Andy Conway Morris seeks molecular enlightenment-but does he find it? Read on and find out.

If you, like me, find biochemistry lectures mildly less preferable than passing nasogastric tubes down yourself, then, come exam time, you'll need a good textbook. This will allow you to learn or revise all those pathways, chemicals, and enzymes your mind had conveniently confined to the cerebral wastebasket. For those of you in your later years, a good textbook may just make ward rounds with that pernickety endocrinologist who delights in finding black holes in your preclinical knowledge survivable. Here are four biochemistry books that may help you.

Not worth it; Get from library; Steal from a friend; Eat whole before exams

Biochemistry
Donald Voet and Judith Voet
2nd ed, Wiley, 1995; £32.50
ISBN 047158651X
Star rating:

The Voets have produced a second edition of their mighty tome, simply entitled Biochemistry, and, to be fair, it is just that, a pure biochemistry text. This book is not aimed at medical students and for that reason should probably be avoided. All topics are covered in great detail, most of which is way beyond the level of even the most stringent preclinical course. It is certainly richly illustrated with eye catching diagrams, but this tempted me to flick from page to page to distract myself from the rather dry text. Great as a reference book in the library, when you need to settle a niggling question, or as a Christmas present for the incurably curious, but otherwise should be given a wide berth.

Biochemistry: Molecules, cells and the body
Jocelyn Dow, Lyndsay Gordon, and Jim Morrison
1st ed, Addison­Wesley, 1995; £29.99
ISBN 0201631873
Star rating:

This book has been specifically written for the students of the Tomorrow's Doctors generation. It is intended to complement the tranche of GMC inspired courses that are sweeping the board with integrated preclinical subjects, reduced factual load, and an emphasis on clinical applications. It is a shame that it fails to meet many of these aspirations.

Although written in a clear readable style, it is more notable for what it omits than for what it includes. In an effort to reduce the factual load the amount of detail has been stripped down to a barely adequate level, and for certain topics, such as liver metabolism, one could be forced to use another book in conjunction with this one. To add to this, there are a number of irritating errors, such as in the section on iron transport, that one would not expect from these authors.

One of the book's strengths is to illustrate the way in which similar processes occur throughout the body and by referring related topics to each other through marginal annotations. This also means, however, that to gain a full overview of any topic readers must flick backwards and forwards across the book. The use of icons to highlight issues related to specific organs, such as the heart, is an interesting idea, but the lack of an index of these icons limits their usefulness. The inadequate index also hinders this book's utility as a reference source.

This book is only partially usable and needs to be backed up by other texts. It would be better to buy a more complete text.

Principles of Medical Biochemistry
Gerhard Meisenberg and William H Simmons
1st ed, Mosby, 1998; £27.50
ISBN 0815144105
Star rating:

This book does exactly what it says on the cover. It is aimed specifically at medical students and not pure biochemists. As a result it provides a good overview of each topic without getting bogged down in such academic issues, such as the molecular composition of active sites or the precise mechanisms of enzyme action, that are of fringe interest to most medical students.

The diagrams are well constructed and clear, and they form a good adjunct to the text. They also serve to illustrate more complex topics without excess verbiage. The text contains key terms which are emboldened so making skimming for appropriate information very easy. This, combined with an excellent index, makes it a useful reference tool. It does not do such a good job of integrating topics, and the clinical case studies and discussion are largely tucked away at the back. The case studies are good, however, and will be of particular interest to those with some clinical knowledge while providing a tantalising glimpse of things to come for those in the early years.

This is certainly a well planned and written book and is also the cheapest of the selection. Well worth a look.

Biochemistry: a Case Oriented Approach
R Montgomery, T Conway, A Spector, and D Chappe
l6th ed, Mosby, 1996; £37.00
ISBN 0815164831
Star rating:

This book was originally written for the early problem based learning courses, which emerged from north American medical schools in the mid­1960s. It attempts to teach biochemistry as applied to human function, going from normality through to pathological systems.

Certainly this book's strength revolves around its case studies, of which several are presented in each chapter and followed by a good discussion. Although the book is aimed at problem based learning courses, this does not make it an invalid choice for students on more conventional courses. Whether this approach of applying methods of problem based learning to a text book is appropriate is a matter of personal learning style, but it does help enliven what can be a somewhat sober subject.

The content is comprehensive, with all important areas covered well. The text is easily accessible, and there are clear indications where to seek further information on each topic. The start of each chapter has objective boxes that indicate what should be learnt about that area.

This book's letdown is the high price, which, in these days of tuition fees and grant removal, makes it a slightly less popular choice.