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I've seen several threads come up asking about one or both of these resources as people try to figure out what to choose in this area for board prep. Since biochem is historically a very weak spot for me, and I wanted to get a head start in this one particular area, I have paid close attention to those threads and have purchased and thoroughly evaluated both the RR biochem and Lippincott's Illustrated Review of biochem. If anyone else thinks one person's opinion on these two resources is valuable, read on.
I started with RR biochem - I liked Goljan's style, and loved RR pathology, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I (slowly) read through about 80% of this book. It seems extremely high yield in that every page is very dense with information - seemingly very little fluff. There are pretty good diagrams or charts of most every major topic and the text follows them very well. However, it got to the point where I felt like I was forgetting the page I had just read before I could finish the next one. I started getting even more worried about biochem and being ready for it on the boards.
I thumbed through a 14 year old version of Lippincott's in lunch one day, and thought it looked promising, so I bought the new edition. So far, I've read (slowly) about 50% of this book, and it has been pure gold. It is much longer, but a little quicker read because of the lower information density. For the first time ever I feel like I really know my stuff in selected areas of biochem. All those pesky regulatory interactions that I couldn't "memorize" from RR now make sense on an intuitive level.
So here's the lowdown...
RR biochem: I think this would be a great resource for anyone who at one time knew and understood biochem fairly well, was comfortable with it, and was looking for a high-yield review resource for boards. It is illustrated adequately, no fluff, good clinical correlates, and a fairly quick read if everything isn't new to you. But it isn't anything like a good resource for shoring up bad understanding of biochem, just forgotten details.
Lippincott's: Some three times longer, but probably only about twice the read time. This is a great option for people like me that never understood some (or a lot of) concepts very well and would like something between a primary biochem textbook and a quick review high-yield list of factoids like RR biochem. Clinical correlates seem pretty good. There is a lot of reference forward and backwards to other parts of the text that I have found useful in strengthening my understanding (i.e., some topic that has an effect on a pathway discussed fifty pages back will direct you back to take another look at a key figure, and all of the sudden that little enzyme that you just accepted at face value before now makes all the sense in the world). And there is one area where Lippincott's reigns supreme, and where RR could take notes and improve: the illustrations. RR's are very "dry" in that the pathway or chart is presented without any fuss. It is left for you to examine, study, memorize if you wish. Lippincott's adds these wonderful little "balloon annotations" that explain what is happening in the diagram. If you are wondering what I mean, go to the bookstore and flip a copy over to the back cover and you'll see. It really helps connect the dots for someone like me who has only memorized random dots in the past for the purpose of a particular quiz or test.
I hope this is helpful to someone. Both resources seem like they have their place depending on your level of biochem comprehension at the outset. It is possible that I'll only go through Lippincott's once, and then use RR for review closer to the test, but it is such a good read and has a way of making things really stick that it will be tempting to just go through it again.
I started with RR biochem - I liked Goljan's style, and loved RR pathology, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I (slowly) read through about 80% of this book. It seems extremely high yield in that every page is very dense with information - seemingly very little fluff. There are pretty good diagrams or charts of most every major topic and the text follows them very well. However, it got to the point where I felt like I was forgetting the page I had just read before I could finish the next one. I started getting even more worried about biochem and being ready for it on the boards.
I thumbed through a 14 year old version of Lippincott's in lunch one day, and thought it looked promising, so I bought the new edition. So far, I've read (slowly) about 50% of this book, and it has been pure gold. It is much longer, but a little quicker read because of the lower information density. For the first time ever I feel like I really know my stuff in selected areas of biochem. All those pesky regulatory interactions that I couldn't "memorize" from RR now make sense on an intuitive level.
So here's the lowdown...
RR biochem: I think this would be a great resource for anyone who at one time knew and understood biochem fairly well, was comfortable with it, and was looking for a high-yield review resource for boards. It is illustrated adequately, no fluff, good clinical correlates, and a fairly quick read if everything isn't new to you. But it isn't anything like a good resource for shoring up bad understanding of biochem, just forgotten details.
Lippincott's: Some three times longer, but probably only about twice the read time. This is a great option for people like me that never understood some (or a lot of) concepts very well and would like something between a primary biochem textbook and a quick review high-yield list of factoids like RR biochem. Clinical correlates seem pretty good. There is a lot of reference forward and backwards to other parts of the text that I have found useful in strengthening my understanding (i.e., some topic that has an effect on a pathway discussed fifty pages back will direct you back to take another look at a key figure, and all of the sudden that little enzyme that you just accepted at face value before now makes all the sense in the world). And there is one area where Lippincott's reigns supreme, and where RR could take notes and improve: the illustrations. RR's are very "dry" in that the pathway or chart is presented without any fuss. It is left for you to examine, study, memorize if you wish. Lippincott's adds these wonderful little "balloon annotations" that explain what is happening in the diagram. If you are wondering what I mean, go to the bookstore and flip a copy over to the back cover and you'll see. It really helps connect the dots for someone like me who has only memorized random dots in the past for the purpose of a particular quiz or test.
I hope this is helpful to someone. Both resources seem like they have their place depending on your level of biochem comprehension at the outset. It is possible that I'll only go through Lippincott's once, and then use RR for review closer to the test, but it is such a good read and has a way of making things really stick that it will be tempting to just go through it again.
