Principles of Fluorescence Spectroscopy

This book is an excellent buy for anyone who knows little to nothing about fluorescence spectroscopy and someone who wants a great reference on the subject. I definitely haven't read all of this book, however what I have read has been very good. What's nice is that everything is referenced like a research article would be, so if there's anything that's not explained to the reader's satisfaction then they have the option of going straight to the original research article. So far, I have been impressed with the additional reading sections in the back of the chapter. What's also nice is the CD-ROM that comes along with the book. It contains all 1300 plus figures on a PDF file. This is very nice for someone who needs to do a lot of presentations.
There's a lab at my university that specializes in fluorescence and this book has become the main reference for their lab. This means something considering how well recognized this professor is throughout the biophysical community.

This book is fine if you want to pay for a reprint of papers and other peoples theories in one book, the book is over rated, and compiled by an old out of date scientist who has lost his shelf life a decade ago. Everything in this book can be found free of charge in published papers.
Why is the author allowed to delete peoples reviews and comments when its not favourable ? I also found it interesting that most of these reviews where compiled by his long standing girl friend whom is his secretary, just look at the reviewers ! shame shame shame on you ! Is it any wonder why everyone who has the misfortune of working with this man hates the very sound of his name and leaves with a bitter taste in their mouth - well known in the community, for being a joke ! follow Wolfbeis, Gratton, Geddes who are far more on the cutting edge of science, not following other peoples work and then claiming it as their own.

Stellar text. Very thorough and easy to read. New version is in color, and has several new chapters. I'm very happy with the new edition

What's more to say? This is the authoritative, the definitive volume for luminescence experiments from theory to all of the most useful applications. It is readable, dense, useful and indispensable if you do fluorescence, lifetime measurements, energy transfer studies, etc., etc.

In the sixteen years since the appearance of the first edition of Lakowicz's Principles of Fluorescence Spectroscopy, the use of fluorescence as an analytical tool has grown remarkably, especially in instrumentation, available fluorophores, and practical applications. Therefore, it shouldn't be surprising that the second edition of the work has more than doubled in size.

The approach is the same as that in the first edition: fluorescence spectroscopy from the viewpoint of a biophysical chemist. Explanations are clear. References are profuse; they now number well over a thousand and include an additional appendix that cites many books and review articles for additional reading. Figures are also plentiful; no fancy color diagrams a la contemporary biochemistry texts, but basic line drawings, primarily adapted from journal articles.

The first three chapters ("Introduction to Fluorescence", "Instrumentation for Fluorescence Spectroscopy", and "Fluorophores") are an excellent brief (93-page) introduction to the whole field. Most of the remaining 19 chapters are organized around the kinds of photophysical processes and spectroscopic quantities that are relevant to fluorescence. These include very thorough treatments of fluorescence lifetimes, quenching, anisotropy, and energy transfer. There are many examples drawn from journal articles. In addition, the work now covers more of the technological applications of fluorescence, especially in chapters on "Fluorescence Sensing" and "DNA Technology". These give a sense of the great contributions that fluorescence has made to biotechnology.

My own work involves varied applications of fluorescence to biotechnology, and the second edition of Lakowicz is my reference book of choice. It would also be an excellent text for a graduate course on fluorescence in a chemistry or biochemistry department. All in all, this is a most worth successor to the first edition.