5 comments about Biochemistry, Update (with CengageNOW 2-Semester, InfoTrac 2-Semester Printed Access Card).

1. This book is very detailed and covers a wide range of bio-chemistry information.



2. This book has been very helpful in understanding the complex topics in biochemistry such as protein folding. Very well written for the beginning biochemistry student who only has a general background in chemistry and biology



3. This is very well rounded book. Do not pay any heed to the reviwers who gave it a lower rating. The truth is biochemistry is not an easy subject and you have to work hard at it. If you are willing to work hard and are willing to take the time to read the book and do the end of chapter problems you will succeed. Some reviewers suggested that they struggled through two semesters of biochem with this book, that is not the books fault. In order to study a book of this magnitude one requires a very strong background in molecular biology, organic chemistry and some physics. Otherwise don't bother with this book or taking up biochem as your field of study!



4. Good organization, but the authors try to make the text beautiful to read. They are very vague with important details, using terms like 'mileu' to describe components, when you really need to know what the components actually are!!



5. The "Updated" parts of this 3rd Edition do not significantly enhance the quality of presentation for biochemical concepts. The "Essential Questions"
   are not essential and can be found in the Study Guide to the 2nd Edition.
   It is a whole lot cheaper to purchase a 2nd Edition + Study Guide than to waste money on the 3rd Edition textbook just because it is "NEW" and shiny.
   
   
   Take my advice -- Save a ton of money; Buy the 2nd Edition + Study Guide!

5 comments about Canning & Preserving for Dummies.

1. I have always fantasized about canning and preserving my own locally grown garden vegetables and fruits. One day on a lark of what my partner called "Pure Insanity" I bought a Water based canner and equipment to put my dreams into reality. I would have panicked had I not reviewed and purchased this book the day before.
   
   In only a matter of a few hours I read the book from cover to cover and felt like an expert. Soon thereafter when I found a wonderful source of locally grown cucumbers I "canned" 8 pints of 'Bread and Butter pickles' from a recipe provided in this book. Three weeks later I was the recipient of a Blue Ribbon at a local fair for my "Prize Winning Recipe". I was astonished! They will never know the secret of my success was "The Dummies Guide" but I will never forget. I've since gone on to do Corn Relish, Apple Butter, Lime Pickles, and tonight I shall can Green Beans and Carrots.
   
   This is the book that will bring success to the otherwise accident and disaster prone "cook". Don't start this hobby without it!



2. This product is great it will help you if you don't know a thing about this or if you just need a little help. I had to buy this when my granny died and my mom was being selfish and wouldn't copy my grannys' how to's so I could learn how to do a few new things that I didn't get a chance to ask my granny before she passed. I think you should buy this. It thought me so much that I needed to know. My granny would be proud.



3. I give this book a "U" for unsatisfactory. It has NO information
   on canning meat, poultry or fish !!! It recommends another book
   - apparently the author thinks it's way too hard and scary to can
   meat. It isn't - buy another book with more practical information
   in it.



4. If you are thinking of canning summer's bounty, this is a great place to start. Step by step basic instructions on how to thrill and not kill your friends and family with home canned goods.



5. I LOVE THIS BOOK!! It clearly explains how to and when to can foods. I use it like my canning dictionary and reference it constantly. I also am waiting on the Blue Ball Book which I read some of at WalMart and that book also is a big help! So, now I know what 2 books I will keep in my kitchen library to help make canning a success for myself and my son.

5 comments about Textbook of Biochemistry With Clinical Correlations (Textbook of Biochemistry w/ Clinical Correlations).

1. We used this book teaching first year medical school biochemistry. The clinical correlations are well done, but the real strengh of the book lies in the sections on metabolic interrelationships. It is often confusing to the medical student to learn a pathway, and the the metabolic controls of the pathway, and then the added complexity that this system works differently in different tissues. This physiological complexity (which is the layer of integration where diagnosis really happens) is tackled head on in the first few chapters. This helps keep the student oriented to the system (the patient) and not get totally lost in the trees of enzyme names and co-factors.
   
   I wish this book had been around when I went through medical school.
   
   duke out



2. I expected better from a 6th edition medical textbook. There are still grammatical and sentence errors that need to be corrected, and we have found multiple diagram problems throughout the book. The sentences can be poorly worded at times, and the book occassionally makes leaps in thought that are difficult to follow. It does contain a large amount of information, which is good, but the presentation of that information definitely needs to be further refined.



