Present at the Flood

Reviews / Votes

The book is obviously a labor of love; it is copiously illustrated and peppered with humor. The volume was prepared as a text for a course. However, beyond such course work, it is also warmly recommended for all structural chemists whether or not versed in crystallography, because it contains a wealth of information and instruction about the structure elucidation of biological macromolecules, about the history of the field, and * what is especially rare in scientific literature * The book is particularly well-suited for classroom instruction. In fact, the text grew out of a graduate course in structural biology that Dickerson teaches at UCLA. His text provides most of the relevant literature in one convenient location and facilitates classroom discussion by including a set of focused conversation questions at the end of each chapter. It also provides a valuable introduction for non-structural biologists interested in the development of X-ray
crystallography. * Scott A. Strobel, Structure * The book will clearly serve its intended purpose as an outline for a graduate course on the origins and methods of structural molecular biology, but it is also highly recommended for its insights into the lives and thought processes of those who laid the foundations of the field. * Fred Eiserling, Journal of Structural Biology * Dickerson has not only done a scholarly job of plotting a route through the scientific literature to reveal the key advances in structural molecular biology, he also introduces the experimental techniques (with many helpful diagrams) to explain X-ray diffraction and protein crystallography. The book provides the basis for a stimulating postgraduate course, or could be read by anyone who wants a better understanding of the 'giants' of 20th-century biology. * Linda A. Amos, The Quarterly Review of Biology * A must for students of structural biology. * Richard A. Wing, Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine *