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.

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.

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.

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.

It is common practice at most universities to prescribe Biochemistry by Voet & Voet. The book is a classic which covers most relevant topics in Biochemistry from a more chemical perspetive (kudos for that!). For students doing a one off unit in biochemistry, this book will be far too dense and therefore, impractical. The target audience of this book are serious undergraduate biochemistry students who are familiar with first year chemistry and more importantly first year organic chemistry.

The text has superb coverage of metabolism and metabolic pathways, it also covers to some depth analytical biochemistry. Voet explains Michaelis Menton elucidations on reversible inhibition from a refreshingly different, and pragmatic perspective. I thoroughly enjoyed reading those and chapters on mitochondrial metabolism. I failed to grasp however, what was required knowledge in the first part. Voet goes to some length explaining chirality but then assumes the readers know about the specific chemistry of functional groups, (.i.e., what a schiff base is an such). So I didnt know what level of undestanding Voet requires from his target audience.

I also found that there isnt an overall explanation as to the various components of a replisome unit and "how it all comes together" (in DNA replication and elongation), Voet goes into the specifics of size and structure of various protein complexes but never an overall outline of how they work.

I believe I did not come across proper and indepth discussions on the dimerization of polIII nor how the clamp of polIII on the lagging strand is renewed. These simple basics I believe werent covered in much depth. Discussions on priming the DNA strand also werent detailed enough for my tastes.

I dont want to be overly critical of the book, it did not have any gross errors and generalizations like those seen in lehninger. So I believe it fundamentally still is an authority on the topics of undergraduate biochemistry. It is an excellant book for chemistry majors, particularly those interested in biochemistry. This is a book that is second to none and has great coverage of all things relevant to biochemistry. I feel that if I did not get anything of this text then I probably just missed reading them.

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.

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.

Before you buy this book, you must carefully ask yourself what purpose you intend to use this for. As a textbook it is horrible, but will serve you well as reference material. V&V was inflicted upon me by my professor in my single-semester graduate level biochemistry course (I am a first year student working towards a PhD in Molecular Biology). The course was structured so that we were tested once a month on about 8-12 chapters of this book. Therefore, I did not have much time to dwell for very long on each chapter and was tested in significantly less detail than what was presented in the text. The problem, as others have stated, was that the author goes into excruciating detail for each component of the chapter and then fails to state exactly why it is important. For example, the text will spend two pages describing exactly how many beta sheets and alpha helixes an enzyme has, its folding substructures, the critical amino acid residues in the active sites, and what substrate analogs researchers used to elucidate the enzyme's function. Somewhere buried in that mess will be a few words on why the enzyme is related or important to the topic of the chapter. For most people, you will never ever need to know 95% of this material unless you are personally involved in research directly related to this topic. Otherwise you would be a complete fool to waste so much time memorizing the intimate details of all the proteins and molecules. Unfortunately with this text, the nitty-gritty details are not placed aside from the main points so that you can skip over them when need be. Instead you are forced to wade through the endless morass of minutia to find the few hidden gems of general principles.

As a chemistry major at Baylor University, I like to have a set of textbooks on the side to refer to when studying for my classes. I appreciate the detail that V&V went into while writing this book, and I do find it very fitting for my major. There are also plenty of illustrations to fit to the material, and I find them quite helpful. If you are a chem major looking for a little more information, I would recommend this text.

I am a pharmacy student and this book has done wonders! It explains everything very well.

This is the main text for second semester biochemistry at Yale University. Compared to Lehninger, it is more detailed and very up to date but it lacks discussion on basic principles and fails to treat any of the topics deeply. Because it attempts to consolidate a good amount of recent material, it ends up presenting data that has not been confirmed. Sometimes the author presents a caveat regarding whether a theory is backed or not, but more often this becomes implicit and the reader quickly finds himself looking many of the experiments up for confirmation. Overall this is a decent book for information, but I would not recommend it when there are so many better books out there.

In fanciful dispensations, Voet and Voet smarmfully eludicate the chemical Wilberforce in high cheeky hotshot wowness. Let it be said, that Biochemisty hipness and spongecake sheets are as tasty as a Walrus in cherry frosting. Nevertheless the principles forsoothed may swoosh the sandy breezes and jumpin beans through the tight green pants.

Did you understand any of this? Neither will you understand Biochemistry by Voet and Voet. This book would be more useful as a library reference than as a textbook, because the detailed double-column pages tend to dilute the biochemistry relevant for beginners. If your chem department is using Voet and Voet, it means they want to cast a spell over you and mystify your mind.

My biochem class "officially" uses the Lehninger textbook, but my professor also uses the voet&voet as a reference. I'll say the Lehninger book is good to read as intro, but if you really want to learn the details you've to use this book instead. I think not a single biochemistry book out there is good enough for every aspects, but i'll highly recommend using the voet text along with another one so they can fill each other's holes.