3. Senior in college,
   double major Biology and Chemistry.
   This is the worst book I have ever used.
   Two brief examples..
   looking for a figure? On the previous (or next) page or 100pages further down the book.
   Thought Marcel Proust could write endless sentences? Hold on! devlin can spend four to five lines, with "bold term" to explain something you won't understand the 10th time around.
   Don't waste your time, don't waste your money....stay away from this mess of a book.



4. I had to use this book for my Biochemistry class. My major is Nutrition & Dietetics, and I already graduated. This book is just awful. Like someone else wrote, if you need to find a term or a figure, you have to look in almost the whole book, and you may still won't understand what you were looking for, or even worse, you'll get more confused. Devlin finds the hardest way to explain an easy term or fact you can explain a lot easier. This is just not worth it. Do not buy this book, there are other books a lot better.



5. I wanted to get a textbook that allows me to get up to speed again with mammalian biochemistry and I bought this book in preference to more general textbooks. And on the whole I am impressed - the writing and the diagrams are clear and accurate. There is one issue however that has made a serious black mark: units. I would expect a modern textbook to use SI units throughout. The problem here is that the book skips between Calories and Joules almost at random depending upon the particular author involved. The chapter on Bioenergetics gloriously uses both - but in different parts of the chapter (for example Free-Energy Change for hexokinase is in kcals whereas the section on Free-Energy Changes in redox reactions is in joules! - without the other unit in both cases). I have an elderly copy of Lehninger from the 1970's that exclusively uses SI units and so to see a modern (2005) book still using Calories is deeply disappointing. Yes it's an irritant (even I can convert between joules and calories - 4.18) and shouldn't detract from the book but thats not the point. It just shouldn't happen and it reflects badly on the general editor

5 comments about The End of Food.

1. Since Ehrlich and the Club of Rome, we've seen a number of attempts to resurrect the dire, zero-sum predictions of Thomas Malthus. And yet the world enjoys more food and less hunger each year as human beings learn to trade and cooperate over greater distances. That old bugbear, "overpopulation" rears its head again in an effort that reveals an author that is, himself, malnourished when it comes to economics.
   
   Readers will find familiar scapegoats in big box stores that in reality increase the availability of food to everyone -- especially the poor. Agricultural subsidies and trade barriers are the real culprits when it comes to price spikes and food shortages. But the "End of Food" is yet another attempt to roll back the gains made by globalization -- gains that have filled more bellies than any nostalgia for local growers and rehashed Malthusianism.
   
   Sadly, books like this are an intellectual drought in the garden of plenty. Reflective and open-minded types will turn their eyes to the works of Julian Simon, the ingenuity of Norman Borlaug, and greater understanding of the ecosystem of prices and incentives that enable food markets adapt and change to meet the demands of a healthier, better-fed global population.
   
   Sorry, Mr. Malthus. No more cause for pessimism, today, than in the 18th Century.



2. THe funny thing about the modern era is how it has consistantly been shaped by the idea of the coming doomsday. The method (nuclear war, overpopulation, climate change) shifts with the wind, but the constant is a belief in the inevitable fall of our "evil" civilization unless we sign up for one political agenda or another.
   
   Paul Roberts is making a career in trading on fear. He was crowned as a genius for writing a book about an energy crisis (the end of oil) shortly before the crisis arrived. As a followup, he is selling on fears about food.
   
   This book is poorly researched, badly organized and doesn't quite understand what point it wants to make. It can't decide if it wants to be whiny book about how walmart for social changes in America because it sells cheap food or if it wants to trade in hysteria about rising food prices and diminishing food resources. He can't decide if he wants to complain about the efficiency of a meat diet or global warming or family social dining habits.
   
   And in the end, the book doesn't lead anywhere. It ends with Roberts putting out a political agenda about food. Ironically (in a sad sense),
   Roberts perscription for fixing his food "crisis" in the end are all the things that the world has been doing for the last 50 years. Bluntly, we need to apply brute force science to food production with a goal of increasing production regardless of consequences or costs.
   
   He pushes genetic modification as one answer. He pushes the elimination of meat production in favor of factory farmed fish as another. And he wants international planning to drive food production.
   
