This new book by Bugg is directed at the senior undergraduate level or beginning graduate level audience. At the undergraduate level it would be useful as a means of expanding on the discussion of enzyme mechanisms beyond the standard text or perhaps as the text for a special topics course in enzyme mechanisms. The book is probably most appropriately used as a supplement in a two-semester senior-level biochemistry course or as a text in a one-semester course on bioorganic chemistry at the senior undergraduate or graduate level. At the graduate level it could provide the foundation for a course in enzyme mechanisms with the use of additional examples from the literature for classroom discussion.

The book starts with an introductory chapter discussing the history of enzymes and coenzymes and why enzymes are important commercially. This is followed by three chapters introducing the reader to enzyme structure, theory of enzymatic catalysis, and methods used for studying enzymatic reactions. The next six chapters cover the basic types of biochemical reactions in a manner similar to Walsh's Enzymatic Reaction Mechanisms, but the format is briefer. The final chapter discusses nonenzymatic catalysis by catalytic RNA and catalytic antibodies and the development of synthetic models of enzymes.

The four appendices provide Prelog rules for nomenclature, amino acid abbreviations, a simple demo of enzyme catalysis, and answers to the end-of-chapter problems.

The book is designed to fit in a niche that has largely gone untouched since Walsh's excellent Enzyme Reaction Mechanisms. Bugg's book follows the same general technique of Walsh by dividing enzyme reactions into four classes. While each chapter is rich in examples of enzymatic catalysis, the examples are by no means as extensive as in Walsh's book. Bugg's book also includes an experiment, recently published in this Journal, that is suitable as a demonstration or an undergraduate biochemistry or organic chemistry lab experiment.

The end-of-chapter references are appropriate, up to date, and sufficient to provide the reader a starting place for further study.