Table of Contents

1: Before the dawn
2: The basics: a little chemistry
3: Proteins: from skin and bone to enzymes
4: Storage: of food and information
5: The protean element: carbon in new guises
6: The plastic world
7: The quiddity of polymers: shapes, sizes, and their effects
8: The new age: giant molecules for the 21st century
9: Present and future: where will it end?
10: The many faces of DNA
Further Reading
Bibliography

About the Author

Walter Gratzer is a biophysicist. He has spent most of his career at King's College London, with spells at Harvard and Columbia Universities. He is now Emeritus Professor at King's. Professor Gratzer has published numerous scientific papers, and many articles and reviews. He is the author of the popular science books Eurekas and Euphorias, The Undergrowth of Science: Delusion, Self-Deception and Human Frailty, and Terrors of the Table.

Reviews

A well-written and well-researched guidebook to an unfamiliar galaxy. Giant Molecules will serve as a suitable launching pad for anyone who wants an introduction to big molecules and their uses, from DNA computing to pykrete.
*Journal of Chemical Education*