Wayne M. Becker teaches cell biology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His interest in textbook writing grew out of notes, outlines, and problem sets that he assembled for his students, culminating in Energy and the Living Cell, a paperback text on bioenergetics published in 1977, and The World of the Cell, the first edition of which appeared in 1986. He earned all his degrees at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. All three degrees are in biochemistry, an orientation that is readily discernible in his textbooks. His research interests have been in plant molecular biology, focused spe...