Why size matters : from bacteria to blue whales
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Why size matters : from bacteria to blue whales
Princeton University Press, 2012
- : pbk
Available at 3 libraries
-
pbk.463.7/B643/80121946280121941
Note
Originally published: 2006
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
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.
Table of Contents
Preface ix Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: The Human View of Size 7 Chapter 3: The Physics of Size 28 Chapter 4: The Evolution of Size 62 Chapter 5: Size and the Division of Labor 79 Chapter 6: Size and Time 116 Chapter 7: Envoi 147 Notes 153 Index 157
by "Nielsen BookData"