Essential Cell Biology

NEW IN THE THIRD EDITION

• Completely updated throughout.
• Based on student and instructor feedback, the Third Edition now includes:
     - Integration of cell cycle and cell division into a single chapter.
     - Improved treatment of thermodynamics and energetics.
     - Integration of multi-media throughout text.
     - The addition of a quizzing feature to the Media Player.
• Greater focus on regulation, including new material on chromosome structure and epigenetics, post-transcriptional control (riboswitches, microRNAs, and RNAi), and metabolic controls.
• Additional attention to disease and medicine, including new material on quality control in protein production, cell-cell recognition, genetic variation, cancer treatments, and enhanced coverage of stem cells and their potential to treat disease.
• New treatment of genome evolution and comparative genomics.
• New coverage of modern recombinant DNA and cell visualization technologies.
• New "How We Know" sections.
• Revised Question Bank for instructors including questions that can be used with student response systems (i.e. clickers).

HALLMARK FEATURES

• The authors are known worldwide for their research, teaching, writing, and leadership in science and science education.
• The text reflects the accuracy, authority, and currency of the renowned Molecular Biology of the Cell, but it is written at an introductory level.
• Concept headings descriptively introduce each section.
• The art program emphasizes central concepts without unnecessary detail.
• "How We Know" sections in every chapter introduce experimental science by explaining both the methods and scientific intuition of classical and current experiments.
• Questions interspersed throughout and at the end of each chapter test students' understanding and stimulate curiosity (all questions answered in the back of the book).
• Panels that concisely review basic science, principles, pathways, as well as other topics.
• Key terms in text listed at the end of each chapter.
• Detailed, illustrated glossary.
• "Essential Concepts" review for each chapter.

"College and university professors who have used the previous editions of ECB will be pleased with the new edition.  The format and organization are retained but have been infused with fresh images and updated material.  It’s as if a trusted old friend has come back from an extended vacation with a bright new look and a refreshed attitude.  The reader is at once comfortable with and excited by the changes. New users of the textbook will find it accessible and approachable at the professorial and student levels….I highly recommend it to all CBE-Life Sciences Education readers who are also classroom educators." - CBE-Life Sciences Education, Fall 2009

"This attractive, accessible, visually oriented text covers the fundamentals of cell biology required to understand biomedical and broader issues that affect students' lives." - SciTech Book News, August 2009

Praise of the Second Edition:

"This book fills a critical niche in the pedagogical process of introducing cell biology and does an excellent job in reaching its objective." - The Quarterly Review of Biology, Volume 79

"...an excellent example of designing a textbook for undergraduates and non-biology majors. It is clear, well illustrated, conversational in tone and enjoyable to read and browse through." - E-Streams

"The second edition retains all the beauty of the first, and it serves as an editorial model -- a guide that shows us how serious authors prepare a new version of a serious book. ...What makes for a great science education is not the amassing of facts but the understanding of concepts, processes and syntheses, and the realization that all our information about nature must be subject to testing and revision. That is the kind of educational experience that students can acquire from the second edition of Essential Cell Biology." - The Textbook Letter