Product Description

The Biology of Cancer is a new textbook for undergraduate and graduate biology students as well as medical students studying the molecular and cellular bases of cancer. The book presents the principles of cancer biology in an organized, cogent, and in-depth manner. The clarity of writing and the lucid full-color art program make the book accessible and engaging. The information unfolds through the presentation of key experiments which give readers a sense of discovery and provide insights into the conceptual foundation underlying modern cancer biology.

The Biology of Cancer synthesizes the findings of three decades of recent cancer research and proposes a conceptual framework from which to teach about these discoveries. It provides the necessary structure, organization, and content for a course on cancer biology for advanced undergraduates and beginning doctoral students. The book is comprehensive and offers many pedagogical features to assist teaching and learning. The book includes many recent and topical references to empower the student to move directly into the primary research literature.

The text is up-to-date and provides current information on topics such as tumor stem cells and recently introduced chemotherapeutics. State-of-the-art techniques are discussed throughout. Modern biomedical research is explored, helping readers to hone their analytical abilities and to assimilate and think clearly about complex biological processes. The Biology of Cancer will provide insights into many aspects of immunology, developmental biology, and neurobiology.

The book is extensively illustrated with carefully chosen schematic drawings, micrographs, computer-generated models and graphs to support and clarify the concepts, as well as to supply additional interest. The exceptional full-color art program contains many images from recent research literature.

Besides its value as a textbook, The Biology of Cancer will be a useful reference for individuals working in biomedical laboratories, and for clinical professionals.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #60526 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-22
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 850 pages

Synopsis
"The Biology of Cancer is" a new textbook for undergraduate and graduate biology students, as well as medical students studying the molecular and cellular bases of cancer. The book presents the principles of cancer biology in an organized, cogent, and in-depth manner. The clarity of writing and the lucid full-colour art program make the book accessible and engaging. The information unfolds through the presentation of key experiments which give readers a sense of discovery and provide insights into the conceptual foundation underlying modern cancer biology. "The Biology of Cancer" synthesizes the findings of three decades of recent cancer research and proposes a conceptual framework from which to teach about these discoveries. It provides the necessary structure, organization, and content for a course on cancer biology for advanced undergraduates and beginning doctoral students. The book is comprehensive and offers many pedagogical features to assist teaching and learning. The book includes many recent and topical references to empower the student to move directly into the primary research literature.

The text is up-to-date and provides current information on topics such as tumour stem cells and recently introduced chemotherapeutics. State-of-the-art techniques are discussed throughout. Modern biomedical research is explored, helping readers to hone their analytical abilities and to assimilate and think clearly about complex biological processes. "The Biology of Cancer" will provide insights into many aspects of immunology, developmental biology, and neurobiology. The book is extensively illustrated with carefully chosen schematic drawings, micrographs, computer-generated models and graphs to support and clarify the concepts, as well as to supply additional interest. The exceptional full-colour art program contains many images from recent research literature. Besides its value as a textbook, "The Biology of Cancer" will be a useful reference for individuals working in biomedical laboratories, and for clinical professionals.

About the Author
Dr. Weinberg is the author or editor of five books and more than 325 articles. His three most recent books, intended for a lay audience, are "One Renegade Cell", "Racing to the Beginning of the Road: The Search for the Origin of Cancer" and "Genes and the Biology of Cancer," co-authored with Dr. Harold E. Varmus, former Director of the National Institutes of Health. He is an elected Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Among Dr. Weinberg's many honors and awards are the Discover Magazine 1982 Scientist of the Year, the National Academy of Sciences/U.S. Steel Foundation Award in Molecular Biology, the Sloan Prize of the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation, the Bristol-Myers Award for Distinguished Achievement in Cancer Research, the Harvey Prize from the American Society for Technion Israel Institute of Technology, the Gairdner Foundation International Award, the Keio Medical Foundation Prize, the 1997 National Medal of Science, the City of Medicine Award and the 2004 Wolf Foundation Prize and the Prince of Asturias Science Prize. He has served on scientific advisory boards for the Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna, Austria, the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel, and the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Customer Reviews

An absolute gem from one of the worlds leading cancer researchers
This books makes understanding the molecular basis of cancer enjoyable and relatively easy. The author - a giant in the field of cancer research - has given us a well presented and well written, if not always concise, account of the biology of cancer.

The chapters follow a natural order, but the book certainly doesn't need to be read linearly - one can dip in and out of chapters with ease, since each is 'relatively' self-contained. I would say though, if you are a beginner, it would be best to at least read the first few chapters for a solid grounding in the basics (i.e. fundamental genetics, the idea of mutations, and the multistep and clonal origin of cancer).

The author not only gives an account of the diseased state but also of the biological processes which are disregulated in cancer. These include apoptosis, cell signalling and cell cycle control. The book covers many different sciences from structural biology to histological analysis of tissue, but all are relevant to the underlying discussion of cancer.

The style of writing is easy to read, and it often feels more like a story than a factual assault. However, this style does mean you may have to read multiple paragraphs to get a point which could have been described in a few sentences. Nevertheless, i would not consider this a failing - it makes the read more enjoyable and therefore more informative.

The diagrams are excellent, especially the summary diagrams of signalling networks. Weinberg also includes many tissue sections and pictures from primary literature and well as protein structures. This broadens our horizons - the biochemist will get an insight into medical oncology while the medic will be informed about signalling and cancer at the level of protein interactions. This book really does have it all.

The 'Synopsis and Prospects' sections at the end of each chapter are always interesting to read. They give an overview of the chapter and provide more insight and future directions. A list of bullet points summarising the key concepts and the thought questions are also useful for revision. References are provided but these are very limited, perhaps due to the vast body of literature that is out there. The glossary and list of abbreviations are useful and this book is not without its own self-indulgent quotations at the start of each chapter.

Who is this book for? I am a final year undergraduate in biochemistry and molecular biology and this book was perfect as an introduction to cancer. After reading this (or parts of this) i felt confident about tackling the primary literature - an otherwise daunting task, given its size. I'm sure it would also be useful to medical and biology students, both undergrads and others moving into the field. In fact, anyone with a general interest in cancer (as long as they have a reasonable scientific background) would greatly benefit from reading this marvelous book.

Amazing
I am a resident in medical onocology in Greece and for the first time I understood with such clarity the molecular mechanisms that can lead to cancer and how "things" work inside the cell, for example how Ras or tyrosine kinases work. It is the best book I have ever read in the molecular field of oncology and I strongly recommend it for all medical oncologists as a reference and introduction to the field. I am glad that I have persuaded the Head of the Department to include this book in the curriculum of our training.

Very informative and a good read
Surprisingly, this book is relatively easy to read - even when it deals with such a complex subject. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in a little bit more detail of how cancer arises, the history of this disease and the future outlook on cancer specific drugs. You don't need to be a specialist to read this book, although the more science background you have the more you will get out of it.