Biological Physics: Energy, Information, Life

by Philip Nelson

Physics and engineering departments are building research programs in biological physics, but until now there has not been a synthesis of this dynamic field at the undergraduate level. Biological Physics focuses on new results in molecular motors, self-assembly, and single-molecule manipulation that have revolutionized the field in recent years, and integrates these topics with classical results. The text also provides foundational material for the emerging field of nanotechnology. The text is built around a self-contained core geared toward undergraduate students who have had one year of calculus-based physics. Additional "Track-2" sections contain more advanced material for senior physics majors and graduate students.

Genres: Physics, Biology, Science, Textbooks, Nonfiction, Neuroscience

600 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Philip]

Life's Ratchet by Peter Hoffman says (pp 260--261):

"Although I already listed [Biological Physics] in my sources, I list it here again because of its importance to Life's Ratchet. This book inspired me to write [my] book in the first place. Biological Physics is the most interesting and well-written textbook I have ever read."

[Hind · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. When I was assigned it during undergrad we never really ended up using it, but I enjoyed reading through it.

[Sara Ghotb · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the recommendation of my professor, I read this book during my undergraduate studies. At that time, I was deeply intrigued by this book. This book is not only well-written, but also contains interesting and challenging problem sets.

[Kelsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst textbook...ever!

[Mike Lisanke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a text book And IMO a good text book on Biophysics; and I've taken a course in biophysics and should know. Like all textbooks it's very well referenced and notated. It has a few examples of the math it expect in problem solving But like most college text it doesn't have many actually worked example problems. It also suffers from the problem that Biochemistry Biology and Physics are huge subjects and attempting to teach the specifics of physics for biology is, difficult. So, there are many missing descriptions and teaching left as an exercise for the reader interested in this subject. If you are interested in biophysics, learning biophysics or teaching biophysics, you should read this book.

[Isaac · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better textbooks I've read in a while. I haven't touched biology since highschool, but I would have loved to have this book then. As a more physics-minded person, this book explains many biomolecule things that I was confused or curious about. The writing style is engaging (though could be more concise), answered the questions I had while reading, and gives a good intuition for the processes discussed.

[Navid Aliakbarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

On average this is a very intresting although the problems are not very useful.

[Antoine · Rating 5 out of 5]

solid biological physics textbook. riveting read lol

[Philip]

Life's Ratchet by Peter Hoffman says (pp 260--261):

"Although I already listed [Biological Physics] in my sources, I list it here again because of its importance to Life's Ratchet. This book inspired me to write [my] book in the first place. Biological Physics is the most interesting and well-written textbook I have ever read."

[Rouhollah Abdolvahab · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book for physicists who likes life and biology.