Recommend a Genetics / Molecular Genetics Textbook

Hi all,It's Christmas-time and, living overseas, receiving books through online ordering is one of the easiest ways to get gifts. This Christmas, I'm interested in getting a text on genetics and molecular genetics.I'm interested in an encyclopedic, intro-grad level book (similar to Kandel, Schwartz and Jessel's "Principles of Neural Science", if you know that book). I believe that if I had such a book, I could find supporting information online that would help me understand things I couldn't quite understand from the book.Any suggestions of textbook titles would be much appreciated. If you can give a reason for why you like that textbook, that would help as well when I go about choosing.Thanks!
Ben

My wife is a new graduate student, and is currently working to get herself up to speed on molecular genetics for her current research. A quick survey of our bedroom floor reveals:"Fundamentals of Molecular Evolution", 2nd Edition, Dan Graur and Wen-Hsiung Li. 2000, Sinauer Asscts."Molecular Evolution: A Phylogenetic Approach", Roderic Page and Edward Holmes. 1998, Blackwell Science."Molecular Systematics", 2nd Edition, Hillis, Moritz, and Mable. 1996, Sinauer Asscts.The last appears to be the most "encyclopedic", it's easily as thick as the two others put together.Prior to her graduate studies my wife had no particular, in-depth training in molecular genetics, so these should be at about the level you're looking for.Hopefully this helps. These are the books reccommended to her by the entomology department at the University of Missouri at Columbia, one of the foremost ento programs in the country. Other than that, as a total biology n00b I can't really assess their quality.

Thanks crash,I checked the three out online,and "Molecular Systematics" sounds extremely interesting. The others sound interesting too, but "Molecular Systematics" sounds a bit broader in scope.I'll link the books here:

• Fundamentals of Molecular Evolution
• Molecular Evolution: A Phylogenetic Approach
• Molecular Systematics

Thanks again!
Benedited to add linksThis message has been edited by bencip19, 12-16-2004 06:29 AM

My wife says she likes it because it outlines the procedures and applications of the main laboratory techniques used in molecular genetics today. Fipping through the table of contents, it certainly gives an impression of encyclopedic breadth in regards to how work in the field is actually done.

"An Introduction to Genetic Analysis" by Griffiths, Miller, Suzuki, Lewontin, Gelbart.Assumes one has no knowledge of genetics. Starts from the basics and gradually expands on it. When your done you should have a comprehensive understanding of genetics. Even comes with a CD.It's the best(only) genetics book I've read.

JustinCy,Thanks. Did you get the version with the CD Rom? What was on that? Also, did you get any supplementary books (study guide, etc)?I'll link it here for everybody's reference: An Introduction to Genetic AnalysisThanks!
Ben

Yes, I got the version with the CD-Rom, though I barely used it because the book is quite illustrated as it is. I did check out a few of the CD's exercises and visualizations though, and they definately help remembering all the information.As for supplementary materials, I either bought a solutions manual seperately or it came with it. It's only necessary if you want to do all the random exercises they have at the end of each chapter.All in all, I thought it was a good introduction to the subject. It's not dumbed down and it's not overly detailed.