Crystallography Made Crystal Clear makes crystallography accessible to readers who have no prior knowledge of the field or its mathematical basis. This is the most comprehensive and concise reference for beginning Macromolecular crystallographers, written by a leading expert in the field. Rhodes' uses visual and geometric models to help readers understand the mathematics that form the basis of x-ray crystallography. He has invested a great deal of time and effort on World Wide Web tools for users of models, including beginning-level tutorials in molecular modeling on personal computers. Rhodes' personal CMCC Home Page also provides access to tools and links to resources discussed in the text. Most significantly, the final chapter introduces the reader to macromolecular modeling on personal computers-featuring SwissPdbViewer, a free, powerful modeling program now available for PC, Power Macintosh, and Unix computers. This updated and expanded new edition uses attractive four-color art, web tool access for further study, and concise language to explain the basis of X-ray crystallography, increasingly vital in today's research labs.

* Helps readers to understand where models come from, so they don't use them blindly and
inappropriately
* Provides many visual and geometric models for understanding a largely mathematical method
* Allows readers to judge whether recently published models are of sufficiently high quality and detail to be useful in their own work
* Allows readers to study macromolecular structure independently and in an open-ended fashion on their own computers, without being limited to textbook or journals illustrations
* Provides access to web tools in a format that will not go out of date. Links will be updated and added as existing resources change location or are added

It is important to note that the book is still far from "crystal clear"! The portion of the book dealing with the physics of x-ray diffraction is very mysterious--definately dig out the old college physics textbook and read about diffraction when you find yourself confused. Also, the mathematics presented in the middle chapters of the book are way beyond the level that biochemists must deal with on a regular basis. An understanding of multi-variable calculus is important for these chapters.

Overall, the book is a must-read for anyone interested in structural biology, with the exception of several chapters regarding the mathematics that can be skimmed over. And the webpage associated with the book is an excellent resource.

9 of 10 found the following review helpful:


The best introduction to the subject  Jun 14, 2004 By Ashutosh Jogalekar "Sciencecat"
This is the best introduction to crystallography I have ever come across. Which is quite an achievement because it's a rather complicated subject to study. In crystallography it's very common to find books which deal with either a totally descriptive approach or a totally mathematical approach. Rhodes' book bridges the gap between the two and gives the reader the right dose of jargon and explanation. He illustrates every point with plenty of figures as well as real life computer models of proteins. Before I came across this book, I was struggling and failing to understand Isomorphous Replacement, MAD, Solvent Flattening, Maps and Models, as well as the iterative refining of models. I think no other book comes even close to this book in explaining all these concepts in a simple format. This, I think is as clear as it can get without becoming oversimplified. A must have for all researchers and students whose work is connected to crystallography in any way; this would include crystallographers themselves, biochemists and molecular biologists and computational chemists.

2 of 2 found the following review helpful:


Buy "Biomolecular Crystallography"  Jul 22, 2010 By Tommy Carstensen
Buy "Biomolecular Crystallography" instead. This book tries to condense too much information on too few pages. I didn't understand everything in "Biomolecular Crystallography", but the sections that I did understand, are very well written. It's more expensive, but it's a better book, for those that really want to understand crystallography beyond various tutorials on the internet and "Crystallography Made Crystal Clear".

4 of 5 found the following review helpful:


Clear perhaps, accurate not  Feb 16, 2009 By Dr. Peter Muller
While Crystallography made Crystal Clear by Gale Rhodes is certainly easy to read, it oversimplifies things and introduces a few inaccuracies. It falls short to make the student really understand crystallography, which, in my opinion, is not a good thing for a textbook. On the other hand, I have made the experience that, unfortunately, many students are happy with only a superficial knowledge of the basic theory (I have been teaching crystallography for about a decade now) and this book helps with this attitude.

My advice: if you just want to pass the class and don't care about the subject, go with this book. If, however, you really want to understand what crystallography is about, you need to read either the great beginner's book by Werner Massa: Crystal Structure Determination or the more protein crystallography oriented but equally great beginners book by Jenny Glusker and Kenneth Trueblood: Crystal Structure Analysis -- A Primer. Once you have digested the Massa or the Glusker/Trueblood, you can work your way through the book edited by Carmelo Giacovazzo: Fundamentals of Crystallography.

After reading and understanding the Massa or Glusker/Trueblood and the Giacovazzo, you'll be ready to survive a discussion with any crystallographer any time. (What is more: you will enjoy the discussion!) The book by Gale Rhodes, however, will only get you over the exam and you'll miss out on the great fun crystallography can be.

EDIT on 12/12/2010:
A new edition of the Glusker Trueblood has come out: Crystal Structure Analysis: A Primer. The classic has been brought up-to-date and there really is no excuse any more for reading any other introductory textbook than the Glusker/Trueblood. Especially not the book by Gale Rhodes.

6 of 8 found the following review helpful:


"The" clearest one out there....  Jun 04, 2003 By JP Cartailler
When it comes to this field of research, you get two types of references: (1) the 2-5 page quick intro that leaves you with the most basic overview of crystallography and (2) the 'hard core' books that go into such detail as to leave you breathless. This book is, in my opinion, the best transition book.

For non-crystallographers, this book will teach enough about crystallography to allow you to read crystal structure articles and understand what is meant by all of the used statistics and such.

For apprentice crystallographers, this is a wonderful intro into the field. Master the book, then move on to harder books to master it.

Highly recommended. I still go back to it, when I teach people, to help me explain in the way that Gale Rhodes does!

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