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Chemical Education Today
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Book and Media Reviews
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Biochemistry: The Chemical Reactions of Living Cells, 2nd Edition (David E. Metzler)
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Academic Press: San Diego, Vol.1, 2001. 937pp. ISBN 0124925405. $95. Vol. 2, 2002. 960 pp, ISBN 0124925413. $95. Two—volume set $170. Vols 1 and 2 on CD—Rom, 2003. ISBN 0124925421. $120
reviewed by Arthur Glasfeld
Department of Chemistry, Reed College, Portland, OR 97202
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May 2004
Vol. 81 No. 5
p. 646
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| Full Text |
Metzler’s second edition of Biochemistry is quite possibly the best textbook in biochemistry ever written. The first edition came out in 1977, and was something of a legend by the time I started teaching in 1989, but it’s easy to see why this effort required the 24 years between editions. In two volumes, containing roughly 2000 pages together, Metzler’s new text is comprehensive, authoritative, thoughtful, and just plain fun to read. Although it is consistent with the content and scope of most other biochemistry texts on the market, I have not seen anything else like it. Metzler’s own words do the best job of describing this work:
What I have tried to do is to provide a well-integrated, up-to-date and reliable text and reference book that covers the basic chemistry underlying biological phenomena and which conveys the excitement of present day biochemical studies.
He succeeded. The material in this text is never too advanced for a junior chemistry or biochemistry major; it makes no demands beyond the reader’s comfort with general and organic chemistry. But accompanying this accessible treatment, there is an impressive level of detail and an admirable commitment to thorough explanations. Time and again I found material in Metzler’s book that I failed to find elsewhere on my bookshelf. Moreover, when I open the book looking for a quick answer to a specific question, I often find myself lured into additional material. Metzler has a talent for choosing interesting material, for keeping the style crisp and readable, and for grounding it in the literature (there are 17,000 references, many of them quite current).
The topics covered by the two books are fairly standard. The first volume contains chapters on biochemical structure and enzymology with a brief introduction to metabolism, while the second is more focused on metabolism and molecular genetics. Additionally, there are chapters in the second volume organized around light (combining vision and photosynthesis), cellular communication, biochemical defense, and development. While the range is not atypical of what is included in other textbooks, the depth of these 32 chapters sets the book apart. Metzler avoids simplification and generalization, taking care to provide specifics and detail that just aren’t available in other texts. The discussion of chemical sequencing of DNA is accompanied by the chemical mechanisms involved. The chemical mechanism of the ribosome is shown as well, including recent evidence of the role of adenine as a general base. A full discussion of tooth structure is provided. Two-dimensional NMR is described, and T1 and T2 are explained clearly. As a test, I looked up the catalytic mechanism of lysozyme, which is frequently described using a carbocation intermediate, despite long debate on that question and recent data that clearly demonstrate a double displacement reaction. Metzler finished volume one before that most recent study appeared, yet he anticipated the possibility. Rather than writing the lysozyme story as though it were a done deal, a “textbook case” as it were, he captures the debate that has centered on various mechanistic issues, with references of course, evaluates the evidence and concludes with a caution to “…examine data critically, and to try to imagine all possible alternatives—even when things seem to be proven beautifully.” The rest of his writing demonstrates the same care and wisdom.
There are other books in biochemistry that share these qualities, but they are more specialized texts: Proteins by Tom Creighton (1), Molecular Genetics by Stent and Calendar (2), and Principles of Nucleic Acid Structure by Wolfram Saenger (3). Metzler’s work is remarkable in that it feels like an advanced text, yet it covers such a breadth of material starting from the most basic chemical fundamentals. At $170 for the two-volume set (or $120 for a CD-ROM version), this is an unusually good value, especially compared to the current price of $140 for most standard textbooks. Metzler’s work lacks the flashy full color treatment found in other commercial texts, using only two-color illustrations, but even so the visual content is quite good. It calls into question the value in so many full colored graphics that fill most textbooks and that undoubtedly drive up the price.
Who should consider getting Metzler’s two-volume set? No biochemist or library should be without it; it is an enormously valuable reference—a concise encyclopedia of modern biochemistry. Also, it should be recommended to any chemist interested in learning more about the field. As a classroom text, it will not be for everyone. Graduate courses may find it more suitable than those for undergraduates. While no advanced knowledge is required, it does not coddle the reader. The reader is asked to make an intellectual commitment to the material that is rare in all but a few modern textbooks, but the rewards are worth it. Metzler’s work will no doubt be a classic that many will refer to for years to come.
- Creighton, T. E. Proteins: Structures and Molecular Properties, 2nd ed.; W. H. Freeman: New York, 1993.
- Stent, G. S.; Calendar, R. Molecular Genetics: An Introductory Narrative, 2nd ed.; W. H. Freeman: San Francisco, 1978.
- Saenger, W. Principles of Nucleic Acid Structure; Springer-Verlag: New York, 1983.
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| More Information |
 Citation |
Glasfeld, Arthur. J. Chem. Educ. 2004 81 646.
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Keywords |
Biochemistry; Textbooks
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History |
Created:
Last Updated: |
April 1, 2004
February 18, 2005
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