I have read this book with great interest and have decided to use this textbook in my classes on Structural Bioinformatics at the University of Southern California. Kessel and Ben-Tal have succeeded in putting material together, which I was not able to find in any other textbook. Focused on protein structure, the book combines aspects of structural and computational biology, which makes this a unique contribution. As for the level of detail provided in the book, complicated structural and biophysical aspects are well explained both in words and graphical illustrations. This textbook can therefore be used both in undergraduate and graduate student teaching. The book provides a comprehensive overview on what is known about general principles that determine protein structure, globular proteins, disordered proteins, protein-protein interactions, and in complex with various ligands. It provides guidelines for understanding the energetics of protein folding and stability; it describes models of molecular recognition and allostery as a basis 'for understanding protein-ligand interactions; and it explains biological functionality in these terms.' The book covers protein structure from water-soluble to membrane proteins, from globular to fibrilar proteins and from 'well behaved' to 'natively unstructured' proteins.' The book provides a deep understanding of protein structure, dynamics, 'and function. General principles are made intuitively clear based on 'specific examples. Each example is 'discussed within various contexts throughout the book and eventually 'the reader obtains a wide view on these carefully selected cases.' One interesting feature of the book is the emphasis on diseases. 'This includes explanations of the effects of genetic mutations on 'protein folding, stability, and dynamics as well as a brief introduction to rational drug discovery.' The book connects complicated aspects of structural biology to trivia as much as possible, without deviating too much from the main rout, making it a 'nice read. I can tell that my students liked it a lot.
Dr. Remo Rohs, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States
