[Arpie]

I've just started a degree in Biochemistry and the reading list for the chemistry module is 8 items long and its sometimes quite hard to get the books out of the library for any length of time. So I think I might invest a bit of money now and buy one or two textbooks that cover the majority of what I have to do. If I outgrow them then I could easily sell them. Does anyone have any recommendations? I'm looking at organic and physical chemistry mostly (though if it has inorganic I'd read it just for interest), I don't mind if the textbooks go beyond my course because I'm interested in chemistry side (sadly we don't seem to do much in the first semester).

If it helps this is the reading list:

Elements of physical chemistry - Atkins, P. W., De Paula, Julio, 2009

Physical chemistry for the life sciences - Atkins, P. W., De Paula,

Biochemistry - Berg, Jeremy M., Tymoczko, John L., Stryer, Lubert, Gatto, Gregory Joseph, 2012

Organic chemistry - Bruice, Paula Yurkanis, 2010

Energy levels in atoms and molecules - Richards, W. G., Scott, P. R., 1994

Physical chemistry: principles and applications in biological sciences - Tinoco, Ignacio, 2002

Chemical bonding - Winter, Mark J., 1994


Thanks

[Babcock_Hall]

Is Berg et al., the biochemistry textbook that the course uses?  If not, one could also go with Nelson and Cox, or with Garrett and Grisham.  Some of those books are older, and they should be very cheap to buy.

[Yggdrasil]

I've used the Tinoco book and thought it was good, especially for students studying biochemistry.  Tinoco's text, Philip Nelson's Biological Physics and Ken Dill's Molecular Driving Forces are probably some of the better books that tackle biophysical chemistry.  In particular, these texts discuss topics that are important for biochemists to know but that aren't usually covered in standard physical chemistry texts, so I would probably recommend one of those three as your physical chemistry book.  The one caveat is that these texts may not be as great for a complete novice at physical chemistry, but they will certainly serve one well in intermediate and advanced classes.

For general biochemistry texts, Stryer, Lehninger's, Garrett and Grisham, and Voet and Voet seem to be the standards.

I'm not sure about good recommendations for organic chemistry, but I've heard good things about Clayden, Greeves and Warren.

[Arpie]

Well thank you very for the recommendations I'll check those out.

[JGK]

For organic chemistry try Morrison & Boyd

[Dan]

Extensive book recommendations for organic, inorganic and physical chemistry can be found in sticky topics at the top of their respective sub-forums.

Please post only recommended Biochem/ChemBio texts in this subforum.

[JGK]

When I studied Biochem and Stryer was still in the first edition. we had 3 recommended texts were

Biochemistry, Stryer
Principals of Biochemistry, Lehninger
Biochemistry: The Chemical Reactions of Living Cells, David E. Metzler

[yesway]

For protein-focused biochemistry I love "How Proteins Work" by Mike Williamson. It explores more the general concepts of protein (inter)action and not so much the details of molecular/cellular biology provided in other textbooks (although applied examples are provided). It is simply a refreshing approach to the whole field.