Lessons from the Living Cell: The Limits of Reductionism Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

Lessons from the Living Cell: The Limits of Reductionism Book

How much can we learn about life by looking at its constituent parts? Biologist Stephen Rothman asks the big questions in pursuit of a relatively small answer in Lessons from the Living Cell, equal parts research discussion and philosophical argument. While working on cellular protein transport in the 1960s, Rothman found evidence contradicting the widely held vesicle theory; in the course of his work, he came to the conclusion that the theory's base was skimpy at best. His stories of frustrating battles with the scientific status quo, though clearly biased, still offer a refreshing look at the mechanisms of scientific debate. Rothman presses on to attack what he calls "microreductionism," the belief that any system can be understood by a thorough analysis of its components. This, he says, isn't true for self-organizing systems like living beings, and his arguments are strong and forcefully written. The scientifically literate reader will find Lessons from the Living Cell a challenging polemic against the proximate and ultimate causes of theoretical inertia in biology and beyond. --Rob LightnerRead More

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  • Product Description

    An elegant call to a new biology that goes beyond reductionism

    The Human Genome Project is the culmination of a two-centuries-old scientific tradition that takes as its central tenet the principle of reductionism, or the belief that a system can be thoroughly understood when it is reduced to its most fundamental constituent parts. Experimental biologist Stephen Rothman explains that reductionism also has serious, even dangerous, limitations.

    With the help of fascinating case studies, he takes a clear-eyed look at the social climate in which science is practiced and explores the collective psychology that he fears is leading scientists down a blind alley. Rothman explains why, despite all the hype surrounding the Genome Project, science is still no closer to building a bridge between molecules and reactions at the genetic level and large-scale biological processes. And, ultimately, he makes an eloquent and impassioned argument for a Darwinian-inspired approach to biological research that goes beyond reductionism to embrace living systems in their entirety.

  • 0071378200
  • 9780071378208
  • Stephen Rothman
  • 1 October 2001
  • McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.
  • Hardcover (Book)
  • 272
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