Tried and tested – a textbook for undergraduates: Cell and Molecular Biology Concepts and Experiments (2nd edn) by Gerald Karp

John Wiley & Sons Inc, 1999. $27.50 (816 pages)ISBN 0 471192791How should a newly revised undergraduate text in cell and molecular biology be reviewed? Certainly from the viewpoint of a scientist, as have the monographs in this issue, but with the added pedagogical slant of a teacher. Also, necessarily, from the perspective of an undergraduate. An uneasy task for a reviewer who generally distrusts texts and pedagogy, whose undergraduate days are only dimly remembered and who finds his students growing stranger every year.As a teacher of undergraduates, I use a textbook mainly as a readable resource for current information and jargon and as a foil. My students are mostly sophomores and juniors who have had an introductory course in genetics and evolution and at least one chemistry course, and we cover what we can in a 12-week term. For this group and these circumstances the second edition of Gerald Karp’s Cell and Molecular Biology Concepts and Experiments is well suited, including pretty much what all texts in the field cover and with chapters arranged in a similar Tweedledum: Tweedledee fashion. More importantly, the contents are accurate and as current as the newer competition (e.g. Ref. 1xThe World of the Cell. Becker, W.M. et al. See all ReferencesRef. 1) and the chapters are appropriately experimental in approach. Moreover, the prose is clear, well organized and straightforward (but not simplistic) in style. Karp highlights important concepts and phenomena and includes at chapter ends useful synopses, bibliographies and problems graduated in difficulty. Many chapters also begin with excellent overviews, and chapter sections are punctuated with short review questions (nicely attuned to the short attention spans of modern students and their teachers). What I find most striking, however, are Karp’s illustrations – elegant in their simple presentation of complex phenomena and often just plain beautiful! And there are lots of them, well described in caption and the text and often containing ‘stepped-out’ (or enlarged inset) views of important details; in size, clarity and complexity they rival those found in the disciplines’ bibles2xMolecular Cell Biology. Lodish, H. et al. See all References, 3xMolecular Biology of the Cell. Alberts, B. et al. See all References. Fortunately, they are very liberally interspersed with appropriate light and electron photomicrographs (lest students mistake cartoon for reality).During lectures I provide students with a perspective or dimension different from what they encounter in their text – one which more reasonably reflects the current status, the excitement or the controversial character of a field or which synthesizes or analyses the information in a different manner. I was therefore somewhat disconcerted to find that Cell and Molecular Biology had co-opted ‘my’ approaches to several topics! For example, both the cytoskeleton and cell motility are covered in a single chapter, with the latter phenomena being integrated into the dynamic features of the former, in a manner that has been paradigmatic in the field for almost two decades but notably absent from introductory texts (e.g. Ref. 1xThe World of the Cell. Becker, W.M. et al. See all ReferencesRef. 1). Also, the chapter on cell signalling provides the best integrated, detailed coverage of how cells interact with their environment that I’ve seen at the introductory level, and many other chapters are equally strong in both synthetic and analytical aspects.In short, I was very favourably impressed when I previewed Cell and Molecular Biology in December 1998, and I adopted it for my Spring 1999 course. How did it fare? For the most part, the text worked as well in practice as it shone in a quick review! First, using it forced me to revise thoroughly several sets of lectures, in search of ‘new’ perspectives – always a refreshing but easily procrastinated task! Students also liked the book, for the reasons already stated and especially for the brightly coloured figures that they found memorable. The book has problems, however, that mostly reflect a need for more polish, and one chapter should be recast. The presentation varies in quality, strikingly so given the strengths already noted, and the editing seems hurried (as if the book were rushed into print). Several chapters, often the most current in coverage and provocative in approach, are too liberally studded with footnotes containing useful information (as if addressing comments from reviewers absent a thorough text revision). Unfortunately, chapter overviews vary in breadth and insight, possibly reflecting the necessarily circumscribed interests and expertise of one author. Moreover, some important topics are not well covered. Electrical phenomena such as diffusion potentials, for example, are critical for understanding membrane function, but are presented here too briefly and are not well integrated with the coverage of voltage-gated channels or with the many well-documented findings concerning the effects of mutations on channel structure and membrane function. Nor is the control of contraction well integrated with the motility event: i.e. the mechanism of actin–myosin interactions, the action of ligand-gated channels and neurotransmitters, and calcium-induced calcium release, ryanodine receptors and calcium-pumping are covered separately in three different chapters. The chapter on photosynthesis seems at best perfunctory, with minimal emphasis on experimental method and results, and it badly needs overhauling. Finally, students often can’t find topics in the index, such as material discussed in lectures and in chapters they aren’t currently reading. For example, the entry for ‘G proteins’ cross-references the heteromeric form and Ras, but not Ran, dynamin, SRP or its receptor, and Sar or ARF (which are all discussed in different chapters). Moreover, of these latter proteins, only the signal recognition particle (SRP) has a primary index entry. (Even the index can be a useful teaching aid, so why not also cross-reference tubulin as a G protein and provide the necessary text commentary?)These reservations aside, the more important consideration is would I use Cell and Molecular Biology again? Yes! I did this spring, and I especially look forward to using a more polished, second printing of this edition.