- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (29 Oct 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140237003
- ISBN-13: 978-0140237009
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,369,261 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
For most laypersons, Darwin's theory of evolution equals survival of the fittest, with one species gaining ascendancy over another in nature's brutal war of attrition. For most biologists, however, evolution is far more complicated. Advanced studies in genetics have given rise to the theory of evolution on a genetic scale, with "selfish genes" battling for supremacy within organisms. Taken to its most extreme, species themselves become almost incidental to the genetic warfare that rages within them. Other biologists take a less narrow view of evolution, believing that many factors--both genetic and environmental--affect how an organism evolves; in Lifelines: Biology Beyond Determinism, Steven Rose comes firmly down on this side of the argument.
Rose, a biochemist, specialises in how memory works, and his book includes some fascinating information about the influence of chemistry in the development of our bodies. So delicate is the balance of DNA chemistry and environment, in fact, that Rose finds the periodic announcements that scientists have "found" a gene responsible for sexual orientation or criminal behavior, for example, to be outrageous and downright dangerous. Simple answers to complicated processes worry him, which may be why he strenuously attacks the genetics-as-destiny stance championed by such well-known scientists as Richard Dawkins.
Product Description
Steven Rose offers a response to those enthusiasts of the gene who insist that all aspects of human life are in our genes and the inevitable consequences of natural selection. He argues that life depends on the elaborate web of interactions that occur within cells, organisms and ecosystems, in which DNA plays a part among many. If we are to understand life, we must recapture an understanding of the entire organism and its trajectory through time and space - it is these trajectories that Rose calls "lifelines".
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
A new baby stares gravely up at her mother and her entire face curls into an unmistakable smile. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
A new baby stares gravely up at her mother and her entire face curls into an unmistakable smile. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Scientific journalism and some scientists are responsible for a simplistic view of the way in which living things reproduce themselves. Steven Rose shows how biochemical analysis has moved far beyond the early ideas about genetic determination large-scale properties. He shows that the much quoted examples of such determination are the exception and not the rule. The 5th chapter explains very clearly that a gene is a highly complex thing which cannot be reduced a particular sequence of DNA. The process of transcription and editing of DNA means that the information required for reproduction is not contained in the DNA alone. Rather its is the result of the interaction of the DNA and its cellular environment.
3 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this a most puzzling book. On the one hand, Rose argues that claims of finding genes involved in sexual orientation, criminal behavior and the like are "outrageous and dangerous". On the other hand, he spends a great deal of time explaining just how the proteins and enzymes that are produced by genes interact with one another and the environment to produce all sorts of wonderful characteristics and behaviors in divers organisms. It almost seems that Rose judges scientific claims not on the basis of the evidence but on their social implications. Despite the title, this is more a book about politics than about biology.
2 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Rose's earlier writings (e.g. "Science and Society") were a very good introduction to the social implications of science. However, in recent years, he... seems to give his readers no credit that they might come to responsible conclusions on how science, particularly genetics, will be used. This turns into a book on politics, but Rose seeks to rubbish the science behind the issues...
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Science & Nature > Biological Sciences > Biological Science > Cell Biology
- Books > Science & Nature > Biological Sciences > Biological Science > Developmental Biology
- Books > Science & Nature > Biological Sciences > Evolution
- Books > Science & Nature > Biological Sciences > Genetics
- Books > Science & Nature > Biological Sciences > Human Biology > Developmental Biology
- Books > Science & Nature > Biological Sciences > Human Biology > Physiology
- Books > Science & Nature > Popular Science > Genetics
- Books > Scientific, Technical & Medical
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Philosophy
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Anthropology
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