   In summary, he doesn't make his case or lay the groundwork for the changes he is suggesting. He can't construct an argument to save his life and depends on a shotgunning facts out as a substitute.



3. I had read Roberts' earlier "the end of oil" and had forgotten how difficult it was to read through. This book is slightly less interesting despite the more interesting topic, which in theory should be more malthusian than the end of oil, but Roberts treats every issue with a very vacillating, politician-like ambiguity. It's surprising for example that he doesn't make more out of the peaking of fossil fuels in relation to fertilizer for food production. Every time he comes near to making a point he hedges and describes the optimistic and pessimistic viewpoints without really taking a stand.
   Typical of his writing style as well is his tendency to travel all over the globe interviewing random peasants, farmers, executives, etc., as if a travelogue somehow makes the subject more accessible. Presumably this is because he is a journalist, not an expert per se in the issue of agriculture or food. But after so many round the world trips interviewing a farmer in china for ex. and his woes the reader begins to get tired of his peripatetic descriptions.
   In summary I found it hard to really get a grip on any of the issues he presents except in a very vague way and I found it equally hard to get all the way through to the end without giving up. And this is not because I don't find the issue serious-- if anything, I think he is far too optimistic: the lack of freshwater supplies, peaking of fossil fuels, lack of arable land, increasing loss of topsoil, increasing population pressures, will probably result in some kind of malthusian crisis.



4. Robert's "End of Food" includes a lot of good information, but there are probably 200 places where a good editor would've challenged the author to reword or tighten up the manuscript. I wonder whether his editor even read the book carefully, or whether he/she knew enough about the subject to properly edit it. A few examples of the issues I'm talking about:
   
   At the beginning of the book Roberts lays out a ridiculously simplified, linear reductionist theory of the role meat consumption played in man's history (except that he rolls it out as fact rather than no small amount of speculation).
   There are a number of factual inaccuracies that should've been caught or at least reworded. Example: He states that meat is easier to digest than plant foods, which in many cases is simply wrong. Cooked rice, for example, is half-digested before it's even in the stomach.
   
   Three times Roberts refers to soil as dirt. In 45 years I've never heard a farmer (or any agricultural specialist) refer to soil (in a field)as "dirt". This carelessness on Robert's part is enough to make thoughtful readers question whether he's been shoddy in other areas too. There are at least a dozen places where he refers to animal manure as poop, which is just plain silly, and makes Roberts sound like a goofball. Imagine if physicians referred to a laceration as a "Bo-Bo" in a medical report, not once, but 12 times? Could you take him seriously?
   
   Roberts is very very loose with his date references. Sometimes he's wrong. On p. 118 he states "By the late 1960s the U.S. was in deep economic trouble......having lost it manufacturing lead to low-cost rivals like Japan...." But in fact in the late 60s very little U.S. manufacturing had shifted to Japan. Roberts is only about 15 years off there.
   Then, on page 152 he writes, "...by the late 1980s....African output faltered;...The timing couldn't have been worse. Just as Africans were producing fewer bushels [in the late 80s], a new glut of grain , unleashed by Butz's "fence row to fence row" policy, sent prices plummeting". The problem with this is that Butz's fence row policy was implemented in 1971, almost 20 years before the African output faltered, which is many years too much lapsed time to have had a meaningful direct effect.
   
   Finally, what possible reason is there for a 26 page prologue in a general interest book such as this? 26 pages! Where was Robert's editor? If a writer's proposing a 26 page prologue, there's at least a chapter missing in the body of the book.
   
   All in all I enjoyed the book, although it's not nearly as well-written as Pollan's food books.



