What Is Life?
Five Great Ideas in Biology
by Paul Nurse
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Pub Date Feb 02 2021 | Archive Date Jan 31 2021
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Description
The renowned Nobel Prize–winning scientist’s elegant and concise explanation of the fundamental ideas in biology and their uses today.
Hailed by Philip Pullman as “a great communicator” who is also “as distinguished a scientist as there could be,” Paul Nurse writes with delight at life’s richness and a sense of the urgent role of biology in our time. With What Is Life? he delivers a brief but powerful work of popular science in the vein of Carlo Rovelli’s Seven Brief Lessons in Physics.
Nurse takes readers on a wondrous journey through five fundamental biological ideas—the Cell, the Gene, Evolution by Natural Selection, Life as Chemistry, and Life as Information—introducing the scientists who made the most important advances and taking us into his own lab to give us a sense of the thrill of scientific discovery. In a final chapter, Nurse addresses biology’s most pressing ethical issues (including gene-editing, genetic testing, and genetically modified crops), and he concludes with a stirring encomium to biology’s role in tackling infectious disease.
About the Author:
Paul Nurse is director of the Francis Crick Institute in London and previously served as president of Rockefeller University, president of the Royal Society, and trustee of the British Museum. He is a recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Advance Praise
“A nearly perfect guide to the wonder and complexity of existence.” - Bill Bryson
“In this vibrant, lively book, Paul Nurse, discoverer of some of the crucial genes that control the division of cells, takes a deep dive into biology by illuminating five of the essential characteristics of ‘life.’ The writing is so spirited and knowledgeable—and the five sections so full of wondrous revelations—that I could not put it down. This is a book that will inspire a generation of biologists.” - Siddhartha Mukherjee
“Paul Nurse is about as distinguished a scientist as there could be. He is also a great communicator. This book explains, in a way that is both clear and elegant, how the processes of life unfold, and does as much as science can to answer the question posed by the title. It provides the sort of clarity and understanding that could save many thousands of lives.” - Philip Pullman
“Paul Nurse’s writing is not just informed by long experience, but is also wise, visionary and personal. I read the book in one sitting, and felt exhilarated by the end, as though I'd run for miles—from the author’s own garden into the interior of the cell, back in time to humankind’s most distant ancestors, and through the laboratory of a dedicated scientist at work on what he most loves to do.” - Dava Sobel
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9780393541151 |
| PRICE | $20.00 (USD) |
Available on NetGalley
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