Molecular Genetics of Bacteria, 4th Edition (ASM Books)

I purchased this textbook for a Microbial Genetics course that I was taking. It was extremely useful as I tend to read my textbooks and highlight a lot. This text book is very in depth and has some great explanations. It has a lot of illustrations which allows you to follow along and is a nice break from simply reading straight text. I am happy with my purchase as it allowed me to better learn the material when my professor didn't really explain a concept all too well.

Used this textbook for my microbial genetics course, definitely helped me understand the material better. However i would only recommend this book if you have a solid genetics foundational background. If you struggle with genetics, I would suggest something easier to understand.

The content of book is fantastic. I love this book. It is so informative and very easy to read.The quality of the book is awful. The spine broke after one week of use, and SO MANY of the pages have faded ink. One page is almost illegible. Additionally, you cant highlight or write on any of the pages because then the ink from the following page will be transferred onto its subsequent page.Example: Write on a figure from page 2..the ink from page 3 will transfer onto page 4.

Honestly, I didn't need this book at all for the class I was taking. I think I read about 15 pages. But the 15 pages were relatively helpful. I later TA'd for the class and read a few more of the chapters. I found that most of the information can be easily found on Wikipedia or just course lecture notes from other schools that have been posted online. Also, I found the previous edition to work just as well as this edition. Unless you need the book to do problems, the previous edition is okay if you're looking to save some money.

I'm a physicist who got thrown into molecular biology. Most texts talk about bacteria, then go into mice and humans, which I am not concerned with. It's at a first year graduate student level, again just what I need.

The book given to me had a complete chapter missing, which I found out after my instructor had started teaching it. Now I have to return the book and I am not even sure whether they will refund the entire money back, since its past Amazon's 30 day free return. It is a huge headache to return it in between the semester, I might just have to go buy another one in the meanwhile. The textbook is great otherwise, wish Amazon had been more careful with these things, especially when these books are so expensive. I am also attaching the image of the book and you can clearly see that more than 30 pages are missing.

Though I hated reading the pages, it was it overall great shape.

High quality textbook. Explains concepts very clearly, has detailed figures to help you understand them. It does not require a PhD to read, perfect for a lower-level graduate course.