I purchased this book because I wanted to know more about the subject. It was described as written for the general public. I found the author's style to be excellent. The book starts out with discussions of the E. Coli, a cell with a single compartment. When the explanation of this cell type is done, it goes into a discussion of a yeast cell, a type having multiple compartments. In the process one becomes familiar with amino acids, enzymes, viruses and the like. I read and enjoyed the book thoroughly, and found another book by David Goodsell, "Our Molecular Nature", which is written in the same style.