Life Cycles: Reflections of an Evolutionary Biologist

Life Cycles: Reflections of an Evolutionary Biologist

by JohnTylerBonner (Author)

Synopsis

Within a single captivating narrative, John Bonner combines an intensely personal memoir of scientific progress and an overview of what we now know about living things. Bonner, a major participant in the development of biology as an experimental science, looks at the field in an unconvennonal manner. More so than many other biologists, he has searched for a central theme to deepen his understanding of the science of life. In the life cycle, Bonner sees the foundation of all biology - a linkage of evolution, development, and the complex activities of adult organisms. Here he builds on this concept to explain to nonspecialists the principles behind the drama of the living world - and to tell a number of insightful stories about the achievements and eccentricities of eminent researchers. I have devoted my life to slime molds, Bonner begins. While describing the miraculous four-day life cycle of these common microscopic organisms, which are neither plants nor animals, he also shows how their development revealed to him that living things are life cycles: the great lesson that comes from this way of thinking is that it is not just the adult but the life cycle that evolves. With the clarity and the sense of humor that have made Bonner a talented and immensely popular teacher, he goes on to outline contemporary knowledge about biology up to and including the continuing controversy over E. O. Wilson's Sociobiology. Throughout, Bonner makes his points by using a variety of fascinating illustrations: the pond-blooming Volvox, stepfather lions, fireflies, and French dissenters to Darwinism, among many others. In an age of increasing specialization and fragmentation among subfields of biology,this is a unique work of reflection and integration.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 224
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 08 Sep 1993

ISBN 10: 0691033196
ISBN 13: 9780691033198

Media Reviews
If we measure books by the degree to which they alter our perceptions, then this one is certainly a winner. We will never be able to look at a rotting log in quite the same way again or dig through the soil in the garden.---Steven Austad, Natural History
Bonner's prose is a felicitous blend of science simply explained, gentle but insistent rigor, and a fetching triad of wry humor, personal anecdote and unexpected diversion. This makes for an enchanting book that reflects a thoughtful preoccupation with life cycles and their evolution...rang[ing]...widely from the inherent importance of the size of particular organisms to the nature of animal thought and human culture.---Bernard Dixon, New Scientist
This, then, is not only a book that grapples with some of the most profound issues in biology but also a professional autobiography; a life history that has intertwined with the life cycles under study....Bonner's book ought to be a classic.---Peter Calow, The Times Higher Education Supplement