Biological Physics: with New Art by David Goodsell

Biological Physics by Philip Nelson manages to connect a physicist to relevant names and problems in biology, and a biologist to the methods and tools of physics. Either task is formidable. Philip Nelson manages it by articulating the contexts nicely, and by employing friendly language and plethora of well-thought examples. Nelson has compiled a textbook that provides both the basic concepts and the latest results from biophysics world. I would personally prefer a revision or rewrite in the way thermodynamics and statistical mechanics is introduced and conceptualized here. (For example, the concepts of high vs low quality energy, or limited space awarded to partition functions may be addressed in next revision). Physical Biochemistry by van Holde is a classic text that can be used in conjunction with this text. The book has lots of good problems that help one to become comfortable with the kind of questions that a biophysicist encounters and/or seeks to answer. All the papers cited in the examples or problems included herein have become necessary reads in their respective fields. The power of this text is fully revealed when you follow up and read those theoretical or experimental articles. As such, the book is more suitable for beginners, and the discussions seem too verbose for a physicist or engineer in me. Yet knowing how disparate the audience of this book is bound to be, I consider it to be an immensely valuable treatise.(11 December 2007)

The book is a clear survey of statistical physics applied to biology, discussing how organisms use molecular machines driven by chemical differences in contrast to more familiar machines driven by temperature differences. The book is mainly self-contained in both the physics and biology, and provides interesting connections between those fields. Particularly helpful is using osmosis as a major example throughout the text to connect physical ideas with processes inside cells. Although assuming readers are comfortable with calculus, chapters have big picture summaries and examples so the key ideas are not lost among the derivations.The book helpfully connects abstract theory with experiments, particularly extending derivations to the the point of reaching experimentally measurable quantities, as for example in relating dissipation and fluctuations. These discussions show how statistical physics applies to biological machines described qualitatively in more introductory books such as  Cats' Paws and Catapults: Mechanical Worlds of Nature and People .The publisher web site for the book, including errata, is only available to instructors. This limits independent study with the book. There is some nonstandard notation and definition, such as for chemical potential and avoiding partial derivatives. While these are mentioned in the text when first introduced, they could be confusing to readers who skip to later chapters.

The book arrived very quickly.It is a second hand book which was stated "as new". The interior of the book is indeed pristine and as a new one. The only reason I haven't chosen 5 stars is because the back side of the cover has a noticeable wrinkle. (Note this is a paperback edition.) It's not a big deal and it could have been done while in shipment.All in all, I'm happy with the book.

Good quality.

This is a solid book on physics as applied to biological situations. It does not break new ground but does cover in one place topics that should be familiar to anyone studying quantitative biology. As a researcher, I would have liked to see more applications to problems that students are facing today. But overall, this is a worthwhile book.

I wanted more but still this is great as a primer. You must take advance courses to even get a course on this.

Be warned: THE VERSION YOU ARE BUYING IS NOT THE "UPDATED FIRST EDITION" OF THE TEXT. This item is mislabeled. I just received the first edition that does not include the appendix with homework problems. I have just returned the book,and now will have to be in school without the textbook.

Book condition was in good condition, book was also a pretty interesting read and worth buying if you are interested in applying physics to biomolecules.