5. I agree this is among the very best of this century's "Declinist Literature". It's an urgent Cassandra alarm about the looming danger of worldwide famine.
   Those who poo poo Roberts as "Malthusian" should read more carefully the section with Malthus, who was writing his doomsday predictions at a time when the whole New World still lay there rich in topsoil, ripe for takeover by millions of starving European farmers. Sure, Malthus was proven wrong - at that time - but he would've been correct if the New World hadn't been quickly deforested/deprairied and farmed to feed teeming Europe. There is no frontier left, (the Amazon is the last big frontier left on Earth to be cleared and farmed, and we all know about that grim scenario),everywhere soils are massively depleted and threatened by flood, pests and drought from climate change, while our addiction to natural gas derived fertilizer is a recipe for major famines when the pipelines are cut off by war or peak oil. There is little water left in China, India and many other regions, which - as Roberts shows - import water indirectly in the form of grain from those that still have water. But anway, how is it "Malthusian" to point out rationally that fecund soil has peaked all over the Earth?
   Recommended to go with it is Eating Fossil Fuels: Oil, Food and the Coming Crisis in Agriculture
   Perhaps Roberts was hastily edited or not edited(for example, "eighteen hundred years ago" instead of "eighteen thousand years" in the section on Cro Magnon diet. Yet readers should realize that many major publishers no longer use copy editors and sometimes agents without training in editing are now asked to do the job without pay, so get used to errors and typos).

5 comments about Biochemistry.

1. As a reference for those of us that are out here doing research in the real world this is a Godsend. It may not be appropriate for an introductory text but for those of us needing a concise backup for real decisions it is wonderful.
   HOWEVER the BS that the CD won't run on my Mac Tiger (which gives me:
   
   "The page "Guided Exploration 23 (Section 29-1)" has content of MIME type "application/x-spt". Because you don't have a plug-in installed for this MIME type, this content can't be displayed."
   
   I have installed everything with the disk.)
   is publisher junk. I can't even send Wiley and Sons an email because the link won't go through.
   Kudos to the authors, shame on the publishers.



2. Voet and Voet is an excellent introductory biochemistry textbook. The focus leans more towards the chemical aspects as opposed to the biological, which allows it to fill an important gap among undergraduate texts. The scope is broad and comprehensive, with clear writing and informative illustrations. While the book is a valuable resource, the price is truly outrageous. For those adopting textbooks for classes, I recommend assessing whether the added chemical rigor is worth the added price for students. Serious and motivated students of biochemistry will likely appreciate and benefit most from this book. Check out the contents (e.g. at a library or college bookstore), and make sure they meet your needs, before taking the considerable financial plunge in buying this book though.



3. I have finished a 2 semester course in biochemistry which had focused on both biopolymer chemistry and metabolism, as well as fundamentals of biotechnology (i.e. cloning and expression studies).
   From the early days we were prescribed Voet, and it was a textbook that most often made students cringe and complain. The fundamental reasons for it doing so was attributed to its pedantic style, uneasy writing, disoriented explanations and verbose nature. It requires that you actually start reading it prior to the semester, since the length and depth of chapters is too much to handle; this is not due to the information itself. Biochemistry is relatively easy, but the book does not give clear explanations and often randomly jumps into unwelcome depths prior to establishing an overall context of the subject matter.
   The chapter on DNA metabolism is a very good example, it starts off giving a history lesson about how radiography and other exploratory studies (nowadays these techniques arent implemented) were conducted and proceeds into the domains, motifs and archetypes of DNA polymerase without first establishing the biological purpose of replication, how it differs in the eukaryotes and prokaryotes, the fundamental "machinery" involved in replication and how the processes occurs (as an overview). So now from this stupid history lesson we jump into the structure and function of various different protein units....no mention of sequence or relevance.
   Its hard as it is doing four units of different subjects, I was lucky enough to primarily be doing all chemistry units for the first semester. I still suffered. I mean the length and depth of this book is not suited to a struggling undergraduate student, who has to cover a variety of other subjects. When it came to the exams, revision was almost impossible with this book. I had to rely on my own hand written notes.
   I am principally an organic chemist and I have to say that the authors really got me lost even in the sections pertaining to a structural and mechanistic explanation of metabolic elements. I think it was due to lack of experience of the authors in these fields, in conjunction with a desire to present a sophisticated discussion of glycolysis and gluconeogensis.
   
   They dont even explain WHY plants and animals store glucose as starch and glycogen respectively. Nothing about osmolarity and concentration gradients. These two (hubby and wife) claim to give a robust understanding of the fundamental workings of biochemistry. However all they provide is unnecessary, superfluous information which if I did actually even seek, I would look at journal articles rather than an undergraduate textbook. Meaning that no university on earth expects 1st and 2nd year biochemistry majors to even know a lot of that junk, so why bother presenting it?
   
   We dont care about which genes encode each polymeraze. At most we may care about how they differ in their active sites, possibly in their subunit structure and how they actually process DNA.
   
