book reviews Chemical Biology-An Biochemistry
Introduction to
J. Ramsey Bronk, University of York, York, England. The Macmillan Co., New York, New York, 1973. xix + 667 pp. Figs and tables. 18 X 25.5 cm. $14.95. The organization of this text is certainly one of its strongest selling points. The author starts with small molecules and works up to complicated ones in his discussion of structures, and uses the same procedure for the discussion of synthetic and catabolic processes; first simple molecules then macromolecules. The final chapters are a discussion of regulation and control mechanisms. This organizational device works very well and imparts a logical sequence to the hook as a whole. A short selection of problems is included a t the end of each chapter. The coverage is reasonably complete, but the references t o the literature seem limited to work done before 1970, so that often the newest and most exciting developments are not referred to. The brief review of general chemistry in the first chapter and of thermodynamics in the second are by far the least successful aspects of this bmk; I would recommend anyone using it as a text forbid their students to read the first two chapters. The rest of the hook however redeems this inauspicious start; clearly the author is on
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more familiar ground in biochemistry than he is in elementary chemistry or thermodynamics. In this the five-hundreth anniversary year of Copernicus one cannot help hut he stuck by the fact that the cycles, pathways, and acronyms of biochemistry would put the epicycles of Ptolemy to shame for complexity and confusion to the uninitiated. If ever a science needed a Copernicus it ~i biorhrmistr). sr the prcsenr mumrnt. T h r helirf that hie prucesiei arr incredibly romolex is su well entrenched in rhe f d d that' only more complicated explanations can he expected in the future. This author does a fairly goad job in limiting the amount of jargon in the text; yet, we are treated to many pages of nathing but cycles by the time we reach the later chapters; and the final chapter is thoroughly pervaded with the argot of the profession. To make matters somewhat worse, occasionally the cycle in question is discussed in the text several pages away. From a chemist's point of view a good bioc h e m i s t ~text needs to he less encvclo-
tems. To conclude on a positive note, a large number of clearly reproduced electron micrographs illustrate the text and are in many cases an aid to understanding the text material. Edwin S . Weaver Mount Holyoke College South Hadley, Mass. 01075
