monet but a textbook used to study cells".... I wonder what the seller would say if he went to a car dealership to pick up his recently purchased "like new car" and the car was full of dents and scratches. I can guarantee he wouldn't accept the seller telling him that the car wasn't a Monet and its function was for transportation not to look pretty. Very dishonest seller. Don't do business with him

I bought this book because I found a cheap one in the marketplace. I wouldn't have bought this brand new because I only needed it for a sub-module on my degree and it wouldn't be worth it.The books contents are fantastic. Everything that I needed was in here (more to do with the course design though I'd imagine) but if I had this book at A-Level I think I would have been just as impressed. The information was both in-depth, well explained and well organised with all diagrams in easy to find locations.I honestly wouldn't have found that course as nice to do if it wasn't for this book. This is the first edition but it is pretty much the same as the newest edition.Can't say much about the CD in the back though from what I could see it was a gallery of images and 3D molecules but this being Biology it wasn't really much use for the actual science but if you are interested in that sort of thing then it would be a nice rest activity between revision times or something?I recommend this book, I was surprised and pleasantly so. Enjoy.

I found this text brilliant for a module in my second year of a Biology degree; the information is concise and to the point, the multimedia disk is brilliant and the questions helped to prepare me for my exams and had me thinking more outside the box. There are many wonderful diagrams, but the CD reminds a student that cells are 3D, dynamic entities and not flat and lifeless on a page.A wonderful resource!

Loved it, a sufficient short version of The Cell from the same authors. Umeå University stresses the med. students that they cant buy this version, thats b*** s***. Studying medical cell biology means a lot of reading. This book is the important core knowledge of the Cell, thus you dont have to guess what to skip reading for your finals. My first med. Uni, Charles uni of Prague, faculty of meds in Hradec Kralove said the opposite, this one (or later editions) will do perfectly well.

As a required textbook for my course, I can't fault this book packed full of information and a steal for the price I paid for it. This edition is still useful, despite there being to new editions.

great product, very happy.