What is a good biochemistry textbook?

[Hollaback Girl]

I have some spare time in this year off and I'm thinking of buying a Biochemistry book to teach myself some of the basics. Anyone have a text book that they recommend?

Ideally, it would be very clear and well written. I like colorful diagrams/illustrations and practice problems with answers. I looked on Amazon, but I can't tell a good Biochem Text from a bad one. Any suggestions?
~Holla

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[chaeymaey]

Try Biochemistry by Garrett and Grisham. It's very well-written and has great pictures. The answers to the practice problems can be found in the corresponding solutions manual along with great chapter outlines and diagrams.

 

[MikeyLu2010]

by doing a search ..lippincotts is very popular..

 

[dimebag darrell]

For what it's worth, I'm a big fan of Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry, 4th ed.
See it here

However, I don't have any experience with other texts so I don't know how it stacks up (but I'd imagine quite well).

 

[coco]

In my class, we used Biochemistry by Garrett and Grisham and I thought it was pretty good. They've got a ton of colored pictures that help with understanding what's going on but that's the only book I've really used/seen so there might be better.

 

[madbay]

For what it's worth, I'm a big fan of Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry, 4th ed.
See it here

However, I don't have any experience with other texts so I don't know how it stacks up (but I'd imagine quite well).

I agree--the Lehninger book is THE way to go. I took Biochem this past semester and, given that our testing was based mostly on lecture notes, I felt that it helped tremendously. The prof gave us two options for texts to supplement his notes...Lehninger being one and Essential Biochemistry (by Pratt & Cornely) being the other. Informal surveying of the class showed that Lehninger was the clear winner--everyone seemed to hate the P&C book. And I'm definitely in that camp.

Honestly, though, I've run into few textbooks (let alone science textbooks) that are as thorough, clear, and visually effective as the Lehninger.

 

[dr.z]

I liked Biochemistry by Stryer.

 

[jebus]

I'm partial to Stryer. It doesn't dumb down biochemistry like Lehninger. It's well written and it looks fancier than Lehninger.
If you're using it for MCAT prep it is overkill. Also, the author's first name is Lubert. That gives it extra points in my book.

 

[PurpleHaze]

We used Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry, 4th ed. this semester and I think it was a really good book.

 

[Hurricane95]

I used Berg, its decent though of course its the only one I know. There has to be something better, its a bit convoluted on many of its explanations and more pictures with details would be nice.

 

[mshheaddoc]

I liked Biochemistry by Stryer.

I liked stryer too!

 

[Sinbadthesailor]

We use Voet&Voet. It is fancier than any of yours.

 

[tulane06]

Voet and Voet is the best Biochem textbook overall, but there are other texts that are more focused on the medical/clinical aspects of the field.

 

[badlydrawnvik]

i also used voet and voet, thought it was pretty good for biochem 1, we'll see how it is for biochem 2 next semester.

 

[zero2hero]

Lehinger is a great book.

 

[pguin]

A much more important question is why do you want to waste your free time studying biochem...there nothing conceptual about it...you just memorize random processes and amino acids and you'll most likely forget it before the info ever becomes useful.

 

[potato51]

I've used Voet, Voet & Pratt and later Lehninger. My professor much preferred the latter, but I found them equally as effective.

 

[excalibur]

PLEASE DON'T STUDY BIOCHEMISTRY BEFORE STARTING MED SCHOOL!!! Totally not worth it. Biochemistry may be th class that is the least important when it comes to the clinical setting. I never find myself trying to recall something from biochem.

While we're on it, please don't study anything before med school starts. You will be guided appropriately on what you need to study once you get there. Use this time to do anything else other than study med school stuff. Please, please don't study! PLEASE!! It makes me sad when I hear things like this.

 

[excalibur]

PLEASE DON'T STUDY BIOCHEMISTRY BEFORE STARTING MED SCHOOL!!! Totally not worth it. Biochemistry may be th class that is the least important when it comes to the clinical setting. I never find myself trying to recall something from biochem.

