Liaisons of Life: From Hornworts to Hippos, How the Unassuming Microbe Has Driven Evolution Book

Advance Praise for Liaisons of Life "The complexity of life has forced on biologists a less detached approach than is usual in science. Their feeling for the organism conflicts with their dispassionate reduction of its DNA sequence. Tom Wakeford's fine book movingly captures the consequence of this tension on scientists and politicians in his history of the concept of symbiosis. All scientists should read it."--James Lovelock, author of the Gaia Hypothesis "A thoroughly readable look at the history of one of biological science's greatest ideas . . . Symbiosis is clearly an idea whose time has come, and Tom Wakeford helps us understand why."--Roger Knutson, author of Fearsome Fauna "Thanks to Tom Wakeford for his tales of life as a long adventure in partnership, and for his stories of people who pioneered that idea. With a true naturalist's eye and a store of engaging anecdotes, he shows how the concept of symbiosis has moved from the fringe of science to its center."--Arno Karlen, author of Biography of a Germ and Man and Microbes "A cogent introduction to the possibility that nature is not red in tooth and claw, but green of thumb as it cultivates interdependence instead of just competition."--Wayne Biddle, author of A Field Guide to Germs and A Field Guide to the Invisible "Tom Wakeford's book is a remarkable and charmingly written excursion across the field of symbiotic interactions among plants, animals, and fungi. He makes the case that an understanding of symbiosis is essential to an understanding of evolution, and succeeds."--Christopher Wills, author of Children of PrometheusRead More