In the first edition of Genetics and Molecular Biology, renowned researcher and award-winning teacher Robert Schleif produced a unique and stimulating text that was a notable departure from the standard compendia of facts and observations. Schleif's strategy was to present the underlying fundamental concepts of molecular biology with clear explanations and critical analysis of well-chosen experiments. The result was a concise and practical approach that offered students a real understanding of the subject. This second edition retains that valuable approach — with material thoroughly updated to include an integrated treatment of prokaryotic and eukaryotic molecular biology.

Genetics and Molecular Biology is copiously illustrated with two-color line art. Each chapter includes an extensive list of important references to the primary literature, as well as many innovative and thought-provoking problems on material covered in the text or on related topics. These help focus the student's attention of a variety of critical issues. Solutions are provided for half of the problems.

Praise for the first edition:

"Schleif's Genetics and Molecular Biology... is a remarkable achievement. It is an advanced text, derived from material taught largely to postgraduates, and will probably be thought best suited to budding professionals in molecular genetics. In some ways this would be a pity, because there is also gold here for the rest of us... The lessons here in dealing with the information explosion in biology are that an ounce of rationale is worth a pound of facts and that, for educational value, there is nothing to beat an author writing about stuff he knows from the inside." — Nature.

"Schleif presents a quantitative, chemically rigorous approach to analyzing problems in molecular biology. The text is unique and clearly superior to any currently available." — R.L. Bernstein, San Francisco State University.

"The greatest strength is the author's ability to challenge the student to become involved and get below the surface." — Clifford Brunk, UCLA