Environmental Conservation & Protection of Biodiversity, Biology - General & Miscellaneous, Philosophy of Science - General & Miscellaneous, Science, Philosophy of
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Overview
In their latest work, acclaimed authors Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan plunge into the very heart of living matter. Transcending both mechanistic and vitalistic concepts of life, this captivating book argues that the question "What is life?" is a linguistic trap. To answer according to the rules of grammar, we must supply a noun, the name of a thing. But life on Earth is more like a verb. It is a material process, surfing over matter like a strange, slow wave. It is a controlled artistic chaos, a set of chemical reactions so staggeringly complex that more than four billion years ago it began a sojourn that now, in human form, composes love letters and uses silicon-chip computers to calculate the temperature of matter at the birth of the universe. Life is existence's celebration. Complementing this absorbing account of the nature of life are eighty remarkable illustrations that range from the smallest known organism (Mycoplasma bacteria) to the largest (the biosphere itself). Creatures both strange and familiar enhance the pages of What Is Life?, inviting readers to reconsider preconceptions not only about life itself but about their own personal part in it.Deftly spanning diciplines--from astronomy, microbiology, and physical anthropology to the history of science itself--one of the world's foremost biologists and a gifted science writer explore what it means to be alive. Their awesome and intrepid journey encompasses germs and geometry, as well as the birds and the bees. 80 color photos. 15 charts.
Editorials
Library Journal
To the question, what is life?, world renowned biologist Margulis and science writer Sagan (her coauthor on Mystery Dance, LJ 7/91, and her son) respond: Life is matter that chooses. Mammalian cells are descended from the amalgamation of different strains of ancient bacteria. All life is connected to us through time and space. Species of organisms diverge into new kinds, yet earlier patterns never entirely disappear. Every species of plant, animal, and fungus perishes, and similar new taxa evolve from them or their kind. The human species may eventually disappear, but something else will evolve from our kind. We learn that we are not the only creative and original creatures but part of a global aggregation. Yet while we are not the only species to make evolutionary choices, we are the ones whose choices will make a difference as to what type of planetary ecosystem we leave for those species that follow. Beautifully executed with numerous photos and illustrations, this thought-provoking work is recommended for general readers and informed lay readers.-Gloria Maxwell, Kansas City P.L., Kan.Gilbert Taylor
In a lusciously illustrated format, a noted microbiologist and her son give multifaceted answers to the title's question. Essentially, any given cell is a window to the past through which Margulis and her scientific colleagues can view early environmental conditions. The initial chapters describe what life is at its most minimal--a self-organizing, self-preserving, and self-reproducing system of matter--then the authors move into the major division of living beings: bacteria, and everything else, termed eukaryotes. How the "everything else" came about, begetting increasing levels of cellular then multicellular order, stemmed from the odd symbiotic results of microbe swallowing microbe. To reinforce their exuberant narrative of that teeming scene, the authors conclude each topic with a pithy, eye-grabbing definition of life. Chapters on the animal, fungus, and plant kingdoms wind up this colorful volume. An informative focus on the microscopic that is richly compatible with the macroscopic paleobiology of Stephen Jay Gould's "Book of Life" 1993; libraries having both books deliver patrons a one-two punch.Book Details
Published
September 1, 1995
Publisher
New York : Simon & Schuster, c1995.
Pages
208
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780684810874