This was a well organized textbook that was not difficult to read. Sometimes, the text would go from painfully obvious generalization in one paragraph to minute frivolous detail in the next. This was often frustrating, as the tests and learning objectives in the class for which I read this book tended to be more specific than the former an more general than the latter. I suppose this could be a review for the class overall, given the extensive overlap between the learning objectives for the class and the questions given at the beginning of each chapter and subject. Textbook conventions were used well. If there was a new word or concept, it was bold and the definition followed. Further, the most important concepts were always the first sentence in the section. This made the text easy to skim or quickly glean answers to learning objectives.

Unfortunately I am very unlikely to ever thumb through this book again, as it is on looseleaf paper in a binder, with no bound version offered at my campus bookstore. This is disgraceful. I would have happily traded in the full color photos for a binding and hardcover. The book was still outrageously expensive, AND IT WASN'T EVEN BOUND! ( )

Microbiology ;