Greetings. I had recently picked up a Biochemistry book from a book fair for about $10. The price and my interest in the field made me skip a meal for it as all I had was $10. At first I wasn't really aware of the book's age since the book itself was in near mint condition. However; I did notice the photos didn't look very modern and I took a look in the back to see the publishing date was 1999.

 

My question is: Is it worth reading it anyways? I don't want to dwell into the book only to find that most of the information is outdated and irrelevant by modern science standards. Will it still give me some insight into Biochemistry?

It certainly has developed some since 1999, but I don't think it's changed that much that you couldn't learn a decent amount from it.

 

I would speculate (and I would stress that this is very speculative) that a large majority of the theoretical concepts are the same now as they were then (Krebs cycle and various other important biochemical pathways were known at this time, for instance), with the major changes in the field most likely being in experimental techniques, equipment and in our ability to better and more accurately detect and quantify certain things.

Thanks! Looks like I have something new to learn about. Much appreciated.

It is not too bad for basic and general biochemistry. It will depend slightly on the use of the book, though. I assume it is for an introductory reading and as such I would agree with HI. Heck, I just realized that the biochem books I bought as an undergrad were even older...