Review by Booklist Review
For centuries, philosophers and scientists have pondered the most fundamental question of all, What is life? It may come as a surprise that there's still no standard, consensus definition. Nurse, winner of a 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, asks, "What does it really mean to be alive?", then seeks answers within a framework of molecular biology, specifically the five unifying concepts of the cell, the gene, evolution, chemistry, and information-processing. He concludes that three essential principles delineate life: living things must exist as bounded physical entities and as physical, chemical, and informational mechanisms and possess the capability to evolve via natural selection. Most of Nurse's book, therefore, serves as an easy-to-understand introduction to cellular biology. Nurse illuminates the expected--DNA's double-helical structure, random genetic mutations, enzymes, mitochondria, photosynthesis, and feedback loops--and ventures into the surprising. For example, while humans have 46 chromosomes in each cell, the cells of the Atlas blue butterfly contain over 400 chromosomes. An amiable book about scientific discovery and wonder, controlling chaos in biological systems, and the underlying connectedness of all life on Earth.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Nobel Prize--winning geneticist Nurse takes a look at what makes up life in this eloquent introduction to biology. Nurse begins at the level of the cell, then works through genetics and natural selection, building toward descriptions of "life as chemistry" and "life as information." Along the way, he describes cell theory (the idea that "everything that is alive on the planet is either a cell or made up from a collection of cells"), Gregor Mendel's 19th-century experiments in plant breeding that led to the modern understanding of genetics, and how gene regulation allows for different life stages (a "formless embryo" growing into a "fully formed human being," for example). Nurse's love for the scientific method is evident throughout, as in his writing on Mendel's research (no "plant breeders before him had taken such a rigorous, extensive quantitative approach") and his enthusiastic explanations of his own laboratory work ("I cannot stress enough how satisfying it was to work all this out," he writes). Though the penultimate chapter, "Changing the World," feels out of place, as it switches from eloquent explanations to a more confrontational tone, Nurse has a knack for presenting biological ideas in precise, accessible language. Anyone wondering how life works would do well to pick this up. (Feb.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
In The Genome Odyssey, Stanford professor Ashley, who led the team that carried out the first medical interpretation of a human genome, explains how genome sequencing will help us prevent and treat disease (60,000-copy first printing). A University of Texas professor frequently seen in the media--Buzzfeed calls her "the new, cooler Bill Nye"--Biberdorf reveals all about her favorite subject in Chemistry on Fire. In Flight of the Diamond Smugglers, Frank (Preparing the Ghost) investigates illegal aspects of the South African diamond trade, particularly the use of trained pigeons to smuggle out diamonds as workers whose life span averages 37 years struggle to survive. Nobel Prize winner Nurse, director of the Francis Crick Institute in London, explains biology--and, essentially, What Is Life?--through five key ideas: the cell, the gene, evolution by natural selection, life as chemistry, and life as information. At a crucial time--not just because of COVID-19 but as lung disease rises generally--pulmonologist Stephen's Breath Taking explains the evolutionary beginnings of breathing, the connection between the lungs and the immune system, and new research and treatment of pulmonary disease. Award-winning science journalist White helps award-winning Stanford geneticist Davis--The Puzzle Solver--tell the story of his search for a cure for chronic fatigue syndrome, which deeply afflicts his son (30,000-copy first printing). In Fundamentals, Nobel Prize winner and MIT professor Wilczek, author of the Wall Street Journal column "Wilczek's Universe," argues for a new worldview (beyond the conceptions we carry around from childhood) based on ten principles he elucidates here.
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