Why Size Matters: From Bacteria to Blue Whales - Couverture rigide

Bonner, John Tyler

 
9780691128504: Why Size Matters: From Bacteria to Blue Whales
Couverture rigide
ISBN 10 : 0691128502 ISBN 13 : 9780691128504
Editeur : Princeton University Press, 2006

Synopsis

John Tyler Bonner, one of our most distinguished and creative biologists, here offers a completely new perspective on the role of size in biology. In his hallmark friendly style, he explores the universal impact of being the right size. By examining stories ranging from "Alice in Wonderland" to "Gulliver's Travels", he shows that humans have always been fascinated by things big and small. Why then does size always reside on the fringes of science and never on the center stage? Why do biologists and others ponder size only when studying something else - running speed, life span, or metabolism? "Why Size Matters", a pioneering book of big ideas in a compact size, gives size its due by presenting a profound yet lucid overview of what we know about its role in the living world. Bonner argues that size really does matter - that it is the supreme and universal determinant of what any organism can be and do. For example, because tiny creatures are subject primarily to forces of cohesion and larger beasts to gravity, a fly can easily walk up a wall, something we humans cannot even begin to imagine doing. Bonner introduces us to size through the giants and dwarfs of human, animal, and plant history and then explores questions including the physics of size as it affects biology, the evolution of size over geological time, and the role of size in the function and longevity of living things. As this elegantly written book shows, size affects life in its every aspect. It is a universal frame from which nothing escapes.

Les informations fournies dans la section « Synopsis » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

À propos de l?auteur

John Tyler Bonner is Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University. He is the author of "Lives of a Biologist: Adventures in a Century of Extraordinary Science" and "Evolution of Culture in Animals" (Princeton), and the author or editor of fourteen other books.

Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Éditeur
Princeton University Press
Date d'édition
2006
Langue
anglais
ISBN 10 
0691128502
ISBN 13 
9780691128504
Reliure
Relié
Nombre de pages
176
Coordonnées du fabricant
non disponible
Personne responsable
non disponible