This book evolved from a course in molecular biology which I have been
teaching primarily to graduate students for the past twenty years.
Because the subject is now mature, it is possible to present the material
by covering the principles and encouraging students to learn how to
apply them. Such an approach is particularly efficient as the subject of
molecular genetics now is far too advanced, large, and complex for
much value to come from attempting to cover the material in an
encyclopedia-like fashion or teaching the definitions of the relevant
words in a dictionary-like approach. Only the core of molecular genetics
can be covered by the present approach. Most of the remainder of the
vast subject however, is a logical extension of the ideas and principles
presented here. One consequence of the principles and analysis approach taken here is that the material is not easy.