This book is complete garbage, especially considering the price. Explanations of relatively simple ideas are often made unnecessarily complicated. A good deal of the writing is unnecessarily flowery, and sentence structure is quite often more complex than is necessary or desireable for a book of this sort. I wasted an enormous amount of time rereading sections that turned out to be extremely confusing ways of explaining relatively uncomplicated concepts. In my view, potentially confusing scientific concepts should be explained in the simplest possible way. There's enough substance in the actual material that decorative language is definitely not necessary. For the price, I would have expected better editing as well, quite a few noticeable typos (3rd edition Vol. 1). I haven't read any biochem textbooks besides this one, but I'd recommend avoiding this one at all costs.

I've used the 1st edition of this textbook during my undergraduate days as a B.A. in biology (but concentrating in molecular biology and biochemistry), and then I used the 2nd edition during medical school and my fellowship in biophysical chemistry. If you are in the medical sciences, biochemistry, biophysics, physical chemistry, and even organic chemistry, this is the "must-have" book for you. It contains a more detailed explanation of the topic than typical undergraduate textbooks, but it still has excellent coherence and clarity to each and every topic despite the amount of information. I feel this book satisfies even the most "physical sciences" minded of us. I'm still waiting for the 3rd edition!

If you're looking for a biochemistry textbook, this is it.

I have used everything from Stryer to Matthews and Van Holde, and this book tops them all.

Great illustrations, extensive topics covered, and well-written text. A+++

This book covers much of the same material as Stryer with about twice the detail and vastly better illustrations. V&V's massive advantage is a detailed methods chapter that lets you understand how the advances in biology have been made, and why science is so slow and frustrating. If you're serious about understanding biological chemistry (as distinct from understanding how the cell works, in which case you'll want a book on molecular cell biology), look no further than this. The third edition will be coming out in 2002, at about the same time as the sixth edition of Stryer. Expect V&V to be more up-to-date, better illustrated and less verbose than its competition (although obviously I haven't seen either yet). If you're a medical student, try Devlin's Biochemistry with clinical correlations. If you want an integrated cell biology/biochemistry text, try Garrett and Grisham, including part 5.

I started reading Voet and Voet a few months ago, in preparation for a transition into computational biology that I'll make making soon. The book is quite detailed, which is useful to me as a researcher, because it lets me get up to speed on the current state of biochemical knowledge without having to read too many papers first. As a class textbook, however, I can understand why it might not be an optimal choice. The level of detail can be overwhelming, and obscures the big picture. In my case, I'm looking to study specific biochemical structures and systems, so the more detail provided, the better.

I am a 2nd year medical student and last year I had to use this book for my medical biochem class...it stunk! I found the book to be utterly boring, and in the second term I didn't even read the book anymore, I just concentrated on my NMS (Thats the best review book for clinical biochem, in my opinion) and on my in-class notes, and not only did I ace the class, but I got 90 on the national miniboard examination, where the national average was a mere 70. If you want a great biochem book, look elsewhere...its not here.

V&V does a great job on details, however, it sadly misses the big picture. The meta and intuitive material is indeed there, but so buried as to be nearly useless. The reader has difficulty reconstructing a coherent whole.

To profit from V&V, you need either an unusually good prof, or a companion book such as Lehninger, Mathews, or Stryer. Read a chapter from the simpler text, then fill in the finer points with V&V. This learning model has worked very well for me.

At some places The Book is frustratingly superficial, and Index is a disappointment at times. But clearly written, good illustrations, overall impression is good.

As an undergraduate student who had an opportunity to have Dr. Voet as my professor for my biochemistry class, I must say that this book is extremely useful for referencing but horrible for an intro class- it's just too detailed to be digestible. The array of pretty figures are definitely a plus, but the texts are a bit confusing at times. Go for a Stryer book if you're an intro student.

Speaking as someone who suffered through what might be termed a "traditional" biochemistry sequence as an undergraduate (i.e. scads of memorization of every metabolic pathway on the planet; minimal emphasis on applying what you learned in general and organic chemistry to the class since it was assumed the premeds taking the class had forgotten it), the first time I read V & V was a breath of fresh air. I felt that biochemistry was not some obscure dark magic, but rather something that connected to the rest of chemistry. Now in what is termed "biophysics" ( I have a B.S. in chem and a doctoral degree in physics), I still reach for Voet and Voet whenever I need to check some obscure fact for whatever it is that I may be doing. To the 17 year old who said that all that chemistry stuff is "uncomprehendable", well, unless you've taken organic, inorganic and physical chemistry at a university level, it most likely is to you. However, for those of us who are actually trained in the physical sciences, Voet and Voet is the only real choice.

this is, like, the most boring book I've ever read. I totally liked the Harry Potter books and the Narnia books, too. But, this book... first of all, it makes no sense, and it's like it doesn't even try to be engaging and pull me into a world all my own, filled with fantasy and all that good stuff that really makes me fly. Got any "snow"?