   
   Garrett and Grisham are significantly better than this book for undergrads.



4. Actually, it's kinda dumb to recommend this book for graduate biochemistry students. If you haven't heard about Voet while being an undergrad, it's because you weren't interested in biochemistry at all. To everyother undergrad who is really into biochemistry and is intending to follow on through research in biochemical science, I say look no further.
   
   Voet & Voet IS the very best biochemistry book you will find right now in the shelves. Of course, don't expect to read through it unless you're taking a 2nd course in biochemistry or doubling a major in chemistry/biochemistry.
   
   If this is your first approach to biochemistry (and you don't care much about the chemistry/physics behind it all), this isn't the book you're looking for. Check Lehninger instead (the best INTRODUCTORY biochemistry book for DUMMIES - aka. Medschool, Biology, etc.). But, sooner or later, if you're the curious type, you'll start wondering, asking questions like "How did they actually find out the genetic code?" or "What's the enzymatic reaction mechanism for this complex enzyme?" or "How do they manage physical data to make all these pretty 3D crystallographic structures?". Of course, you could go to more specialized books to find all about these and other inquiries. But, the fact is Voet & Voet collects all the relevant scientific answers in one big chunk of paper.
   
   I've known uncountable biochemistry grads who've strived between Matthews and Devlin, Lehinger and Stryer, and Garret and Grisham, just to compile the information that's presented in a perfect order in this amazing book. Don't waste your time. If you're taking it seriously, it's Voet & Voet.



5. Vitalism is a profoundly science-ejected concept, though many CAM or 'natural health' cabals falsely claim that vitalism survives scientific scrutiny.
   
   I quote:
   
   "Pasteur assumed that living systems were endowed with a 'vital force' that permitted them to evade the laws of nature governing inanimate matter [p.333...but] Buchner demonstrated that cell-free yeast extracts [can carry out fermentation...] this discovery refuted the then widely held belief that fermentation, and every other biological process, was mediated by some 'vital force' inherent in living matter [p.444...] thermodynamics of life. One of the last refuges of vitalism, the doctrine that biological processes are not bound by the physical laws that govern inanimate objects, was the belief that living things can somehow evade the laws of thermodynamics [...] a view partially refuted by elaborate calorimetric measurements on living animals that are entirely consistent with the energy conservation predictions of the first law of thermodynamics [p.437]."
   
   -r.c.

5 comments about Fundamentals of General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry.

1. It's a great edition of the book, and I appreciate it very much! I'm very happy with the shipping and condition of the book, and it was great overall!



2. I received this book promptly and in excellent condition at a reduced price than the local college bookstore.



3. This book is a very good and comprehensive view of the basics in general, organic, and biological Chemistry. I also like the fact that the book gives many examples and problems to work with. I recommend the study guide which can be purchased separately to go along with this book as it has been a very useful tool for me in my effort to complete this course.



4. I'm glad I checked Amazon instead of buying this book from school. I saved a lot of money. The book came super fast and was in like-new condition, better than I expected!



5. This is a great book. I am using it to review for the DAT. It is very helpful and worth the money. The book is easy to read and has great questions after every chapter.

5 comments about Fundamentals of Biochemistry: Life at the Molecular Level.

1. This was the biochemistry book for my undergraduate course, but I hardly used it because it is not written in clearly understood language. It does have a glossary which is useful for looking up definitions, but when I would go to the index to clarify something we learned in class, chances were none of the references would apply to the concepts I was looking for, and if it did, it was incomprehensible. The general consensus among my classmates was that the book was worthless. The only useful feature is the end of chapter problems, and the solutions to these are found at the end of the book. I understand Lippincotts biochem is supposed to be pretty good, so you may want to investigate that if you are looking for a biochemistry book.



2. When I first used this book in undergrad I did not like it very much, however, in medical school, I found this book to be a huge asset. It is great for someone who learns visually and condenses all the info on to a few pages, my medical school bio chem book took 30 pages to explain what this book does in a few. Also, I like the way this book is organized, it seems to flow.... the only chapter that seemed to need a little work was nucliotide mab.. Undergrad texts seem to stress more chemistry and enzyme mechanics, while med school will stress inh points. Also, photosythesis is not covered in med school, vitamins are not covered in this text



3. The book i received was in excellent condition, it was listed under the used section, but when i received it, it was still in the original packing. The only problem was the CD was missing somehow, no big deal.



