Biochemistry: Free For All

Reviewed by Arnulfo Mar, Associate Professor of Biochemistry, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley on 12/4/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 4

This book is very comprehensive in that it surveys all of the topics covered in a typical undergraduate biochemistry course. This book lacks the details found in other standard biochemistry books, and sometimes the writing gives the impression that the authors are trying to cover a lot of material too fast. Some of the information is not presented in full detail and topics are not completely developed,

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The book appears to be accurate. I could not find any errors and the information is unbiased.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

For a 2018 edition, it covers all the standard and well established biochemistry concepts that a beginning biochemistry student must master. Updating this book could be necessary but not critical in order for it to be used in an undergraduate course.

Clarity rating: 4

The writing in this book makes it sometimes difficult to follow. The writing sometimes gets confusing as the authors get ahead of themselves covering new material whiteout completely developing the previous material.

Consistency rating: 4

The book is consistent for the most part. It would be useful that the chapters could be broken up into subsections so that the amount of information being presented would not seem to overwhelming. Sometimes the I get the impression the authors were trying to cover too much material in a short amount of space and time (Just my humble opinion).

Modularity rating: 4

Again, the book could be better organized so that the topics in the chapters are presented in a way that make it easier to read and follow the material. . Some

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

For the most part the topics are presented in a logical fashion. One issue that I find is the lack of continuity in some topics. For example I believe that The Calvin Cycle zhoiuld be included in the Phosphorylation chapter.

Interface rating: 4

In the PDF version of the book, I could not go to a particular page from the table of contents by clicking on the links and in order to get to a particular chapter I had to scroll all the way down the pages. Some of the background coloring in the images makes them distraction and/or difficult to red. This could be just an editorial concern.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

There are no grammatical errors that I could find.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

No cultural biases is shown or implied in the book. This book presents scientific facts that are not offensive to any particular ethnic group or race

The authors should be commended for writing this book and making it available "free for all". This requires a lot of effort and a deep commitment to biochemical education.