Instant notes: Biochemistry (3rd ed.): Hames, David

Abstract

Hames, David and Hooper, Nigel, Bios/Taylor & Francis, New York and Abingdon, UK, 2005, 438 pp., ISBN 0-4153-6778-6, $31.95 There are now Instant Notes Study Guides in a range of bioscience subjects, and this is the third edition of the Biochemistry volume, of which the first edition was published in 1997. The series seems to have been successful, and the format is appreciated by students. The “instant” idea means that information is presented in “bite-sized” portions of 2–6 pages that a student could easily read (and hopefully digest) at a sitting. This might be to amplify lecture material or to prepare for an examination. Each section, effectively a chapter although they are not called chapters, offers half a dozen subsections, and each of these presents “Key Notes” with a few sentences/definitions on each of several words or phrases. Thus in the section entitled “Enzymes,” the subsections are: Introduction to Enzymes, Thermodynamics, Enzyme Kinetics, Enzyme Inhibition, and Regulation of Enzyme Activity. (In “Introduction to Enzymes,” the key topics are: catalysts, active site, substrate specificity, classification, assays, linked assays, coenzymes and prosthetic groups, and isoenzymes). The whole section on enzymes runs to about 27 pages. Similarly, the section on “Amino Acids and Proteins” includes subsections on: Amino Acids, Acids and Bases, Protein Structure, Myoglobin and Hemoglobin, Collagen, Protein Purification, Electrophoresis of Proteins, and Protein Sequencing and Peptide Synthesis. The information is fairly dense (as might be imagined) but is set out clearly. Inevitably, the size of the biochemistry volume has increased over the years from 374 pages in the first edition as the subject has expanded. However, the authors say that Instant Notes in Biochemistry is not intended to replace the larger texts but would be suitable for years 1 and 2 of a BS course in biochemistry. So, one might ask, what is missing when compared with the thousand-page typical texts weighing 3.5 kg? Fewer pictures for one thing. The diagrams are all very simple line diagrams with no color and no electron micrographs and elaborate schemes, etc. There are probably fewer examples and in general not so much detail, but nonetheless, there is quite a lot of detail. This is not a trivial biochemistry text. The order of topics has changed since previous editions, reflecting changes in emphasis in the subject itself. The sequence is as follows (remembering that these “sections” include 4–8 subsections each of 3–8 pages): cell structure, amino acids and proteins, enzymes, antibodies, biomembranes and cell signaling, DNA structure and replication, RNA synthesis and processing, protein synthesis, recombinant DNA technology, carbohydrate metabolism, lipid metabolism, respiration and energy, and nitrogen metabolism. As will be seen from this list, metabolism is relegated to the end of the book, perhaps a reflection of its current perceived importance in curricula. This sequence also has the consequence that the structure of sugars comes under carbohydrate metabolism, well after we have had such things as ribose and deoxyribose in DNA. However, this is probably OK since the text is not necessarily linear; at the end of each Key Notes section, there is a list of related topics that students can jump to. At the end of the book, there is a short list of further reading separated into a few of the regular texts plus some references to articles in TIBS and similar review journals. I suppose this is realistic; at this level, students will not wish to refer to Annual Reviews or indeed to the original literature. It should also be mentioned that the text is up-to-date inasmuch as it includes frequent references to proteomics and metabolomics, to RNA interference, and to DNA microarrays, for example. In the latter case, I felt that a color picture of a microarray would have been helpful for students' understanding, as would a printout from an automated DNA sequencer in the section on DNA sequencing, but presumably, they will have seen these in the lecture or in the “big” textbooks. (However, it is a worry that being given an abbreviated text such as the present one, some students may never actually look at the larger texts.) So overall, the concept of partially digested “notes” such as these seems to be welcomed by students whose main aim in life is to pass the examination. Whether we really want them simply to remember information in as concise a form as possible or whether we want them to be able to do other things on their way to becoming trained laboratory biochemists is something that this type of text does not wish to address. Presumably, the ability to find and critically appraise information in the current literature comes later in the degree course.