Editorial Reviews:
Ideal for libraries, laboratories, and researchers, this Reference Edition of Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition offers an alternative to the student version by providing the complete text of Chapters 1-25 in printed format.* For nearly a quarter century Molecular Biology of the Cell has been the leading in-depth text reference in cell biology. This tradition continues with the new Fifth Edition, which has been completely revised and updated to describe our current, rapidly advancing understanding of cell biology. To list but a few examples, a large amount of new material is presented on epigenetics; stem cells; RNAi; comparative genomics; the latest cancer therapies; apoptosis (now its own separate chapter); and cell cycle control and the mechanics of M phase (now integrated into one chapter). The hallmark features of Molecular Biology of the Cell have been retained, such as its consistent and comprehensive art program, clear concept headings, and succinct section summaries. Additionally, in response to extensive feedback from readers, the Fifth Edition now includes several new features. Most importantly for scientists and researchers, the free Media DVD, which is packaged with every copy of the book, now contains PowerPointŪ presentations with all of the figures, tables and micrographs from the book (available as JPEGs too). Also included is the Media Player with over 125 movies?animations, videos, and molecular models?all with voiceover narration. These PowerPoint slides and movies are ideal for presentations and research talks. And for the first time, Molecular Biology of the Cell now contains end-of-chapter questions. These problems, written by John Wilson and Tim Hunt, emphasize a quantitative approach and the art of reasoning from experiments. Molecular Biology of the Cell: Reference Edition is conceptual, accurate and authoritative. An extensive, detailed index provides instant access to the most crucial information and concepts, while a glossary with more than 1,300 entries has been designed for rapid access to technical vocabulary. By skillfully extracting the fundamental concepts from this enormous and ever-growing field, the authors provide the coherent framework needed to effectively access the primary literature. * There is also a student textbook version of Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition (ISBN 0-8153-4105-9) that contains Chapters 1-20 in printed format, and Chapters 21-25 only in pdf format on the accompanying DVD-ROM.
Customer Reviews:
 Excellent Book
This book arrived 3 days before i had a protein lab report due and it was a godsend. Trying to cover the subject depth required in the precipitant lectures is next to impossible and increasingly students are needing to do independent study to gain a definitive understanding. This text covers so many topics and in such great detail as well. Other texts cover similar areas but i have not found any that deliver the level of detail that this one does. It covers complex themes and delivers them in an easy to understand format. I also like the fact that it is red as it helps it stand out from the hundred other texts in my bookcase. I would thoroughly encourage anyone studying any biological science to add this text to their collection. Work of Passion
The fifth edition of MBoC (Molecular Biology of the Cell) is great. I have been taking Cell Biology classes and this book complements what the teacher doesn't have time to say in classroom and explains very nicely the parts I don't understand well in class. The texts are well structured and well written. The videos which come together in the DVD really give you on-the-moving kinda way of samples of what you read non-moving on the pages. =)
The book is a work of passion (I have been wanting to write this last phrase for some time now... LOL); but really, you can see how the people who wrote it love what they do. Cells are amazing little things and you have no idea of how they work so hard, intricately and non-stop. You can have a glimpse at the extraordinary machinery cells are.
If you like this area of science, Cell Biology, do buy this book and study it hard. I recommend to all that want to change this world, be he student or teacher.
The single complain I have got is that there are NO answers for the end-of-chapter problems they wrote! You need to buy that Problems Book Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition: The Problems Book. Oh well. Books available online
Dr Dotson's comments on the price of textbooks are well taken, but he maybe should have mentioned that the previous (4th) edition of MBOTC was available online for free for at least the last two years, at
[...]
along with many other fine health science and molecular biology books, many of them the most recent edition, some down loadable as PDFs.
It remains to be seen if Bruce Alberts can prevail on Garland to make the current edition available on line as well.
It may also be worth mentioning that selling used textbooks online through Amazon is very easy, and if you sell them before a new edition comes out, you often can recoup 1/3 to 1/2 of original purchase price. So as soon as you know that one of those expensive tomes on your shelf is a dog, list it online immediately while it still has value. And if on the other hand you know you will have to get the new edition of a book when it is available, dump the previous edition just before a new one is due, and use the money toward the new edition.  another part of the problem with academic book publishing
The publishers have made the standard edition (ISBN-10: 0815341059) of MBOTC more "portable" by not printing the final 5 chapters of the book, but including them as electronic files on the DVD. While these chapters are included, in print, in this reference edition (0815341113), take a look at the price differential between the two. If, as publishers might like us to believe, portability is such a great feature for a textbook, then why should students be expected to pay a premium for this less than portable reference edition?
The chapters in question are:
21-Sexual Reproduction: Meiosis, Germ Cells, and Fertilization
22-Development of Multicellular Organisms
23-Specialized Tissues, Stem Cells, and Tissue Renewal
24-Pathogens, Infection, and Innate Immunity
25-The Adaptive Immune System
With the 4th edition there were 25 printed chapters and 1616 pages: $5.68/printed chapter, or ~8.8 cents/page based on my calculations using list price info. With the regular 5th edition, 20 printed chapters, 1268 pages: $7.10/printed chapter, or ~11.2 cents/page. And with the reference edtition, 25 printed chapters and 1728 pages: $8.36/printed chapter, or ~12.1 cents/page. So the page cost for this reference edition has increased by over 1/3 as compared to the last edition, and is about 8% higher than for the regular 5th edition. Admittedly, I am a major geek for actually doing these calculations.
I am giving the book 2 stars for content, because it really is a solid resource for learning molecular biology. However, with so many students carrying a heavy burden of debt upon graduation, it's a shame to see the continuing trend of exorbitant prices for the best texts, making them just another contributor to the problems with education today.
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(4 reviews)
