Student reviews from Wake Forest Freshman Seminar | The Machinery of Life

Beautiful Introduction to Cellular Biology | The Machinery of Life | David S. Goodsell

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	• The Machinery of Life David S. Goodsell Springer, 2009 - 167 pages average customer review:based on 8 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Microbiology for anyone interested

I purchased this book because I wanted to know more about the subject. It was described as written for the general public. I found the author's style to be excellent. The book starts out with discussions of the E. Coli, a cell with a single compartment. When the explanation of this cell type is done, it goes into a discussion of a yeast cell, a type having multiple compartments. In the process one becomes familiar with amino acids, enzymes, viruses and the like. I read and enjoyed the book thoroughly, and found another book by David Goodsell, "Our Molecular Nature", which is written in the same style.

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Student reviews from Wake Forest Freshman Seminar

David Goodsell's Machinery of Life, is by far the best introduction to molecular Biology that I have ever come across. This book approaches the daunting and at times intimidating subject of molecular biology with simplicity and eloquence. Life inside a cell is so small and hectic that most of the time it is near impossible to fully comprehend what is occurring, but Goodsell's use of images make cellular life much easier to understand. As reviewers have mentioned above the illustrations in this book are what makes it a truly magical read. The illustrations are so powerful and engaging that they help the reader take knowledge of cell and transform it into a true overall understanding of the happenings within a cell. Whether it be simple pictures of protein folding, or a more involved look at the way in which DNA winds itself within the cell, it is clear that after seeing the pictures ones understanding is significantly enhanced. In addition, Goodsell uses very simple writing in his descriptions, and provides many examples. Because of this he does a truly great job in not losing the reader in a topic which can become very dense and difficult to grasp. In all, this book is really great, if you want to know about molecular biology or just know more about it this book is for you.

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Beautiful Introduction to Cellular Biology

Reading this book has been a great experience. The frequent detailed and annotated drawings that span the whole page and often even two pages are very intricate and mesmerizing. The replication cycle of a virus in a human cell stretches over two adjacent pages and is explaned in a very comprensible manner in the extensive notes below. A journey through a part of the enormous human cell following the assemby of antibodies spans several pages of large colorful drawings with interesting annotation that are sometimes a little overwhelming. The illustrations of E. coli (as the one shown on the cover) is simply beautiful and intriguing.

Throughout the book the drawings are kept in consistent scale which makes it very easy to compare proteins and biochemical machines.
The text starts with a clear introduction to the main components of any cellular machine. The introduction serves well to prepare even readers just starting out in cellular biology to appreciate the explanations that follow on.

The book never felt like a lecture even though often more than just purely descriptive information was provided. With the book covering many different types of cellular machines both in microbes and human cells, and exposing mechanisms related to all kinds of interaction with these machines, it serves as a very lively and motivating introduction that luckily doesn't stop at the surface.

Sometimes I would have preferred to be given a little more information on how exactly this or that protein performs certain tasks. However, considering the complexity of many of the processes shown, this is not actually a bad thing.
This book has sparked my interest to read up on some of the presented processes, e.g. protein folding, structure and function. Having read this book -- and often simply looked at the illustrations therein for minutes -- I know that learning more about this fascinating hidden world can be very enjoyable and is absolutely worth the time (and money) spent.

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Best Biology Book ever

The Machinery of Life is the best book on molecular biology I have ever read. If you have ever looked into a microscope and saw a blob an wanted to see further into that blob this is the book for you. Microscopes can only go so far. This book goes all the way down to the atom then back up to the small molecule then big molecule, then macro molecule, then even a near atomic understanding of a cell. The tone is clear and the grand architecture of the cell's machinery is masterfully explained as well as illustrated. I bought two copies. One for me and one to give to friends. This is a great book to give to your parents or grandparents who want to know what you do at work if your work in molecular/cellular biology or even immunology.

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The visual aspect of The Machinery of Life (2nd Edition)

The Machinery of Life (2nd Edition) is an excellent introduction to molecular biology. The book uses concise text and beautiful illustrations to reveal the mechanisms of the molecular machines in every life, making you wonder at the achievements of these invisible molecules.

The unique features of this book are the watercolor paintings that display the cellular interiors with all the molecular machines presented with scientific rigor. These paintings can be seen as the "snapshots" of the cell at high magnification (1,000,000X). The author carefully chose the composition so that the desired molecular machines and the relationship between them are clearly revealed. Some paintings are more than snapshots: they are smartly designed to show certain processes occurring in the cell, such as the death of a cell and the life cycle of a virus. These paintings can be thought as movie frames that are seamlessly fused together.

Besides these paintings, space-filling computer renderings are used to illustrate the detailed structures and functions of the molecular machines. Two kind of styles are used. One is the unique style used by the author for the Molecule of the Month series at Protein Data Bank (PDB). Molecules rendered with this style has a hand-drawing appearance, and blend seamless with the watercolor paintings. The other style is commonly used by scientists to illustrate the atomic structures and interactions of small molecules. Personally I think these renderings are too computer-like, and do not fit in very well with other illustrations. But this is a very minor complaint.

Dr. Goodsell is a master of using color to present scientific images. The colors are chosen so well that on the one hand the information is clearly communicated, and on the other hand the illustration are pleasant to eyes.

Overall, this is a wonderful book. I have been a fan for Dr. Goodsell for a long time, collecting many of his articles and drawings. And this book certainly makes me happy because of its interesting contents, beautiful illustrations, and affordable price. Anyone who is interested in the molecular biology or the visual presentation of biomolecules should read this book.

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The Machinery of Life is a journey into the sub-microscopic world of molecular machines. Readers are introduced to the types of molecules built by cells, including proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, and polysaccharides; then, in a series of full-color "watercolor" illustrations, which show a portion of a living cell magnified by 1,000,000 times, the reader is guided through the interior world of cells. The book explores the ways in which molecules work in concert to perform the processes of living, and how vitamins, viruses, poisons, and drugs each have their effects on the molecules in our bodies. The book is a fascinating introduction to biochemistry for the non-specialist, and combines a lucid text with an abundance of drawings and computer graphics that present the world of cells and their components in a truly unique way.

This new edition has been updated to include the many major advances of the past decade, and is richly illustrated in full color throughout.

About the Author/Illustrator:

Dr. David S. Goodsell is Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology at The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA. His illustrations have become well known and now appear in many publications as the primary demonstration of the crowded nature of cells. He has also provided expertise and illustrations to many science museums, most recently acting as a "thinking partner? for a new multi-site nanotechnology initiative headed in part by the Exploratorium in San Francisco.

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