|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Biological Thermodynamics |
|
|
|
 |
Biological Thermodynamics
List Price: $55.00
Our Price: $51.28
Availability: In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served.
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
Author: Donald T. Haynie
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: 2001-03-12
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Label: Cambridge University Press
Number Of Pages: 379
Features:
|
|
Editorial Review:
Biological Thermodynamics provides an introduction to the study of energy transformations for students of the biological sciences. Donald Haynie uses an informal writing style to introduce this core subject in a manner that will appeal to biology and biochemistry undergraduate students. The emphasis of the text is placed on understanding basic concepts and developing problem-solving skills throughout the text. The level of mathematical complexity is kept to a minimum. Each chapter provides numerous examples taken from different areas of biochemistry, as well as extensive exercises to aid understanding. Topics covered include energy and its transformation, the First Law of Thermodynamics, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, Gibbs Free Energy, statistical thermodynamics, binding equilibria and reaction kinetics, and a survey of the most exciting areas of biological thermodynamics today, particularly the origin of life on Earth.
Cached date: AWS Called=true
You may also be interested in these products:
These categories may also be of interest to you:
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 
A decent book, but mis-titled (biochemical thermodynamics) 2008-10-21
I am doing this review from the 2001 (1st edition) that I read in 2005; but from a skim of the new edition via the Amazon reader, however, it looks like some of the same errors exist. The book, overall is a decent read, but it should be titled "biochemical thermodynamics", the thermodynamics of biochemical operations (most of the book is structured around the thermodynamics of protein folding, the author's PhD thesis). Biological thermodynamics, correctly, would be the predator-prey type of energetic/thermodynamic interactions outlined by Austrian-born American physical chemist Alfred Lotka in 1922 and 1924.
The main reason that I posted this review is that the etymology of the word thermodynamics is off by twelve years. On page 26 (22 of first edition), Haynie states "energy has been around for, well, since the `beginning', but the word thermodynamics was not coined until 1840, from the Greek roots therme, heat, and dynamis, power."
Correctly, the conjunction "thermo-dynamic" was used in 1849 by Scottish physicist William Thomson (referring to a perfect thermodynamic engine, on the etymology of `perfect' vacuum, of the Otto von Guericke type (1647) in relation to a Sadi Carnot type reversible engine (1824). The word "thermodynamics" was coined by Thomson in 1854 as: "Thermo-dynamics: the subjects [of] the relation of heat to forces acting between contiguous parts of bodies, and the relation of heat to electrical agency."
In addition, the term energy has not been around "since the beginning". The original etymology of the term "energy" stems from the works of Greek philosopher Aristotle, particularly his c. 350 Metaphysics, who used the term enérgeia to mean act or `activity', `actuality'; whereas the modern physics etymology of the term "energy" stems from the 1807 lectures of English physicist and physician Thomas Young who used the term energy in place of the older term vis viva, in the sense of kinetic energy.
The subject of thermodynamics wasn't even in existence in 1840. This leads one to question Haynie's underlying knowledge of the subject?
May have a narrower focus than you expect 2008-09-01
For neophytes to this field, like me, a more descriptive title for this book would be some jaw-breaker like "Thermal Physical Biochemistry". I'd picked the book up because I was interested in, e.g., the thermodynamic aspects of plant and animal physiology and morphology -- such as the shapes of leaves, snouts, beehives, etc. You won't find any of those subjects here, nor even any discussion of the thermodynamic differences between warm-blooded and cold-blooded animals other than a reference in a problem set. The book's scope is not really biology, but rather biochemistry. (According to an email I received from the author after posting an earlier version of this review, there is a professional society for "biological thermodynamics" that indeed focuses primarily on biochemistry. But if, like me, you're not a pro, you might be surprised to learn that the title phrase has such a narrow meaning. The author also tells me that there isn't enough material for a book about leaves, snouts, etc. at the undergraduate level; nonetheless, if that's what you're interested in, you should know it's not here.)
On the plus side, the book does have some down to earth explanations of concepts like entropy and free energy. It's also good at explaining why, for example, sometimes you want to use enthalpy and other times free energy. Most thermo textbooks just rattle off various combinations of variables, state functions and partial derviative relationships, without giving you any practical feel for when you'd use one or the other. In keeping with its emphasis on clarifying basic concepts, this book avoids calculus, and actually is better for it in many places.
That said, its approach is not purely thermodynamic. Thermo is based on macroscopic phenomena, even when discussing concepts like entropy. But this book's discussion of entropy is based on the statistical mechanics point of view from the get-go (even though stat mech isn't formally introduced until much later). It is not historically correct to say that "The Second Law is about the tendency of *particles* [emphasis in the original] to go from being concentrated to being spread out in space" (@60); the particle-based conception of the law followed the the law's discovery by several decades. The author's focus on particles fits in with the book's interest in chemistry. But the macroscopic point of view can give you many insights, too. (See, e.g., DeHoff's "Thermodynamics in Materials Science" for a non-biological example; ditto, in fact, for most engineering textbooks that deal with thermo.)
The book doesn't have any self-contained hints or solutions to any of the exercises. (The author tells me that those interested in solutions should write to him or the publisher for a solution set. I appreciate this, and I hope that news benefits you if you read the book; but in future editions this would be more helpful if stated on a website or in a preface.) There are also rather more typos, awkward phrases and awkward analogies than one would like to see in a 2nd edition. E.g., @73 the description of protein denaturation mixes up "decreases" with "increases"; there are too many negative signs in Table 4.1; a reaction is described as "cooperative" @ 97, even though this term is never defined in the text, leaving one to be mystifed by the glossary entry for "cooperativity" ("the degree of 'concertedness' of a change in conformation or arrangement of particles in a system," @402). (The author tells me that he will try to correct some of these problems in the next printing.) An explantion of the First Law analogizing energy to money is kind of OK in the limited context (@6), but the analogy is generally misleading, since money is not a conserved quantity even in economics theory. The author also has a tiresome and fitful quirk of mentioning the occupations of the fathers of many, though not all, of the scientists he names in the text.
Maybe the 3rd edition of this book will become a classic, but this edition isn't quite there yet.
Lots of little misconceptions.  2008-06-19
I found this text replete with misconceptions and mistakes. An interesting attempt, but it should have had a critical editor who knew something about thermodynamics. Clearly, this was not the case.
I sought elsewhere, and I suggest you do too.
An excellent biophysical chemistry text  2008-05-19
As someone who has used the book during his graduate studies in biophysical chemistry (the field of biopolymer conformational dynamics), I warmly recomend this book to any student/researcher interested in learning more about this field. The book offers a solid foundation to those interested in exploring the field in greater details.
Biological Thermodynamics 2007-01-09
For people with little insight (but interest) in thermodynamics this book is mandatory. For me personally it has been a quick way to freshen up the concepts of thermodynamics. The book is in large parts well written with many easy to understand examples of otherwise diffucult topics.
|
|
|
|
copyright www.Monitor-Data.com
|
|
In association with
Amazon.com
|
