alberts molec.bio of cell--edition 4 vs. 5

[medicinednh09]

i'd like to buy Molecular Biology of the Cell by Alberts, because it was essentially a bible to me all through undergrad. I loaned it from a professor, though, so I think I should have my own for MS1. Is there much of a difference between the 5th and 4th edition? As you can imagine, I'm trying to save money, and the 4th edition is way cheaper. I dont want to miss out, though.

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[lildave2586]

i'd like to buy Molecular Biology of the Cell by Alberts, because it was essentially a bible to me all through undergrad. I loaned it from a professor, though, so I think I should have my own for MS1. Is there much of a difference between the 5th and 4th edition? As you can imagine, I'm trying to save money, and the 4th edition is way cheaper. I dont want to miss out, though.

I would be suprised if you used it. Mine sat on the shelf all last year, I didn't get it out once. If you must have it, I would say buy the 5th edition. They generally don't update that thing unless there is a major need. I know there was a HUGE difference between the 3rd and 4th edition.

 

[bodonid]

I felt the exact same way about my copy of Lodish, I absolutely loved the book and I was convinced I would read it in medical school. I still have it and I haven't touched it, literally, since the summer before medical school.

 

[TigerSoup]

Given that you're familiar with the book already, I would suggest not buying it. My med school cell bio class was pretty much a subset of what I learned in undergrad cell bio. Our lecture slides were entirely figures taken out of Mol Bio of the Cell, which is all you really need if the material is already review. The couple of things that I still needed to piece together on my own, I was able to access an online version of the book provided by my school's library.

 

[VoiceofReason]

people are going to jump on me for saying this but i actually read textbooks in MS1. In genetics, molecular biology, and biochemistry (which is all one integrated course at my school) i would use the syllabus as a guide to which topics needed covering and then go skip around in alberts reading the passages.

i loathe lecture notes as a primary study material

 

[TigerSoup]

i loathe lecture notes as a primary study material

Same here for the most part, but I never got what I wanted out of the assigned textbooks. Who in their right mind would tell their students to buy Boron and Boulpaep's Textbook of Medical Physiology? I read a textbook, but it was Costanzo's Physiology (the text, not the BRS review). Alberts is a *great* text, so I thought about buying it just to have on my shelf. If the OP is really familiar with cell biology from UG, he/she doesn't really need the text for med school.

Oh and to go back to the original question, the 4th edition is adequate for medical school cell bio. There were a couple of topics (minor points) that I couldn't find in the 4th edition, but I never looked to see if they were in the 5th, I looked them up on the internet (and ultimately they were too small to be tested). From the Amazon description, it looks like they revised a few of the subjects that you'd cover (like apoptosis, cell cycle). If you're a PhD student or plan to do a lot of future basic science research, you might benefit from the 5th edition updates. If I had to choose for myself, I would stick with the 4th. Cheaper and more aesthetically appealing as it gathers dust upon my bookshelf along with all those other hardcovers I foolishly purchased during my first year.

 

[mercaptovizadeh]

Same here for the most part, but I never got what I wanted out of the assigned textbooks. Who in their right mind would tell their students to buy Boron and Boulpaep's Textbook of Medical Physiology? I read a textbook, but it was Costanzo's Physiology (the text, not the BRS review). Alberts is a *great* text, so I thought about buying it just to have on my shelf. If the OP is really familiar with cell biology from UG, he/she doesn't really need the text for med school.

Oh and to go back to the original question, the 4th edition is adequate for medical school cell bio. There were a couple of topics (minor points) that I couldn't find in the 4th edition, but I never looked to see if they were in the 5th, I looked them up on the internet (and ultimately they were too small to be tested). From the Amazon description, it looks like they revised a few of the subjects that you'd cover (like apoptosis, cell cycle). If you're a PhD student or plan to do a lot of future basic science research, you might benefit from the 5th edition updates. If I had to choose for myself, I would stick with the 4th. Cheaper and more aesthetically appealing as it gathers dust upon my bookshelf along with all those other hardcovers I foolishly purchased during my first year.

What's wrong with Boron's book?

 

[TigerSoup]

Boron may be a good book for those who want to go above and beyond what an ordinary MS1 needs to know about physiology. I'm holding onto mine for a future reference, but unless someone already has substantial background in physiology, I don't think a med student would be able to squeeze in the depth of this book (granted, my UG did not offer physiology so I was dealing with a lot more new material than many of my classmates).

 

[mave]

This might make your decision a little easier:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=mboc4.TOC&depth=2

The entire fourth edition is online - for free, and searchable - on the NIH website. Nothing is cheaper than free 🙂
I used this all the time my M1 year. It was better than buying a book to read, because I could search for what I wanted. Good luck!