Customer Rating: 
Summary: Good introductory material
Comment: I wish I had read this book when I started off on my scientific career. The book provides the broad exposure to a wide array of routine laboratory social culture and techniques without losing the detail which makes such reading meaningful. Even if you have newer or different methods than those provided in the book, reading the book will give you an appreciation for the early methods to which researchers will often refer. This will give the beginner a framework upon which to expand their understanding of the laboratory.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Must for Graduate Students
Comment: There are so many things that classes don't teach you! This book can instantly teach the new laboratorian things that experienced laboratorians know but won't share such as: whether to autoclave or filter sterilize or how to be approach someone for help. A lab is full of volatile things the most dangerous of which are the other workers! If you've ever made an experienced lab person angry when you've moved their equipment or borrowed their reagents you'll understand how helpful this book is!
I wish I had this information when I was a student.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Great Start!!!!!
Comment: If you are a first timer to the lab setting as I was 3 yrs ago, this is a great book to have as a reference. Kathy Baker covers lab etiquette, lab lingo, bacteria, mammalian cells, DNA, RNA and safety. Everything a good lab technician should know. Diagrams give you insight to unfamiliar equipment and she provides notable references if you need more information. The great thing about this book is that it provides you with the basic tools you need to get started at a low cost. Once you have read this book you'll be ready to take on more in depth literature without hesitation.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Don't Waste Your Money
Comment: As a 5th year graduate student with extensive lab research experience at a well known reputatable school in New York City, I would not recommend in purchasing this book. It was in fact being given out for free to new incoming graduate students a few years ago at my school, a practice which since has been terminated due to a general consensus from the student body revealing a lack utility in the book. I actually told one of my colleges to "burn this book" because I felt that much of the information was actually detrimental to one's graduate school career. A main concern about the book was that many of the so-called standard protocols were outdated and eclipsed by the fact that in terms of practice, many research labs have their own adaptations of protocols (for good reason) which are proven better than the generic protocols listed in the book. You see...it is not good in science to hold steadfast to rigid ways, and in contrast one needs to adapt to the new social and academic climate. It is a time of flexibility and novel creative thinking. The face of science is finally changing, and it should rightly do so. This leads me to my second beef about this book. The introduction focuses mainly on "lab etiquette". I find that the ideals brought fourth by the book come from out-of-date "old school" principles and functions to brainwash the naive young researcher into life-long scientific servitude. This book only serves to perpectuate negative stereotypes of scientists in society as lacklustre dorks who do nothing but devote their life to research. Many scientists are like this...and you wonder why. The bottomn line is that I would not recommend this book to a graduate student, and not even to an undergraduate science student, unless you can find it used...and perhaps slightly singed around the edges.
Customer Rating:
Summary: lab skills, and people skills too
Comment: As other reviewers have already said, this is a wonderful book for navigating the laboratory, especially if you are like me, and have only a little lab experience. It covers everything from basic sterile technique and media-making to working with antibodies and radioactive materials.
Summary: Good introductory material
Comment: I wish I had read this book when I started off on my scientific career. The book provides the broad exposure to a wide array of routine laboratory social culture and techniques without losing the detail which makes such reading meaningful. Even if you have newer or different methods than those provided in the book, reading the book will give you an appreciation for the early methods to which researchers will often refer. This will give the beginner a framework upon which to expand their understanding of the laboratory.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Must for Graduate Students
Comment: There are so many things that classes don't teach you! This book can instantly teach the new laboratorian things that experienced laboratorians know but won't share such as: whether to autoclave or filter sterilize or how to be approach someone for help. A lab is full of volatile things the most dangerous of which are the other workers! If you've ever made an experienced lab person angry when you've moved their equipment or borrowed their reagents you'll understand how helpful this book is!
I wish I had this information when I was a student.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Great Start!!!!!
Comment: If you are a first timer to the lab setting as I was 3 yrs ago, this is a great book to have as a reference. Kathy Baker covers lab etiquette, lab lingo, bacteria, mammalian cells, DNA, RNA and safety. Everything a good lab technician should know. Diagrams give you insight to unfamiliar equipment and she provides notable references if you need more information. The great thing about this book is that it provides you with the basic tools you need to get started at a low cost. Once you have read this book you'll be ready to take on more in depth literature without hesitation.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Don't Waste Your Money
Comment: As a 5th year graduate student with extensive lab research experience at a well known reputatable school in New York City, I would not recommend in purchasing this book. It was in fact being given out for free to new incoming graduate students a few years ago at my school, a practice which since has been terminated due to a general consensus from the student body revealing a lack utility in the book. I actually told one of my colleges to "burn this book" because I felt that much of the information was actually detrimental to one's graduate school career. A main concern about the book was that many of the so-called standard protocols were outdated and eclipsed by the fact that in terms of practice, many research labs have their own adaptations of protocols (for good reason) which are proven better than the generic protocols listed in the book. You see...it is not good in science to hold steadfast to rigid ways, and in contrast one needs to adapt to the new social and academic climate. It is a time of flexibility and novel creative thinking. The face of science is finally changing, and it should rightly do so. This leads me to my second beef about this book. The introduction focuses mainly on "lab etiquette". I find that the ideals brought fourth by the book come from out-of-date "old school" principles and functions to brainwash the naive young researcher into life-long scientific servitude. This book only serves to perpectuate negative stereotypes of scientists in society as lacklustre dorks who do nothing but devote their life to research. Many scientists are like this...and you wonder why. The bottomn line is that I would not recommend this book to a graduate student, and not even to an undergraduate science student, unless you can find it used...and perhaps slightly singed around the edges.
Customer Rating:
Summary: lab skills, and people skills too
Comment: As other reviewers have already said, this is a wonderful book for navigating the laboratory, especially if you are like me, and have only a little lab experience. It covers everything from basic sterile technique and media-making to working with antibodies and radioactive materials.
At least as helpful as the introduction to lab skills is the introduction to people skills and proper lab etiquette. This book contains some invaluable resources for getting good work done, working well with others, and not stepping on anyone's toes in the process. Given how opaque lab society can sometimes be for newcomers, this is a wonderful resource.
While this book may a bit on the pricey side, it makes a great reference, and is sturdy enough to be lent out to colleagues, assistants, stuedents and new hires time and time again.