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The Equations of Life: The Hidden Rules Shaping Evolution

The Equations of Life: The Hidden Rules Shaping Evolution

by Charles Cockell (Author), Charles Cockell (Author)

  • New

    Hardcover 2018

    $19.25
Synopsis

One of Britain's foremost astrobiologists offers an accessible and game-changing account of life on Earth.

Why do gazelles have legs and not wheels? Why is all life based on carbon rather than silicon? And beyond Earth, would life - if it exists - look like our own? The puzzles of life astound and confuse us like no other mystery. But in this groundbreaking book, Professor Charles Cockell reveals how nature is far more understandable and predictable than we would think.

Breathing new life into Darwin's theory of natural selection, The Equations of Life puts forward an elegant account of why evolution has taken the paths it has. In a captivating journey into the forces that shape living things on Earth, Cockell explains that the fundamental laws of physics constrain nature at every turn. Fusing the latest in scientific research with fascinating accounts of the creatures that surround us, this is a compelling argument about what life can - and can't - be.

$19.25

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Quantity

12 in stock

More Information

Format: Hardcover
 Pages: 352
 Edition: Main
 Publisher: Atlantic Books
Published: 28 Jun 2018
ISBN 10: 1786493020
ISBN 13: 9781786493026

Media Reviews
Riveting... Cockell is not only a fine scientist but a fine writer too. * Sir Martin Rees - Astronomer Royal and former President of the Royal Society *
An intriguing and enthralling adventure into the physics of life that is all around us and inside us. Cockell provides a reminder of the seeming rarity of all this beauty but also an invitation to look up to the skies and ask 'where else might something like this be? * Robin Ince - Presenter of BBC Radio 4's Infinite Monkey Cage *
Magisterial and collegial, this may be the biology book of the year * Booklist *
Fascinating . . . Cockell offers surprising insights * Sean Carroll, author of The Particle at the End of the Universe *
A lucid, provocative argument that the dazzling variety of organisms produced by 4 billion years of evolution may seem unbounded, but all follow universal laws. * Kirkus *
An invaluable guide... Life is generally described as a matter of contingency: what we find in nature is the result of countless historical accidents. In The Equations of Life, Charles Cockell provides an important counterbalance to that picture. * Philip Ball, author of Critical Mass *
Enlightening and entertaining... Whether on this third rock from the Sun or another planet in a far-distant galaxy, creatures should share forms and behaviours shaped by the forces of natural selection and the fundamental laws of physics that reign throughout the universe. * Lee Billings, author of Five Billion Years of Solitude *
Fascinating. A profound exploration of the deep nexus between physics and biology. * Andreas Wagner, professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Zurich and author of Arrival of the Fittest *
Author Bio
Charles Cockell is professor of Astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh and Director of the UK Centre for Astrobiology. He is a former NASA scientist and Open University professor.