Genomes 4. Fourth edition

With high-throughput sequencing, transcriptomics, and proteomics no longer in their “infancy” as described in the preface by author T.A. Brown, Genomes 4 offers an expansive review on a broad spectrum of topics in genetics ranging from the central dogma of genes coding for proteins, to the fine technical details of genome mapping. This edition retains the four-part organization from the previous edition: studying genomes, genome anatomies, how genomes are expressed, and how genomes replicate and evolve. Similar to the 3rd edition, the updated text contains both short answer questions and in-depth problems to assess understanding of the chapter material. While the questions are well-written and generally encompass the chapter material, the answers to the questions seem to be solely an instructor resource, which may make learning the material outside of a course setting difficult. All chapters contain bolded key words that are defined in the glossary section of the textbook, as well as a bulleted summary of the material at the end of each chapter. Although these learning aids may largely serve undergraduate students in exam-based courses, the further reading section also found at the end of each chapter offers advanced students additional articles and research papers that are helpful in pursuing chapter topics in greater detail. The suggested resources from this section are organized and annotated with respect to the major concepts detailed in the chapter, making it easy to pinpoint articles and papers students may find helpful in their studies. Aesthetically, the figures in the book are colorful, welldesigned, and easy to follow. The figures that detail the basic order of relevant biological processes and protocols are cleanly designed in a way that avoids superfluous details and contributes to a better understanding of the material. Images from the book can be downloaded from the publisher’s website (www.garlandscience.com) in either PowerPoint or JPEG formats. One of the major strengths of Genomes 4 is how it utilizes the figures to explain what techniques typical labs or researchers use in their studies. Before jumping into the technical details, however, the book also takes great care in laying out the concepts behind them so as to convey a complete and whole understanding of the techniques and their advantages and disadvantages. Further considerations are given to how different methods compare in terms of their accuracy, resolution, and application context. On top of describing the techniques in detail, the text also gives real-world examples of efforts in science that have used these technologies in order to solve unanswered questions. With this in mind, Genomes 4 is a great resource for students wanting to understand genomes and the tremendous advancements in the field that have been made over the past decade since the previous edition.