Is it a glossary? Is it a hyper‐textbook? Is it a collection of essays? Kimball’s Biology Pages are best described as a hyper‐reference resource for cellular and molecular biology that takes advantage of a non‐linear learning approach by creating a browsing environment for ideas and terminology.
The creator of this resource is Dr John Kimball, a retired biology professor who has published textbooks on biology, cell biology, and immunology during his career. His Web site utilizes material from the sixth edition of his textbook, Biology, published by Wm.C. Brown in 1994. The online material is adapted as new information becomes available; and each Web page has a date at the bottom indicating when it was added. This is clearly a resource that the author is committed to expanding; and there are monthly additions.
The terminology for cellular and molecular biology is defined in an A‐Z glossary, where many of the terms have hypertext cross‐references to other terms in the glossary, or to “mini‐essays” encompassing these terms. The mini‐essays are succinct and substantive explanations of various concepts, such as apoptosis, cloning, meiosis, mitosis, and photosynthesis. Many of these essays are illustrated with ample diagrams and pictures of professional quality; and the text is sprinkled with links to other essays and to the glossary for further elucidation. For those who prefer a broader context, the essays are also organized under eight major topics: Cancer, Cell Biology, DNA and RNA, Ecology, Immunology, Molecules, Plant Biology, and Physiology.
There is no bibliography for the information provided; but some references are given within the text for recent discoveries in areas such as cloning and medicine. A bibliography would be a valuable addition and would enhance the authoritativeness of this resource.
This Web site does not have a search engine; so browsing the glossary or list of essays is the only way to locate specific information. However, given the scope of the content, this is not a serious hindrance and is equivalent to using the table of contents or an index to locate information within a book.
Additionally, the author was successful in keeping file sizes fairly small for speedier access; so one can browse through the Web pages without much delay in downloading. Very occasionally, links do go to the wrong portion of the text.
Using this Web site only requires basic navigation skills. For novices, the main page has a brief section on “Navigating These Pages.” The author, in three clearly written steps, describes how to use the features of Netscape/Internet Explorer to move around the Web site.
I recommend Kimball’s Biology Pages to anyone who needs an introduction to cellular and molecular biology, particularly undergraduate or advanced high school students. Graduate students and faculty may also find it useful as a reference and teaching resource. A comparable Web site is the MIT Biology Hypertextbook (http//esg‐www.mit.edu8001/esgbio/7001main.html). It covers similar content and is structured to follow the flow of an introductory molecular biology course. It also has a searchable index. Overall, I found Kimball’s Biology Pages to be more extensively developed; but both resources could certainly be used in tandem to supplement each other.