4. Overview:
   
   I am reading this book in preparation for Biochemistry I and find it to be full of gross errors. Simple definitions like that of osmosis are incorrect. Table 4-1 is terrible, and there are other tables and figures (Figure 3-6 for example) that require much more attention than they have been given. I am seriously concerned and disappointed about the authors, editors, and long list of professionals that reviewed this book because of missing basic "fundamental" pieces of information.
   
   Professors:
   
   If you are a professor who is thinking of using this text in class, I would suggest you DO NOT! Your students could be a hazard in the end if they plan to got to medical school or into pharmacology.
   
   Students:
   
   If you are a student currently using this text for class, please find other resources. I am catching only the errors that I know to be false, but there could be many more.
   
   DO NOT USE THIS BOOK!!!
   
   Further Comments:
   
   My professor will be using the third edition of this book in class, and I can only hope that in the third edition Voet got it right.



5. The title of the book is a very succinct description of the content. This is a solid text with alot of good, basic information. As a course text, I think the success with which this book may be employed depends a great deal upon the employer. If all you require of your students is that they skim the chapters and hear your lectures, the book will seem simple and lacking in detail to the student. If you require your students to memorize the diagrams, tables, reaction mechanisms, molecular structures, pathways, etc... (as my biochem professors did), then the book will seem very difficult, convoluted, and complicated. Unfortunately, when you get to a course like biochem with so much information for the students to absorb, and for which every text looks like an encyclopedia, I'm afraid a person's opinion of a textbook actually depends more upon the instructor who presented them with the text, rather than on the text itself. So I suspect many of the reviews on this page are actually reviews of professors who taught the reviewers and not of the book. Just something to keep in mind.
   
   That said, I enjoyed learning from this text and I did well in the course (a notoriously difficult course at my school).

5 comments about The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread.

1. This is another great book to have if you want to make bread! Once you start reading you can't put this book down. The breads bake up so wonderfully. I highly recomend this book.



2. Although I have been a long-time satisfied customer, I now feel an obligation to warn you against purchasing this from Amazon. If you do, you will risk having an experience similar to mine and receiving a damaged book, or even receiving two damaged books.
   
   Based upon two successive experiences, it appears that Amazon has either (1) discontinued its policy of using shrink-wrap to protect its books or (2) it continues to have such policy but does not adequately supervise its shipping department personnel so that books will not be unnecessarily damaged. In either event, its efforts to protect books during transit does not appear to be as reliable as before.
   
   Initially, I decided to order Peter Reinhart's outstanding book from Amazon after seeing it at a local book store. I placed the order in the usual manner and was somewhat surprised to discover that inadequate packing material was used. Because the book was not protected with shrink wrap, it slid back and forth within the delivery box during transit which caused a signifigant rip in the upper right corner of the dust jacket, slight damage to the corner of the book, and damage to the entire front of the dust jacket when it was polished by the friction of rubbing against the interior of the cardboard box during transit.
   
   Alright, I know what you're thinking. It's a minor item. Just contact customer service.
   
   I did that. The first email response that I received was that Amazon did not have any control over the use of plastic wrap and that it was up to the book suppliers to do so.
   
   Since the manner in which earlier books were consistently wrapped in shrink-wrap and the wrapping appeared to be similar regardless of the publisher, the initial answer that I received from customer service made no sense to me.
   
   I pressed on. I contacted Amazon's customer service again and explained the situation. This time, I was told that Amazon would send a replacement and was told "please be assured that this will be packaged securely as you expect."
   
   This sounded good. I wrapped the first book, stood in line at the post office, and mailed it back.
   
   When the second book arrived, it, too, was packed loosely with no protective shrink wrap. As a result, the dust cover is somewhat polished, but not as bad as the first one. The book, however, does not have the same appearance as a new, undamaged one.
   
   I sent another email to Amazon's customer service and waited for a reply. None came, or at least none has so far.
   
   I'm going to keep the book, and I am not going to waste any more time at the post office. Peter Reinhart has some excellent ideas and I'm grateful that he shared them. The text within the book is well worthwhile. When I buy another book, however, I'm going to buy it at my local book store.



