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Biology: The Unity and Diversity of Life (with BiologyNOW-Personal Tutor with SMARTHINKING, iLrn, InfoTrac Printed Access Card) | 
 enlarge | Authors: Cecie Starr, Ralph Taggart
Publisher: Brooks Cole
Category: Book
List Price: $161.95
Buy Used: $11.99
You Save: $149.96 (93%)
New (16) Used (92) from $11.99
Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 37412
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 11
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 1056
Shipping Weight (lbs): 5.2
Dimensions (in): 10.9 x 9 x 1.4
ISBN: 0495015997
Dewey Decimal Number: 570
EAN: 9780495015994
ASIN: 0495015997
Publication Date: November 23, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
For the 11th edition of BIOLOGY: UNITY AND DIVERSITY OF LIFE, Cecie Starr and Ralph Taggart made it their goal to "solve" some of the toughest Introductory Biology course challenges. We introduce a new issues-oriented approach with engages students in current, motivating biological topics; a built-in cross-referencing system for key topics; and, most importantly, time-saving media resources for instructors. Show students how biology matters Opening each chapter with engaging essays on hot issues and related online voting, the text highlights the connections between biology and real-life. Online exercises promote critical thinking about issues students will face as consumers, parents and citizens. Link concepts from chapter to chapter - Students often have a difficult time with this, so the authors created a "linking" tool. A list at the start of each chapter reminds students of related topics that were explained earlier. Within chapters, a key icon identifies cross-references to relevant sections in earlier chapters. As students work through the text, they see how topics build upon one another. Monitoring students' progress with ease - BiologyNow offers diagnostic quizzes with automatically graded results that flow directly into your instructor gradebook (iLrn, WebCT or BlackBoard). And, to assess students' progress instantly with in-class quizzes and polls, you can use JoinIn on TurningPoint content and software. Easier lecture prep - The new PowerLecture tool integrates all chapter assets - art, photos, animations, videos, links to InfoTrac articles, web links and everything else you need into each chapter's lecture slides. This "buffet" of media resources-arranged by chapter section is at your fingertips. Just cut and paste what you want into your lecture file.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 Great introductory text May 3, 2008
This text is a great way to learn a complex subject. It's expensive but the on-line links provide good value. There's tests and study helps and the animations and explanations of the diagrams make learning so much more pleasant than the last time I did Biology 40 years ago. My fellow students agree this text has made the work easier to absorb. It goes into much more detail than first year university students need but it provides us with good basics for future study. Highly recommended.
 repetitive July 17, 2005
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book is useful and contains a lot of good information, but could have been half as thick as it is. Everything is summarized more than once, in side-bars and at the ends of chapters, and key points are even repeated more than once in the text itself. The result is patchy text that is difficult to navigate and next to impossible to find information quickly in.
 Biological Detour April 20, 2005
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
This is the book I had in my college biology course. I find this book to be quite inconsistent. While it has it's bright spots and explains some things very well, it is one of those books where you end up having to hunt for the information. Result? You spend a great deal of time deciphering the book which has the information strewn everywhere in a fashion that's not entirely organized. Not to mention the fact that it stops dead cold in the middle of explaining a concept in order to go into great detail about another related concept. Then suddenly it jolts the reader back to what it was talking about beforehand. A good and elementary example of this is in chapter 2 where they discuss hydrogen bonding. It veers off and on from what the topic is supposed to be. It would be more helpful to cut to the chase and leave the lengthly prose out of the book. As another reviewer pointed out, the fact that the book has so many different authors is just ASKING for the final product to be inconsistent. This book is not worth the 120 dollars they expect you to pay for it.
Biology: The Unity and Diversity of Life May 28, 2003
11 out of 19 found this review helpful
This book is far too wordy and repetitive and could have been half as thick. It weights over 4 pounds and is very heavy to carry around.Very often the point of a sentence is lost in the verbiage. Some basic explanations are repeated several times, whilst many more important things are left unexplained. Many of the pictures appear to have been chosen because they are 'cool' rather than relevant to the text and just sidetrack the reader. Some of the examples are incredibly stupid. One, at p. 18, under the heading, "Critical Thinking", 2., gives the story of a turkey that learned to equate footsteps with the provision of food. One one day the footsteps led to the turkey having its head chopped off. The text explains that the turkey learned the hard way. In fact the turkey learned nothing, as by then it was dead. The glossary is inadequate and misses out too many new and important terms. The answers given to the quizzes do not always agree with the text, for example, Chapter 2 Self Quiz Question 1 asks what charge is carried by an electron. The correct answer, as given at page 24, is "Negative," but the answer list in Appendix III gives it incorrectly as "Positive." Many instructors lift questions and answers from the book for on-line exams. Does the student then give the incorrect answer as per Appendix III to get the point or the correct answer, knowing that it will very likely be graded as "wrong"? Another example is in the quiz to Chapter 5, question 2. Looking at the list of credits, it lookas if too many people have had a hand in the book and as a result it has been spoilt. I would not recommend this book.
Basic January 8, 2003
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
Extremely basic with inconsistant layout. Entire sections will be printed with a blue background, for example, that look more like a special topics box then text. In several cases the text reuses its stock photos in several unrelated sections. The text illustrates points that clearly do not need illustration (Do you know what water looks like? There is a photo of it if you need it. ) and ignores others (the beta and alpha linkages of glucose) after dicussing them. Good for high school student concepts but unacceptably uncomprehensive for college.
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