Bioinformatics For Dummies

by Jean-Michel Claverie, Cedric Notredame

Were you always curious about biology but were afraid to sit through long hours of dense reading? Did you like the subject when you were in high school but had other plans after you graduated? Now you can explore the human genome and analyze DNA without ever leaving your desktop! Bioinformatics For Dummies is packed with valuable information that introduces you to this exciting new discipline. This easy-to-follow guide leads you step by step through every bioinformatics task that can be done over the Internet. Forget long equations, computer-geek gibberish, and installing bulky programs that slow down your computer. You'll be amazed at all the things you can accomplish just by logging on and following these trusty directions. You get the tools you need to:


Analyze all types of sequences Use all types of databases Work with DNA and protein sequences Conduct similarity searches Build a multiple sequence alignment Edit and publish alignments Visualize protein 3-D structures Construct phylogenetic trees This up-to-date second edition includes newly created and popular databases and Internet programs as well as multiple new genomes. It provides tips for using servers and places to seek resources to find out about what's going on in the bioinformatics world. Bioinformatics For Dummies will show you how to get the most out of your PC and the right Web tools so you'll be searching databases and analyzing sequences like a pro!

Genres: Science, Biology, Nonfiction, Computer Science, Chemistry, Technology, Computers

589 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 15, 2003

Reviews

[Keira · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good if you're looking for an overview of available tools, pretty much useless if you want to learn how to use a particular tool and understand it in a greater detail.

[Sara Dahaabović]

DNF because I had to give it back to the library and I’m leaving the country soon.

Will I continue reading this? Probably yes if I found it in the library again since I have zero experience in Bioinformatics.

[Mirjam Reino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for those of us who have newer ever had to deal with databases. NCBI, Ensembl, you name it!
If you need anything very specific, this textbook is not for you!

Describes BLAST and it’s different options quite well but since they recently had a major update, everything looks different than shown on graphs of this textbook.

Loved the “10 (okay twelve)” part right before Index.

[Elf M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I mostly bought this book hoping to get insight into how to use Ensembl. Unfortunately, for that purpose it wasn't terribly useful: the Ensembl website contains much more information, and eventually I did stumble upon a PDF that was almost word-for-word the chapter on Ensembl within Bioinformatics for Dummies.

It's not a bad summary of everything you might want to know. But it's neither comprehensive, nor unique: almost every resource they name is a publicly accessible institution, and most of them have been far more diligent about providing both summaries and comprehensive, in-depth explanations of what they provide. Bioinformatics is mostly being done in public, and a book like this neither alleviates the mysteries nor illuminates the darkness. If you know what you need to do, this book won't help much in getting you there; if you don't know, this book cannot help you find the path either.

Nice as a reference. Terrible as a working guide.

[Marina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Needs a new edition

[Anastasia Artamonova · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good book for an overview of the tools that bioinformaticians use in their work, but missing more details for those interested in the use of each of these tools. I used this as supplement to my classwork, hoping to gain additional insight and be able to utilize the tools, but found it lacked specificity and went elsewhere for "how-to's" on the tools themselves. Otherwise this is a good introductory book.

[Martina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a required read for my Bioinformatics course. As that field is a rather new one, and fast growing to boot, it's hard to write a book which is to be actual, fresh, and somehow clear enough so that even laymen in biochemistry understand things. So the authors set to do a formidable task. However, they were partially successful. Bioinformatics is something best learned on one's own, experimenting on the computer with various tools and databases available online, and no book can compensate that kind of learning experience. That is the main crux of the book - to a person fond of investigating, it's not really necessary. I merely "liked it" just because it was my consultant from time to time, and not an essential part of my literature.

[Karla]

Kniha je z roku 2006, což znamená, že některé servery už neexistují, jiné vznikly, objevilo se pár nových metod... Na druhou stranu nic lepšího kromě strýčka Google a tetičky Wiki po ruce nemám. Celé je to tak trochu LMGIFY, ale některé komentáře jsou užitečné. Jen bych chtěla říct, že jako takový blbec, aby se mi muselo vysvětlovat copy/paste, se opravdu necítím.

Uvítala bych spíš něco typu "troubleshooting guide to homology modeling/protein interactions for blondes".

[Muieez Khan]

learning

[Muhammad Algifari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 7.9/10.

Nice to know the basic, but some content are outdated. If you wanna understand the basic but technical knowledge needed to work on Bioinformatics,, i recommend to take "Bioinformatics Methods 1 & 2" at Coursera by University of Toronto (consider to apply financial aid for free access)

[Mike Spencer]

Just barely enough knowledge for entry level study. Barely!!!

[Sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A neat, basic reference for the laymen. As a non-bioinformatician, it served me well for most of the things I needed to do.

[Yates Buckley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not enough there: the field is not represented with the book’s material. The book only covers basic tools and very little of what you really do with them.

[Dgg32 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A list step for step guide to do bioinfo. Not for serious bioinformatician however.

[Ben Kellermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Were you always curious about biology but were afraid to sit through long hours of dense reading? Did you like the subject when you were in high school but had other plans after you graduated? Now you can explore the human genome and analyze DNA without ever leaving your desktop!

Bioinformatics For Dummies is packed with valuable information that introduces you to this exciting new discipline. This easy-to-follow guide leads you step by step through every bioinformatics task that can be done over the Internet. Forget long equations, computer-geek gibberish, and installing bulky programs that slow down your computer. You’ll be amazed at all the things you can accomplish just by logging on and following these trusty directions. You get the tools you need to:

Analyze all types of sequences
Use all types of databases
Work with DNA and protein sequences
Conduct similarity searches
Build a multiple sequence alignment
Edit and publish alignments
Visualize protein 3-D structures
Construct phylogenetic trees

This up-to-date second edition includes newly created and popular databases and Internet programs as well as multiple new genomes. It provides tips for using servers and places to seek resources to find out about what’s going on in the bioinformatics world. Bioinformatics For Dummies will show you how to get the most out of your PC and the right Web tools so you’ll be searching databases and analyzing sequences like a pro!

Read More

[Keith Wheeles]

Topic interests me mightily. Book is focused on specifics for several websites offering bioinformatics tools/databases. Will look for more reading to boost domain knowledge and use more generic tools (python packages).