The Art of Genes: How Organisms Make Themselves

The Art of Genes: How Organisms Make Themselves

by EnricoCoen (Author)

Synopsis

'Coen's book is spiced with historic quotations and examples of plants' and animals' intriguing behaviour contains a wealth of interesting material Coen communicates his immense learning with a hundred appealing tales' Max Perutz How is a tiny fertilised egg able to turn itself into a human being? How can an acorn transform itself into an oak tree? Over the past twenty years there has been a revolution in biology. For the first time we have begun to understand how organisms make themselves. The Art of Genes gives an account of these new and exciting findings, and of their broader significance for how we view ourselves. Through a highly original synthesis of science and art, Enrico Coen vividly describes this revolution in our understanding of how plants and animals develop. Drawing on a wide range of examples-from flowers growing petals instead of sex organs, and flies that develop an extra pair of wings, to works of art by Leonardo and Magritte-he explains in lively, accessible prose the language and meaning of genes. 'I would have loved this book at 16, and so should anyone-aged 16 to 60-who really wants to understand development.' John Maynard Smith, Nature

$37.51

Quantity

10 in stock

More Information

Format: Illustrated
Pages: 400
Edition: Revised ed.
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 17 Aug 2000

ISBN 10: 0192862081
ISBN 13: 9780192862082

Media Reviews
It is arguable that the most important advance in biology in the past twenty years has been the revolution in our understanding of the mechanisms of development.... Developmental biology has been transformed from a field in which ingenious manipulative experiments generated speculations about
unobservable underlying causes, such as gradients and prepatterns, to one in which we have a very detailed knowledge of what is actually going on at the molecular and cellular level. Enrico Coen has written a book that attempts, with considerable success, to convey the essence of this revolution to
the lay reader. It will also be of great interest to those biologists...who have only a superficial knowledge of the subject. TREE


It is arguable that the most important advance in biology in the past twenty years has been the revolution in our understanding of the mechanisms of development.... Developmental biology has been transformed from a field in which ingenious manipulative experiments generated speculations about
unobservable underlying causes, such as gradients and prepatterns, to one in which we have a very detailed knowledge of what is actually going on at the molecular and cellular level. Enrico Coen has written a book that attempts, with considerable success, to convey the essence of this revolution to
the lay reader. It will also be of great interest to those biologists...who have only a superficial knowledge of the subject. TREE

It is arguable that the most important advance in biology in the past twenty years has been the revolution in our understanding of the mechanisms of development.... Developmental biology has been transformed from a field in which ingenious manipulative experiments generated speculations about unobservable underlying causes, such as gradients and prepatterns, to one in which we have a very detailed knowledge of what is actually going on at the molecular and cellular level. Enrico Coen has written a book that attempts, with considerable success, to convey the essence of this revolution to the lay reader. It will also be of great interest to those biologists...who have only a superficial knowledge of the subject. TREE


It is arguable that the most important advance in biology in the past twenty years has been the revolution in our understanding of the mechanisms of development.... Developmental biology has been transformed from a field in which ingenious manipulative experiments generated speculations about unobservable underlying causes, such as gradients and prepatterns, to one in which we have a very detailed knowledge of what is actually going on at the molecular and cellular level. Enrico Coen has written a book that attempts, with considerable success, to convey the essence of this revolution to the lay reader. It will also be of great interest to those biologists...who have only a superficial knowledge of the subject. TREE


Author Bio
Research Scientist in Genetics Department, John Innes Centre, Norwich. Made honorary Professor in Biology at University of East Anglia, 1997. Fellow of Royal Society (1998), Fellow of Linnean Society (1997). Awards: Science for Art Prize; EMBO Medal (1996), Linnean Gold Medal (1997).