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Understanding Bioinformatics By Marketa Zvelebil and Jeremy O. Baum Published by Garland Science, 2008 ISBN: 0-8153-4024-9 (10 digit) or 978-0-8153-4024-9 (13 digit)
When I volunteered to write a book review in the field of bioinformatics, I couldn't exactly shop at the local bookstore. Being both intimidated and in a big hurry, I scanned Amazon's choices and I chose the one that sounded easiest: Understanding Bioinformatics, a recent paperback written by Marketa Zvelebil and Jeremy O. Baum. The title reminded me of Essentials of Molecular Biology by David Freifelder, the 1985 condensation with pretty pictures for budding biotech patent attorneys whose college papers were typed on an actual typewriter.1 However, shopping online and taking the easy route is risky; too many karmic variables. It turns out that the book weighs about four pounds; and even though it has plenty of pictures, it also has plenty of calculus.
Even so, for those of you who are fairly up to date on this subject, you will find this book comprehensive and current. It is loaded with information, and seems to cater to someone who would sit down at a computer with the book on the edge of her desk, picking through for pointers. Anyone who masters this text can, without cracking even a small smile, consider himself an expert on the subject.
Understanding Bioinformatics is, however, written for a variety of audiences, with each chapter formatted so that a reader can choose how technical to get. For right-brainers, the prose is easy to read and the graphics are great for memory retention. The book ramps up from fairly easy to extremely technical quickly but smoothly, with an increasing need for calculus as the book progresses. I will admit that the later chapters were slow going. However, the authors are superb communicators and offered the information in such a way that the concepts are attainable, even to someone who graduated in 1991, practiced biotech patent law for 10 years, took a detour to make artisan cheese, and recently rejoined the lawyer game. In other words, no matter what your technical background, this book is written in a style that makes the basic topics simple, and the difficult topics relatively easy. Even though the authors mine the depths of...