From Gaia To Selfish Genes – Selected Writings in The Life Sciences (The MIT Press) - Hardcover

Barlow, Connie

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9780262023238: From Gaia To Selfish Genes – Selected Writings in The Life Sciences (The MIT Press)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262023237 ISBN 13: 9780262023238

Publisher: MIT Press, 1991

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In a well-blended presentation, writings from more than 30 scientists and science writers span scales from the biosphere to the cell to DNA, encompass disciplines from global ecology to behavior and genetics, and explore links between biology and philosophy.Connie Barlow is a science writer.

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Review:

"A crash course in modern biological thought... Many of the unmissable modem masters are here: James Lovelock on Gaia, Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan on symbiosis in the cell, Robert Axelrod and William Hamilton on the evolution of cooperation, E.O. Wilson on sociobiology and Richard Dawkins on selfish genes and memes. It is a heady mix one that covers the spectrum from holism to reductionism, without giving houseroom to any but the best writers.... This is a book with a number of different messages. Yet those messages are often so powerful - and the writing so persuasive - that somehow you long for them all to be true. Bold and shocking biology has that effect on people."--Stephen Young, New Scientist

Synopsis:

This anthology contains excerpts from the popular writings of leading theorists in the life sciences which present the controversies and ideas driving contemporary biological research. Selections range from the biosphere to the cell and DNA, and disciplines from global ecology to behaviour and genetics, and also reveal the links between biology and philosophy. They bring to the reader the debates about heredity and environment, competition and co-operation, randomness and determinism and the meaning of individuality. The book aims to convey the technical and conceptual roots of contemporary scientific theories beginning with the planetary perspective of James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis and concluding with the reductionist views of Richard Dawkins and E.O. Wilson. The contrasting worldviews, coupled with excerpts drawn from critics of each theory, encourage readers to examine their own presuppositions. In addition to the scientists' portrayal of the Gaia hypothesis, symbiosis in cell evolution, hierarchy theory, systems theory, game theory, sociobiology and the selfish gene, the text also contains autobiographical passages and biographies.

By presenting the human side of research the book reveals the social context and interactions, the motivations and range of cognitive styles that comprise the scientific endeavour. Concluding essays written expressly for this book by Lyn Margulis, John Maynard Smith, W. Ford Doolittle and others underscore the importance of such diversity.

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