Customer Review for this product :
The Processes of Life - in Pictures! - What combines lipids, carbs, proteins, and cartoons? Why, it's the . . . Manga Guide to Biochemistry. This book is another in the series of Manga books that tackle serious science such as cosmology, physics, and calculus (among many others).
Biochemistry is the chemistry of our bodies, but not just our bodies. It is the chemistry of all living creatures, both plants and animals. This book teaches the basic concepts of biochemistry through an engaging story about a young girl who is concerned about her weight. In the process of learning about metabolic concepts, she also learns the science behind weight control.
The story starts out with the chemistry of basic nutrition, the cell, and how the cell creates energy from the nutrients we eat. Some emphasis is given to plants and how plants differ from animals in how they generate energy. The three basic nutrients, carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids, are covered in the most detail. There are a number of "asides" discussed in no particular order, including storage of fat, what happens to excess carbs (they turn into fat!), the meaning of blood types, and why are Mochi rice cakes spongy? Another 40 pages are devoted to enzymes and 30 pages to molecular biology, the "building blocks" of life. The book closes with a description of some of the basic tools used by scientists in their study of biochemistry.
I didn't find the story as engaging in this book as it is in some of the other Manga Guides. Others may differ. There are some puzzling omissions in the science of nutrition, including the role of vitamins, and the effect of excessive amounts of insulin on metabolism. Weight control is given as a simple balancing of caloric intake and energy output, which is a great theory but doesn't work too well for most people. Current evidence suggests that altering ratios of the intake of the 3 basic nutrients, carbs, protein, and fat, so that insulin secretion is minimized, is a more effective approach to weight control. Nevertheless, this book is a good introduction to basic biochemistry concepts for many, and an easy review for those who studied the science in the past.
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Kumi loves to eat, but she's worried that her passion for junk food is affecting her health. Determined to unlock the secrets of dieting, she enlists the help of her brainy friend Nemoto and his beautiful biochemistry professor, Dr. Kurosaka. And so it begins...
Follow along in The Manga Guide to Biochemistry as Kumi explores the mysteries of her body's inner workings. With the help of RoboCat, the professor's friendly endoscopic robot, you'll soar through the incredible chemical machinery that keeps us alive and get an up-close look at biopolymers like DNA and proteins, the metabolic processes that turn our food into energy, and the enzymes that fuel our bodies' chemical reactions.
As you dive into the depths of plant and animal cells, you'll learn about:
- The metabolism of substances like carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and alcohol
- How the energy powerhouses known as mitochondria produce ATP
- DNA transcription and the different types of RNA that work together to translate the genetic code into proteins
- Enzyme kinetics, how they're measured, and how enzyme inhibition works
Whether you're a medical student, an amateur scientist, or just curious about how your body turns cupcakes into energy, The Manga Guide to Biochemistry is your key to understanding the science of life.
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Another Related The Manga Guide to Biochemistry Products :
- The Manga Guide to Physics
- The Manga Guide to Molecular Biology
- The Manga Guide to Calculus
- The Manga Guide to Electricity
- The Manga Guide to Relativity