As a high school junior wishing to major in biochem, I read the vaunted Voet/Voet book and must say it is extremely disappointing. Although decent enough, Stryer's Biochem is much more comprehendable. And to that reader from Sweden, biochem is NOT supposed to be more about chem than about bio. Furthermore, it would be stupid and arrogant for a student simply to learn about the chemistry of molecular biology and not the relevance to biological systems...Styer does a better job of linking all those uncomprehendable chemistry stuff into real-world biological examples...

I find this book the best of is kind. This is mainly due to the many details and very good reaction-chemistry. Competing books tend to reduce chemistry to the cartoon level. Biochemistry by Voet & Voet show the way by their detailed and precise, easy-to-follow reaction chemistry. This book, is the best choice for students that want to learn biochemistry, and not just passing exams.

Voet & Voet is a wonderfully comprehensive biochemistry text. That said, it is intended for chemistry majors, so if you are going to medical school, don't waste your cash on Voet & Voet - get Stryer. Stryer is much easier to read and easier to comprehend, but is limited in depth. Voet & Voet can be overwhelming. Both texts are enhanced if you get the Lippincott's Illustrated Review.

I love this book. it's filled with lots of useful information. I'm a biology student. This book is definitely written with the chemistry student in mind but I found it a useful companion to the Stryer biochemistry book.

This is far and away the best general biochemistry text book I've seen. I used it in my undergraduate biochemistry courses, in which it made an invaluable contribution. The one drawback is that since the biotechnology world is changing so fast, the 2nd edition is a little out of date. For instance, it doesn't really acknowledge bioinformatics at all. Hopefully Voet & Voet are working on a 3rd edition.

This book is a superb biochemistry text book. While studying this text, often the pictures are so explanatory that reading the text may not be necessary.

I have a B.S. in biochemistry and a minor in organometallic chemistry. As a first year graduate student in biochemistry, I think this book is an invaluable reference tool. For anyone that has to have constant access to a book with all the answers, this is definitely the one. I have always been satisfied when looking for the information I need.

Voet and Voet is meant for chemists. The legendary Stryer is meant for doctors, physicians, that just want to pull through biochem in some way, without having to revise all their calculus, physics and organic chemistry to keep their pride up high where it belongs. I believe that doctors in particular would find Voet & voet the superior text, because it always surveys the prerequisites that are needed for the moment. Stryer is likely to send you to other books all the time, to have terminology explained, to see mechanisms and to see tables that supply information to topics discussed. Styer supplies you with Anfinsen's anecdotes about Schoenberg to form an elegant surrogate of understanding the inherent beauty o Biochemistry, whilst Voet&Voet gievs you the information you need to understand biochemistrywell enough to see some of that beauty yourself. Do not by Stryer. There is nothing in it that you do not find in VOet&Voet. Styer has rotten pictures, rotten layout, a rotten index and a rotten binding - the book falls apart sooner or later; Voet is stitched so you can keep it forever and use it as much as you please.

I love this book. I am currently taking Biochemistry at my University. This book is used in the Chemistry department. I am in the biology department and we are assigned a different biochemistry book......but after hearing about the Voet/Voet book from other students, I purchased it. It was well worth the cost. I feel like I got my Money's worth and would not think of selling it back to the bookstore even if they offered to buy it back at full price. I'm thoroughly satisfied with my book. A LITTLE UNKOWN FACT THAT I SPREAD AROUND.......In the movie, THE RELIC, this very book was used to squash the mutated beetle that jumped out of the cooler. I'm not kidding. My Biochemistry book is famous.

Voet & Voet's Biochemistry is a sine qua non for anyone who is interested in research in biology, biochemistry or bioorganic chemistry. The material is presented thoroughly for anyone with a background in biology and organic chemistry. Not only are biochemical pathways covered in great detail but the mechanisms of the enzymes within those pathways and how each pathway is regulated are also presented. References and additional reading are also presented. An excellent addition to any library!

Covers everything with extreme detail. Especially good for classes w/ rigorous examinations. Uses concepts of physics and chemistry to provide excellent coverage of all biochemical processes.

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Voet and Voet's Biochemistry is the probably the best introductory general biochemistry text availible. The breadth and depth of coverage is superior, buttressed by an excellent art program. The text also has a thorough citation list allows interested readers to easily dive deep into a particular field in biochemistry. The material is as recent as possible and serves as an excellent accompanying text for other related disciplines such as molecular and cell biology.

I used this book for my biochem class. It is pretty with very nice images and good "explaination boxes" Sometimes it is not in depth in some areas, and too descriptive in others. It depends where your focus lies.

This text is one of the best I have come across as an undergraduate student and chemisty minor. It is at times intense and a bit confusing, but in general it covers material well and illustrations are very helpful. This is a good reference to keep around.

I am a chemistry major, and am taking biochem for this full year, and though I find it difficult, Voet & Voet has proved a valuable purchase, which I will retain for my career as an organic chemist.