10 books and manuals on biochemistry for beginners

Biochemistry is a discipline that, like many others, was born from the need to integrate concepts of different sciences, in this case chemistry and biology, to focus efforts on their field of study. Cells carry out a multitude of chemical reactions and contain a wide variety of organic molecules that work for the maintenance and survival, both of the cell itself and of the organism that It constitutes.

It is not surprising that given the field in which it works, biochemistry has gained importance in recent years, such as in the advance research on cancer or in the study of neural connections, typical of areas such as neuroscience or psychology. For this reason, it tends to attract the attention of curious people who try to approach this area halfway between chemistry and the science of living beings. A good way to appease this curiosity is read books on biochemistry.

• Related article: "20 recommended medical books for the curious"

10 outstanding biochemistry books

The beginnings of biochemistry date back to the beginning of the 19th century, with the discoveries of the first enzymes. For those who do not know, an enzyme is a protein that has the ability to control chemical reactions. As a science that is related to life, biochemistry branches out into other disciplines, some of them shared directly with

biology, such as genetics, molecular biology, or cell biology.

Despite the years of research behind it, the literature on this scientific discipline is not as extensive as it could be. wait, and it can become a challenge to find works that deal with the subject, even more so when it touches subjects that at first glance do not seem to be about biochemistry. From here I present a series of biochemistry books and manuals to help you find an introductory reading.

1. Lehninger: Principles of Biochemistry (David L. Nelson, Michael M. Cox)

One of the essential biochemistry manuals. Initiated by the American biochemist Albert L. Lehninger, is a great and complete work (more than a thousand pages) that collects all the fundamentals of this discipline and exposes them in an understandable and didactic way. With each new edition it is nourished by the new advances discovered. Ideal for self-taught people to get started in this science.

• On this link you'll find it.

2. Biochemistry (Jeremy M. Berg, John L. Tymoczko, Lubert Stryer)

Another of the works that many university students have used to have a better understanding of this discipline. Its content is informative and clear, and helps clarify concepts about biochemistry. Perfect alternative to the Lehninger.

• If you're interested, here you can find more information.

3. Human Biochemistry: Text and Atlas (Jan Koolman)

This text explores a different way to talk about biochemistry, and it is through the use of diagrams and illustrations, more than words. A simple but visual way, which manages to make the complicated biochemical processes that occur in the human body simple and enable us to retain and understand through images.

• If you liked the idea, you can see more in this link.

4. Biochemistry (Donald Voet, Judith G. Voet)

Donald Voet, along with his wife, Judith G. Voet, wrote this manual on biochemistry so that students at the University of Pennsylvania (where they work as professors) had a tool for understanding this discipline. Its content is so didactic that it has become a classic of biochemistry and its sale spread outside the enclosure.

• If you are interested, you can find it here.

5. Biochemistry with clinical applications (Thomas M. Devlin)

Devlin's work focuses more on understanding the biochemistry that occurs in the human body and the appearance of related diseases, that is, when a metabolic pathway does not work correctly, which generates a disease in the patient. With this, it highlights the importance of biochemistry in people's health and shows the medical application of this science.

• In the next link you will be able to inform yourself.

6. Molecular Biology of the Cell (Bruce Alberts, Alexander Johnson, Julian Lewis, Martin Raff, Keith Roberts, Paul Walter)

Molecular biology is one of the branches of biochemistry, and focuses on the study of the macromolecules of life, that is, of proteins and nucleic acids (DNA and RNA). This work by Alberts is a classic for people without much knowledge of the subject can get started in it by using a simple and very didactic language.

• You can know more about the text here.

7. Molecular biology of the gene (James D. Watson, Tania A. Baker, Stephen P. Bell, Alexander Gann, Michael Levine, Richard Losick)

The work of the famous geneticist James D. Watson can be considered a book on biochemistry, since this text touches on quite a few aspects of nucleic acids, including its structure. Its simple presentation makes it an understandable and enjoyable read, despite being a very complex subject.

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8. Structure and mechanism of enzymes (Alan Fersht)

Although it is a very old book (it was published in 1980), it is still a good text to introduce you to the concept of enzymes and chemical reactions, for its simple and understandable way of presenting the subject.

• You can see more in the following link.

9. Bases of metabolism control: the frontiers of metabolism (David Fell)

Metabolism is one of the main fields of study in this science. This book on biochemistry focuses on this concept, presenting the basis for start acquiring new knowledge of metabolic pathways, which in recent years have been gaining importance.

• Here you will find more details.

10. Introduction to Cell Biology (Bruce Alberts, Dennis Bray, Karen Hopkin)

Although I am talking about biochemistry, the truth is that with an overview of the cell many of its terms are better understood, for example when visualizing the place where this process occurs. And it is that cell biology also belongs to one of the branches of this science; the processes and structures that biochemistry studies are found within cells.

• For more information, you can follow the following link.