While we're on it, please don't study anything before med school starts. You will be guided appropriately on what you need to study once you get there. Use this time to do anything else other than study med school stuff. Please, please don't study! PLEASE!! It makes me sad when I hear things like this. Plus biochem is all about memorization, and what's the point of memorizing stupid glycoproteins, the pathways for glycolysis and gluconeogenesis, the salvage and de novo pathways for amino acids, and mucopolysacharidoses 3 months in advance. It's virtually impossible to retain info that inane for that long. After the test, that info vanishes from your brain in like a week. So just prepare for it while taking the class.

DON'T STUDY ANYTHING BEFORE MED SCHOOL!

 

[Hollaback Girl]

PLEASE DON'T STUDY BIOCHEMISTRY BEFORE STARTING MED SCHOOL!!! Totally not worth it. Biochemistry may be th class that is the least important when it comes to the clinical setting. I never find myself trying to recall something from biochem.

While we're on it, please don't study anything before med school starts. You will be guided appropriately on what you need to study once you get there. Use this time to do anything else other than study med school stuff. Please, please don't study! PLEASE!! It makes me sad when I hear things like this. Plus biochem is all about memorization, and what's the point of memorizing stupid glycoproteins, the pathways for glycolysis and gluconeogenesis, the salvage and de novo pathways for amino acids, and mucopolysacharidoses 3 months in advance. It's virtually impossible to retain info that inane for that long. After the test, that info vanishes from your brain in like a week. So just prepare for it while taking the class.

DON'T STUDY ANYTHING BEFORE MED SCHOOL!

Thanks for the advice, but I don't consider myself a typical premed. I majored in Electrical Engineering in college and I have very limited experience in life sciences. Besides at many medical schools Biochemistry is a course that is highly recommended. Your right, I won't remember all the pathways and blah blah blah, but its more the way I will conceptualize and think about these types of courses that matters. Its good to practice that type of thinking.

 

[silas2642]

We used Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry, 4th ed. this semester and I think it was a really good book.

I woved it.

 

[Nikki2002]

if you use voet, definitely get the study guide for metabolism stuff

 

[excalibur]

Thanks for the advice, but I don't consider myself a typical premed. I majored in Electrical Engineering in college and I have very limited experience in life sciences. Besides at many medical schools Biochemistry is a course that is highly recommended. Your right, I won't remember all the pathways and blah blah blah, but its more the way I will conceptualize and think about these types of courses that matters. Its good to practice that type of thinking.

My brother majored in mechanical engineering. He did fine in med school. You took the prereqs (gen chem and orgo) right? That's all you need. I'm trying to tell you that studying before med school is a waste of time.

If I can't dissuade you, then just know, to answer your original question, most med students at my school used Lippincott Biochem.

 

[disheveled_dave]

Sorry to all the Voet fans out there, but any time I feel like cutting my productivity in half, that's the book I use. Lehninger is the way to go. I've actually been studying out of both at the same time (we use Voet in my class), and I have found Lehninger much more focused, understandable, and and comprehensive. Voet diagrams often include unnecessary and distracting details (the diagram for GPCR's, if I remember right, includes several proteins that have nothing to do with the mechanism!). The infamous Voet "protein structure paragraphs", which dissect EVERY component of the molecule down to each angstrom, are pointless (at least for our class, which doesn't test us on them), and just bog down an already dense and confusing section. I could go on...

Sorry, this turned into more of a rant than I had expected. Moral: I like Lehninger.

 

[LadyWolverine]

As an UG, I taught myself biochemistry using 2nd edition Lehninger (waaaaaay back in 1999). I found the book to be very informative, easy to read, with plenty of helpful pictures and diagrams.

I also took graduate biochemistry last year. Our recommended text was Voet&Voet. What a waste of money. It reads like stereo instructions and the pictures are worthless when compared to Lehninger.

If you're going to learn it on your own, I highly suggest Lehninger. Whatever you do, don't waste money buying V&V. And, for god sakes, don't drop it on your big toe like I did. It weighs a good 12 pounds.

 

[Punisher]

Lehinger is a great book.

Lehinger - Best biochem book I have ever read.

 

[kraskadva]

If you're determined to nerd out and pre-study....
Lehinger is the gold standard for BC textbooks and has really good explanations. Get the cheapest 5th edition (6th doesn't have enough changes to be worth the updated price.)
Voet is also good, and the pictures are a bit prettier.
Y0u should be able to get either for ~$20 on Amazon

-A Biochem Grad TA