Biology books for DIYbio study group?
August 17, 2015 9:52 AM   Subscribe

Our DIYbio group in Toronto recently finished all the chapters with review questions from Molecular Biology of the Cell. We're looking for a new biology book (or books) to tackle. Any suggestions?
posted by clawsoon to Science & Nature (7 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: There would be some overlap, but a genetics text could be fun!
posted by Makwa at 10:14 AM on August 17, 2015


You're probably all primed for The Selfish Gene about now. I know Dawkins has issues these days but it's a classic for good reason. It really helped me think about biology in different and useful ways both when I first read it (after my MSc degree) and now that I'm a working biomedical sciences postdoc (and in general as a person who likes to think about things!). And it will build on what you've been reading with the mol bio text book.
posted by shelleycat at 11:02 AM on August 17, 2015


Best answer: And for my general recommendations of popular science type books see here (I'm still reading, these days I'd also add The Emperor of All Maladies), but I'm not sure how far you want to go in that direction?
posted by shelleycat at 11:06 AM on August 17, 2015


Best answer: maybe "extended phenotype" rather than "selfish gene" (it's later and more technical)? and then, perhaps, something like evolution - the extended synthesis or similar? (is there something better?)
posted by andrewcooke at 11:26 AM on August 17, 2015


Best answer: I am doing something similar to learn Biology on my own as my studies in Bio stopped in 10th grade. I am assuming since you finished MBOC (much respect); you may be looking for textbooks rather than popular science books.

I read Campbell's book first to get a grounding.

I am in the process of going through the MBOC Lite; Essential Cell Biology.

My next book is going to be Hartwell et al.'s Genetics or a Biochemistry book.

Followed by Essentials of Neuroscience

I am envious that you have a DIY study group in Toronto to help with this.

But I echo a previous suggestion. After MBOC a Genetics book would be a good followup. Are you interested in Physical chemistry aspects of Cell Biology? Then Peter Atkins' book is pretty good.

Or you can go from Cell Biology upwards; to Anatomy and Physiology of Humans.

Depends on what you are looking for. If you want to go deeper than Cell biology, then Genetics or Structural Biology may be right. If you want to build out from Cell Biology; Anatomy and Physiology may make sense.
posted by indianbadger1 at 1:29 PM on August 17, 2015 [1 favorite]


Best answer: If you expect to be working a lot with bacteria (as opposed to yeast, plants, or something more exotic), once you get beyond the basics of molecular bio / cell bio / genetics, you might be interested in microbial physiology. MIT's microbial physiology course is unfortunately not available on OpenCourseWare, but the textbook is: White, Drummond, and Fuqua, "The Physiology and Biochemistry of Prokaryotes".
posted by Alioth at 1:44 PM on August 17, 2015


Response by poster: Thanks for all the great answers!

shelleycat, I'm hesitating on Dawkins because a) in many ways it's more mathematics and philosophy than biology ("here's what happens when the equations assume infinite population size, completely random mating, and 'genes' which map directly to traits" - it's sort of the "assume a spherical cow" of biology), and b) I expect it to attract a crowd who just wants to argue about evolution, creation, which sex is smarter, Why You Are All Wrong, etc. But the link to the other thread is great, thanks!
posted by clawsoon at 7:35 AM on August 18, 2015


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