3. I'm an idiot baker, but a little snooty about the bread I buy. So when I turned out the best baguette I've probably ever had, inside or outside of France, I knew this was a keeper. The book looks too pretty to be useful, but it rocks. Want the chemistry behind baking? Check. Want helpful photos demonstrating technique? Check. Want recipes that make complex and amazing bread? Yeah, baby. I've also made perfect, chewy bagels, gorgeous Pain a l'Ancienne, and challah. One of the best features of this book is that Reinhart doesn't tell you to go out and buy a bunch of bread tools: the back of a good cookie sheet will serve fine as a baking stone (just one of many examples). I'm all for that.
   
   Downside: we're looking at potential double digits weight gain here. Sigh.



4. The Bread Baker's Apprentice book is a good entry book for bread baking.
   
   Most recipes are based on commercial yeast (as opposed to sourdough), making them more suitable for most readers. Those who are looking for sourdough based recipes should look elsewhere (for example Daniel Leader's Bread Alone).
   
   My favorite recipe are bagels. Simple and great tasting. Bagels recipe alone is enough to buy this book. Retarded baguet taste great too. There are many recepies from around the world.
   
   If you don't want to mess with sourdough, than I highly recomend this book.



5. Good book about bread baking. this is the second book i have read on this subject and this one is much better than the other. i followed the focaccia recipe and it turned out GREAT!!
   
   Next recipe to try is the stollen.

5 comments about Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible.

1. Jorge gives all the details and excellent explanations to help you with whatever type of grow you want to use. Very comprehensive and well researched. Best book I've seen if its' kind. You won't regret getting this book.



2. In addition to the Grow Bible this book is an absolute necessity. Although if you had to pick one I would suggest the Grow Bible. However, this book has many in depth details to nutrient defencies, various tips, picture illustrated guidelines, what to do, what not to do..I would consider this an illustrated guide more then anything..if that makes sense. MANY tips I have never heard of I came across in this book, and this is to say the least. Jorge Cervantes...two thumbs up (three if I had em)



3. I can't grow the divine weed where I live; I bought this book because it is absolutely the most in-depth, easy-to-understand book in the gardening world! I use it constantly for advice about soil, water, diseases, pests, growth stages, light requirements, etc.--for my tomatoes! Best book out there for weed *or* tomato gardening!



4. If you want to know anything and everything about growing, this is your book. Seriously, this guy goes in depth to explain things without making it overly complicated.
   
   It's simple, thorough, worth the buy.



5. Way too much info on how to grow 100 plants a month. I feel illegal just thinking about it.
   I am just a normal person, Card Carrying Medical Marijuana Pt, who can't afford the $300 - $500 a month for Med grade Cannabis. ( My Pharm Meds are $1200... but my insurance Co. pays that scam! ). The Cannabis works ALLOT better!
   I want to grow 1 plant every 3 months, like 99% of the legit patients. I would destroy any excess I overproduced... personally.
   
   Obviously, this Author is beyond expert and is an authority on the subject. I would love a Medical Growers Bible for your "PERSONAL" Med crop. With a strict recommendation for personal use only. If you sell ANY, you are just a dealer... so, keep it clean... is the book " I " want. My personal opinion.
   Regardless of your personal view.... respect the spirit of the law and intent of the society and community you live in. It is the flow.
   Freedom Rocks!
   215 and 420 set the rules. Just follow them and every one is happy.

3 comments about Introduction to General, Organic and Biochemistry (with CD-ROM and CengageNOW Printed Access Card).

1. This book is in its 8th Edition with two new authors. The style continues the high standards set in the previous edition. I find this book to be a very good quick reference guide for chemical reactions, stoichiometry, organic and biological chemistry. I am very sad to see that Bettelheim and March have passed away!



2. I bought this for self-study, to refresh myself on general and organic chem and to get a solid introduction to biochemistry. So far, I'm enjoying it. Well written with good illustrations although aimed at an introductory audience.



3. This is not an easy book, however it is the easiest Chem book I have ever seen. The CD-ROM and the CengageNOW are worth their weight in GOLD! USe them because they SURE make this process a ton easier. BY getting this through Amazon I save a good bit on what the FCCJ bookstore is selling it for. Plus I got this delivered directly to me AND no long lines to stand in. This is a good book! Enjoy it! Have fun with Chemistry!