
My complaint here is that some of the mechanisms seem to try to show "too much at once" like I mention above. I found the metabolism chapters (glycolysis, fatty acid oxidation/synthesis, citric acid cycle) to be presented well. It is very dense with both "need to know" content and details for deeper understanding. I referred to an MCAT prep workbook for more basic coverage of kinetics. I found the kinetics sections to be confusing. Don't put it off and slack it thinking you don't have to learn them. My piece of advice is to learn the amino acids and nucleic acids now. Understanding entropy, enthalpy, and Gibbs energy helps a lot when understanding enzymes and protein folding.

I had no problem navigating the diagrams and concepts. I found myself decoding "too much going on at once" at times.Īll of this material seemed very clear to me. At times, they condense the mechanisms down in a way that can be confusing. Overall, most of the diagrams and mechanisms are sufficient. Do it like CSI and use strings to show connections between cycles. When you get to metabolism, clear your bedroom wall and start taping up pathways. Find a schedule that works for you so that you can read, slowly, through the material. You are taking a class now where you have to read the book to do well. None of my classmates read the book, and they struggled severely. If you are taking biochemistry: read the book. The mechanisms are not advanced, but having a solid understanding of electrophilicity, nucleophilicity, electron density, resonance, sterics, hydrogen bonding, van Der Waals interactions, and other fundamentals from organic chemistry will help you to grasp the material more quickly. A strong background in organic chemistry is useful so that you may firmly understand the reaction pathways and molecular interactions. It exceeded what I needed to know to succeed in my courses.

For sure, there is a lot of information in this book.

As a biochemistry undergraduate student with an interest in understanding the more comprehensive details of biochemical reactions, I found Lehninger to be very enlightening.
