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About Life

Concepts in Modern Biology

  • Book
  • © 2007

Overview

Authors:
  1. Paul S. Agutter

    1. Theoretical and Cell Biology Consultancy, Glossop, Derbyshire, U.K.

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  2. Denys N. Wheatley

    1. BioMedES, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, U.K.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Makes modern cell biology comprehensible to the non-specialist
  • Integrates cell biology with origin-of-life theories
  • Adopts a distinctive position in respect of extraterrestrial life and human uniqueness

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Table of contents (18 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages I-VIII
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Paul S. Agutter, Denys N. Wheatley
    Pages 1-6

  3. Ingredients of the Simplest Cells

    • Paul S. Agutter, Denys N. Wheatley
    Pages 8-15

  4. Bigger Cells

    • Paul S. Agutter, Denys N. Wheatley
    Pages 17-27

  5. Hives of Industry

    • Paul S. Agutter, Denys N. Wheatley
    Pages 29-38

  6. Delights of Transport

    • Paul S. Agutter, Denys N. Wheatley
    Pages 39-48

  7. As If Standing Still

    • Paul S. Agutter, Denys N. Wheatley
    Pages 49-55

  8. Internal State and Gene Expression

    • Paul S. Agutter, Denys N. Wheatley
    Pages 57-65

  9. Sustaining and Changing the Internal State

    • Paul S. Agutter, Denys N. Wheatley
    Pages 67-77

  10. Responding to the Environment

    • Paul S. Agutter, Denys N. Wheatley
    Pages 79-89

  11. The Living State

    • Paul S. Agutter, Denys N. Wheatley
    Pages 91-103

  12. Stability and Change in DNA

    • Paul S. Agutter, Denys N. Wheatley
    Pages 105-115

  13. The Spice of Life

    • Paul S. Agutter, Denys N. Wheatley
    Pages 117-129

  14. Curriculum Vitae

    • Paul S. Agutter, Denys N. Wheatley
    Pages 131-145

  15. The Origin of Life

    • Paul S. Agutter, Denys N. Wheatley
    Pages 147-162

  16. Other Worlds

    • Paul S. Agutter, Denys N. Wheatley
    Pages 163-178

  17. Intelligent Behaviour and Brains

    • Paul S. Agutter, Denys N. Wheatley
    Pages 179-183

  18. Human Evolution

    • Paul S. Agutter, Denys N. Wheatley
    Pages 195-208

  19. Cells, Brains and Computers: Towards a Characterisation of Mind

    • Paul S. Agutter, Denys N. Wheatley
    Pages 209-221

  20. Back Matter

    Pages 223-244
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Keywords

About this book

Thanks to the popular media, and to books by Dawkins, Fortey, Gould, Margulis and other writers, people are informed about many aspects of biology. Everyone seems to know a little about evolution, for example, and about DNA and the possibilities (good and bad) afforded by research in molecular genetics. Most people know some of the arguments for and against the likelihood of life on other planets. And so on. We are glad that these pieces of information have become so widely available. However, we do not assume any particular knowledge (other than the most basic) in this book. Our aim is to address general questions rather than specific issues. We want to enable our readers to join their disparate pieces of knowledge about biology together. The most basic of these general questions – and perhaps the most difficult – can be expressed in beguilingly simple words: “What is life”? What does modern biology tell us about the essential differences between living organisms and the inanimate world? An attempt to answer this question takes us on a journey through almost the whole of contemporary cell and molecular biology, which occupies the first half of the book. The journey is worth the effort. The provisional answer we attain provides a coherent, unifying context in which we can discuss evolution, the origin of life, extraterrestrial life, the meaning of “intelligence”, the evolution of the human brain and the nature of mind.

Reviews

From the reviews:

I have read some of the chapters and I am most impressed. It is well written, scholarly and deals with the subject in "4-D" i.e. not as we know it now but as knowledge developed in time. For me, who has lived through the development of the subject since the late 1960s and reviewed the literature as far back as Hippocrates, it was like reading a novel that I could not put down.

Prof. A Nicolaides MS FRCS

"This delightfully written book addresses major questions and some of the biggest ideas in biology today. … The book is moderately well-illustrated with photomicrographs and line drawings … . The book includes numerous insightful analogies and covers somewhat offbeat topics that an instructor could easily adapt to enliven classroom presentations. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above." (P. E. Hertz, CHOICE, Vol. 45 (2), 2007)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Theoretical and Cell Biology Consultancy, Glossop, Derbyshire, U.K.

    Paul S. Agutter

  • BioMedES, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, U.K.

    Denys N. Wheatley

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