I had to get this book for a class (experimental lab). For that it was practically useless since the instructor showed us everything anyway for fear of us breaking things :-)Now, this book needs to be thumbed-through every time you are stuck, looking for a new or different method to analyze something in your biological experiments. Every time I do that I get a new idea which, of course, had nothing to do with my original idea.Also, I did not get the hardcover version. I got the cheap softcover, printed in India with ink peeling off on my fingers and printed on nearly toilet paper. However, I cannot lessen the stars for the review — I got exactly what I paid for, a very cheap version of a great reference book.