A book of startling congruencies, insightful flashes and an artful enthusiasm that delivers knowledge from the inorganic...
Wagner (Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies/Univ. of Zurich; The Origins of Evolutionary Innovations, 2011, etc.) lucidly explores the natural principles that accelerate life’s ability to innovate and thus evolve.
“How does nature bring forth the new, the better, the superior?” asks the author. “How does life create?” Since it is exceedingly complex, he takes a winding road to approach his goal, but he has the gift of J.B.S. Haldane and Loren Eiseley in that he never slips past his audience’s grasp. Wagner is there with readers throughout the journey, from modern synthesis, with its emphasis on the genotype, to evolutionary developmental biology, which sought to “integrate embryonic development, evolution, and genetics,” to the relationship between genotype and phenotype, to nature’s creativity, active before sentient life existed. The author clearly reveals how organic molecules could have evolved from inorganic matter, how catalysts give metabolism a kick in the pants, the wonders of deep-sea vents and the otherworldly beauty of the citric acid cycle’s creating two molecules from one. Even if we do not know how life evolved in all its complexity, we do know that innovation needn’t be created from scratch to have profound effects: Small changes in amino acids allow geese to fly higher, cod to swim deeper and eyes to see color, just as they allow bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics and cells to become resistant to cancer drugs. From the vast library of possible amino acid strings—“hyperastronomical” in number—we find different string arrangements capable of doing the same job and genotype networks “ideal for exploring the library, helping populations to discover texts with new meaning while preserving old and useful meaning.” In this swarming complexity, nature is like Einstein’s hair, which “doesn’t just tolerate disorder. It needs some disorder to discover new metabolisms, regulatory circuits, and macromolecules—in short, to innovate.”
A book of startling congruencies, insightful flashes and an artful enthusiasm that delivers knowledge from the inorganic page to our organic brains.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-59184-646-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Current
Review Posted Online: Aug. 12, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
An intriguing collection of essays covering much familiar ground, but with enough new insights and fresh perspectives to interest both Civil War buffs and casual readers. Boritt (Civil War Studies/Gettysburg College; Why the Confederacy Lost, 1992) assembles five essays by top specialists in the field, exploring the relationship of wartime Commander-in-Chief Lincoln to his leaders on the battlefield. The common denominator in those relations, the volume argues, was conflict, in part because of the inherent tension between civil and military authorities but also due to the personalities of Lincoln and those he chose to command. Stephen Sears (George B. McClellan, 1988) again examines ``little Mac,'' a supremely cautious man who never thought he had enough men or matÇriel to fight the Confederates; Lincoln removed him from command after he failed to exploit the narrow Union victory at Antietam. Mark Neely (The Last Best Hope of Earth, 1993) assays ``Fighting Joe'' Hooker, who led Union forces into a blundering defeat on bad terrain at Chancellorsville. Boritt looks at George Meade and the Battle of Gettysburg; like McClellan, Meade was cautious and slow, a trait that infuriated Lincoln and led him briefly to consider leaving Washington to take command of the Army himself. Michael Fellman (History/Simon Fraser Univ., British Columbia) writes about William Tecumseh Sherman, with whom Lincoln had distant and infrequent contact. Lincoln counseled Sherman to show mercy to Southerners—advice the general ignored, but his March to the Sea helped clinch Lincoln's re-election, which for a time seemed doubtful. Finally, John Y. Simon (History/Univ. of Southern Illinois) discusses Ulysses S. Grant, the general with whom it is often assumed Lincoln had the best relationship: The volume makes it clear that was true only in comparison with the president's other fractured ties. Five thoughtful and well-written essays, further grist for the mill of seemingly endless fascination with America's costliest war.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-19-508505-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The fundamentals of Einstein's theory of special relativity, presented in the form of a series of imaginary dialogues among scientists of three different eras. Fritzsch (Max Planck Institute for Physics, Munich; Quarks: The Stuff of Matter, 1983) begins by sending a fictitious modern physicist, Adrian Haller, to England, where he meets Sir Isaac Newton, who has been returned to Earth. Newton is curious about developments in physics since his day, and the two men spend several chapters discussing Newton's concepts of space, time, and light. When the conversation arrives at the subject of Albert Einstein's contributions to science, Newton persuades Haller to take him for a visit to Bern, Switzerland, where they meet the father of relativity. The three physicists then engage in a series of dialogues on how Einstein modified Newton's ideas of the universe, and on how modern science has both verified and extended Einstein's own theories. While there is an unavoidable kernel of mathematics in any discussion of physical concepts, the derivation of Einstein's famous equation, E = mc2, should be within the grasp of anyone who passed high school algebra. The key ideas are presented clearly, and the discussion touches on such subjects as the source of the sun's energy, the future of nuclear and fusion power, antimatter, and the decay of the proton. Fritzsch's handling of the dialogues and of the flimsy narrative framework does not suggest that he should take up fiction as a career. But the ideas come across clearly, even entertainingly, in spite of what appears to be a rather pedestrian translation. Occasionally stiff, but always readable; a good introduction to modern physics for any reader willing to invest a little thought in the subject. (45 halftones, 41 line drawings, 1 table)
Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1994
ISBN: 0-226-26557-9
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Univ. of Chicago
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1994
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