What Is Life? - Softcover

Margulis, Lynn; Sagan, Dorion

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520220218 ISBN 13: 9780520220218

Publisher: University of California Press, 2000

Synopsis

Half a century ago, before the discovery of DNA, the Austrian physicist and philosopher Erwin Schrödinger inspired a generation of scientists by rephrasing the fascinating philosophical question: What is life? Using their expansive understanding of recent science to wonderful effect, acclaimed authors Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan revisit this timeless question in a fast-moving, wide-ranging narrative that combines rigorous science with philosophy, history, and poetry. The authors move deftly across a dazzling array of topics―from the dynamics of the bacterial realm, to the connection between sex and death, to theories of spirit and matter. They delve into the origins of life, offering the startling suggestion that life―not just human life―is free to act and has played an unexpectedly large part in its own evolution. Transcending the various formal concepts of life, this captivating book offers a unique overview of life’s history, essences, and future.

Supplementing the text are stunning illustrations that range from the smallest known organism (Mycoplasma bacteria) to the largest (the biosphere itself). Creatures both strange and familiar enhance the pages of What Is Life? Their existence prompts readers to reconsider preconceptions not only about life but also about their own part in it.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

“In What Is Life? Margulis and Sagan have rephrased the answer to Schrödinger’s brilliant question by means of a new and spirited explanation of the emergent levels of biological organization. . . . Theirs is a conceptual framework likely to influence future introductions to biology.”―E. O. Wilson

“A witty, exuberant panorama of life that elaborates the place of symbiosis in evolution.”―Mary Catherine Bateson

“This splendid book shows how much more there is to life than mere reductionist biology. Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan tread faithfully in Erwin Schrödinger’s footsteps and are his true successors.”―James E. Lovelock

About the Author:

Lynn Margulis is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is the author of more than one hundred articles and ten books, including Symbiosis and Cell Evolution (second edition 1993). Dorion Sagan, general partner of Sciencewriters, is the author of Biospheres (1990). Together they are the authors of Microcosmos (California, 1996), What Is Sex? (1990), Garden of Microbial Delights (1995), and Mystery Dance (1991).

About this edition

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0520220218
• ISBN 13: 9780520220218
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 330