Because molecular and cellular biology is such an exciting and rapidly moving area of science, teaching it at the undergraduate level is a rewarding, yet challenging, task. The A Molecular Approach meets this challenge by providing students with not only the most current information, but also with an introduction to the experimental nature of contemporary research. Designed for use in introductory cell biology courses, The Cell presents current comprehensive science in a readable and cohesive text that students can master in the course of one semester. The new Third Edition of The Cell retains the organization, themes, and special features of earlier editions, but is updated to reflect scientific advances since publication of the Second Edition in 2000,
* progress that has been made in genome sequencing * advances in understanding transcriptional regulation and mRNA processing * the use of DNA microarrays in global studies of gene expression and cancer diagnostics * advances in nuclear transport and protein trafficking * progress in understanding the regulation of programmed cell death * potential medical applications of embryonic stem cells * the development of oncogene-targeted cancer treatments
SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE CELL
With a clear focus on cell biology as an integrative theme, topics such as developmental biology, plant biology, the immune system, the nervous system, and muscle physiology are covered in their broader biological context.
"Key Experiment" boxes in each chapter describe seminal experiments in modern cell biology, showing the details and background to give students a sense of doing science.
"Molecular Medicine" boxes relate basic science to clinical practice or potential and show the excitement of molecular discovery and solutions to disease.
Chapter summaries are organized in outline form corresponding to the major sections and subsections of each chapter. This section-by-section format is coupled with a list of the key terms introduced in each section, providing a succinct but comprehensive review of the material.
The full-color art program is both pedagogically and scientifically outstanding.
In addition, each chapter a brief chapter outline, bold-faced key terms (also defined in the glossary), and chapter-end questions (15 per chapter) with answers in the back of the book. The deliberate and cumulative result of this pedagogy is a book that students can master.
Geoffrey M. Cooper is an award-winning author of medical thrillers and a 2023 Maine Literary Award Finalist in Crime Fiction. His experience as a former cancer researcher and scientific administrator, having held positions at Harvard Medical School and Boston University as professor, department chair, and associate dean, now provides extensive background for his novels. He lives in Ogunquit, Maine.
i’m adding this to my goodreads BC I READ THIS FROM START TO FINISH
all 20 chapters. the glossary. the index. even the table of contents (probably over 20 times)
textbook was not too great, it’s full of text blocks and over complicated at times. like why would you explain the full experiment behind a discovery in the middle of the sentence, without first explaining what that discovery is. i don’t need to know that AKT was discovered in mice, just tell me the pathway first!!!
barely any mention of plant biology (0/10).
overall, very enjoyable. maybe one of the few books that are over 700 pages that i’ve been so engaged with. the book tapped into my unlocked potential. also probably permanently changed my brain chemistry (for good or for bad, i’ll never know)
molcell2 was one of the best courses! now i will read real books and pray for my grade 🙏🏻
lots of good illustrations, both schematic drawings with lumpy blobs for all the proteins and also really cool micrographs. i also liked the "key experiment" pages.
but the organization was bass ackwards. they started with chemistry, then DNA, then larger structures, until finally the cell cycle. so YOU NEVER KNEW THE BIGGER PICTURE. again and again, they would sort of hint at the larger context and then say "this is discussed in chapter 11" or whatever. the authors made the fatal mistake of so many teachers - they know the subject inside out, so they teach it from the inside out. it makes sense to them that way because they already know all the stuff from later chapters. but the student doesn't.
plus, they wrote with no personality at all. not one joke, anecdote, exclamation, etc., in the entire book.
finally, it was pretty clear that sometimes they wrote two pages and the publisher said "turn this into half a page" and so it became an ultradense series of technical sentences without explanation.
ah, well, i learned a ton, though. most interesting factoid: you can cut out two thirds of a rat's liver and it will grow back as good as new in a few days. wow.
it’s full of info , looks great and all but after a paragraph or two you can’t continue reading , your brain begs you to stop and it shuts down automatically.
You can’t even use it to sleep , sleeping after reading this brings horrific nightmares.
I teach cell biology and wanted to try a new textbook with a better online platform for our students. I started out with a great attitude and wanted to love this book. I just got to where I hated it! It just had too many details and didn't do a good job breaking things down. The active learning exercises were stupid. I just didn't like it at all and my students liked it even less.
Mostly easy to understand and nicely written with informative pictures. But I kept wondering if the author just stopped repeating the same thing in different words how much shorter the chapters would be...