Product Description
How many genes are in the human genome? Which genes are commonly associated with genetic diseases? How many mobile elements, simple sequence repeats, or protein kinases are encoded in the genome? What are the largest genes and proteins? How similar are human proteins to those of mouse, yeast, or bacteria? Although the human genome has been sequenced, it often can be surprisingly difficult to find answers to seemingly simple questions about its characteristics. This convenient handbook, written in question-and-answer format, allows researchers and teachers alike access to basic facts about the human genome. Using a recent assembly of the human genome sequence, Stewart Scherer has compiled answers to a broad range of questions about the structure and function of the human genome. Answers to each question are presented in a direct, straightforward style. Numerous figures and tables are included to illustrate and summarize the information.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 2 reviews)

The beginning of data manuals in biology by Deng-Ke Niu (Beijing, China)

5 Stars
October 19, 2009
The beginning of data manuals in biology. As a theoretical biologist, I sometime complain that we have almost no handbooks on common vlaues of biological characters. By contrast, it is very easy to find such a book, like "Tables of Physical and Chemical Constants". To construct a hypothesis, often, you may need to know the sizes of introns and exons, the number of SINE in a genome, the weight of mouse liver. Before, we have to Search the values in dozens of papers, or study them by ourselves. The passion on an idea may be passed after a long-time lay-aside. In reality, there are very few biological constants, the body weight of mice may vary several times. However, for most biologists, we do not need the exact value, but a relative size , or a range and median/mean value is OK. Now, I see a handbook, to me, the book of Stewart Scherer, A Short Guide to the Human Genome, is the first useful one. Maybe, it marks a begining of a new era for theoretical biology. We welcome the author to expand the book to included all the values of common model organisms such as fission and budding yeast, C. elegan, fly, mice, etc.

Great coffee-table reading for genetic scientists by Timothy Lu (Kiel, Germany)

3 Stars
June 11, 2009
I like this book a lot. It has a question and answer format where each topic is covered in one or two pages. This allows you to open the book almost anywhere and have a short, interesting read and discover a factoid or two. Perfect for the coffee-table. The many graphs and plots provide good visualizations of the information and compliment the text well. That said, this book is definitely for the advanced reader, someone who is well versed in genetic research. Almost all technical terms are used without introduction or explanation. Just one example, the reader is expected to know what small nuclear RNAs (snRNA) are and something about their nomenclature (U1, U2, etc) to make sense of the answer to the question "What is the size distribution of snRNA genes and related sequences in the genome?" (page 58). Also, many times, lists of gene abbreviations are given along with two word functional descriptions. It helps to have a degree in cell biology if you want to make sense of these right away. This book provides "the facts and just the facts" when presenting answers to the questions it poses. The experienced reader is expected to connect the dots and draw their own conclusions. You won't find much speculation about the "big picture" or the meaning behind most of the interesting tidbits here. Overall, a very nice book for scientists into genetics or cell biology. If you are looking for an introductory text written in lay terms, this is not the short guide you are looking for.

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