This book is a guide for advanced undergraduates, post-graduates and researchers to the fundamental principles in studying kinetics and mechanism of processes concerning proteins. It provides a rare broad overview that concentrates on fundamental principles and understanding underlying the physics and chemistry. It is a single author text by someone who has direct experience in all of the areas covered.
Readership: Advanced undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers to the fundamental principle in studying kinetics and mechanism of processes cocerning proteins.
"It is important that the author is not merely an observer, who has gleaned this information from published literature and condensed it into a book, but is an active player himself, a leader who played a prime role in raising the problems and also in their solution. In consequence, he succeeds in explaining complicated notions in just a few sentences. One such example is the explanation of first and second order phase transitions without using specialized physical terminology or equations. The skill of the author in presenting complex ideas in a simple, clear, way stimulates in the reader an intuitive feel for the handling of the formulae, kinetics and thermodynamics that describe the various aspects of protein molecules." -- Peter Privalov, BioEssays
"A treatment of both enzyme catalysis and protein folding would usually be a multi-author text, edited by at least one expert from each field. But Alan Fersht has been a pioneer in both areas, giving this book a unique and coherent perspective." -- Gregory A Petsko, Nature
"While the scope of the book is broad, the unifying reliance on simple chemical principles in discussing enzyme mechanism and protein folding makes it a coherent work from start to finish. Thus it remains an excellent text for modern graduate courses in biochemistry and biophysics.
A particularly appealing aspect of this text is the author's writing style, which is engaging and rigorous not only in discussing the key topics of interest in protein engineering today, but also in his insistence on the importance of using correct terminology when discussing important concepts in enzymology and protein chemistry." -- Patricia A Jennings, Nature Structural Biology
"This is a highly interesting book not only from its history but also considering the historical development of print media. Its predecessor was a youthful stroke of genius which, within a relatively short size, illustrated general enzyme chemistry by personally selected enzyme mechanisms, a model of clear disposition and exact exposition.
Now, the author has become one of the most experienced and internationally acknowledged, innovative and influential protein-structure researchers and trendsetters, one of the leaders in experimental folding kinetics and designing of enzymes. His new book from 1999 is a personal masterpiece in its superior presentation as well as in its restriction to a few examples from his own experience from which indeed, the greater rest can be recognised, extrapolated, and generalised. It is noteworthy and worthy of our gratitude that the author has taken on the responsible task of shouldering this great burden alone instead of sharing the load with others." -- L Jaenicke, Naturwissenschaften
"His earlier textbook was so good it scared off possible competitors, and its notable features are preserved in the new text. It provides enough information about techniques to make close connections between discussions of mechanism and actual data. It packs an amazing amount of information and viewpoint into a short space without losing readability. It does not just derive equations, it explains their physical meanings and it aims to develop the reader's physical insight. The assumptions behind an approach are laid out clearly and, when a topic is controversial, the author gives his own viewpoint at the end." -- Robert L Baldwin, Protein Science
