ISBN0-8053-6841-8

I used this book to homeschool my 13 year old daughter, who went on to obtain a 750 on the SAT II Biology. I also taught a class to homeschoolers using THE WAY LIFE WORKS (much cheaper) as the main text, but using many of the CD-ROM activites from ESSENTIAL BIOLOGY as class material. I especially liked the MendAliens for genetics problems! There are many useful activites, quizzes, and chapter tests, wonderful graphics. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand "essential" biology.

My 16 year old just finished this book for homeschool biology. It was comprehensive, thorough, yet easy for her to follow. The illustrations are excellent and prolific. It had quizes she could take to track her progress. I highly recommmend this book for high school biology.

This is exactly what I had hoped for. Small footprint, plenty of capacity, no external power requirement and simple plug & play compatability for both XP and Vista.

I use this unit 3 different ways:
1.) As a backup device for a laptop running XP and a desktop running Vista
-- It's simple and very quick. I actually now backup my 2 computers now on a weekly basis. Prior to this I did it once a year if I thought about it!
-- Plus I keep this unit in my backpack which helps reduce the risk of losing everything if there were a fire/tornado or similar disaster.
2.) File transfer mechanism when the files are bigger than a USB memory stick holds
-- I don't always have a shared network I can use between computers so this is the next best thing.
3.) For programs I don't use on a regular basis at work. This would be demo stuff and large applications that I only use on a very infrequent basis.
-- This keeps my laptop hard drive free from some very large installs.

I am learning a lot of things from the book and study card useful for class.