Book excerpt: This second edition of a bestselling textbook offers an instructive and comprehensive overview of our current knowledge of biocatalysis and enzyme technology. The book now contains about 40% more printed content. Three chapters are completely new, while the others have been thoroughly updated, and a section with problems and solutions as well as new case studies have been added. Following an introduction to the history of enzyme applications, the text goes on to cover in depth enzyme mechanisms and kinetics, production, recovery, characterization and design by protein engineering. The authors treat a broad range of applications of soluble and immobilized biocatalysts, including wholecell systems, the use of non-aqueous reaction systems, applications in organic synthesis, bioreactor design and reaction engineering. Methods to estimate the sustainability, important internet resources and their evaluation, and legislation concerning the use of biocatalysts are also covered.