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University of California Press
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Life as It Is

Biology for the Public Sphere
by William F. Loomis (Author)
Paperback
Price: $34.95 / £30.00
Publication Date: Mar 2008
Edition: 1st Edition
Title Details:
Rights: World
Pages: 272
ISBN: 9780520260016
Trim Size: 5.5 x 8.25
Illustrations: 10 b/w photographs, 6 line illustrations
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About the Book

This concise, accessible book considers from a biological perspective the controversial issues of our day: abortion, euthanasia, engineered evolution, cooperativity, and the future of sustainable life on this planet. Exploring in fascinating detail the processes by which cells come into being and multiply, Loomis clearly and simply explains the latest in complex biological research. He reviews recent insights into molecular and human evolution, the role of DNA sequences in determining traits, and the biological basis for consciousness, all of which, he argues, need to be considered when making life-and-death decisions and wrestling with questions about the limits to intervention.

About the Author

William F. Loomis was Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of California, San Diego. He is the former President of the Society for Developmental Biology and an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Table of Contents

Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface

1. The Value of Life
2. Human Potential
3. Engineered Life
4. Genomic Information
5. Sociobiology
6. Consciousness
7. Selfishness and Cooperativity
8. The Origin of Life and Evolution of Man
9. Sustainable Life
Epilog. Wonderful Life

References
Index

Reviews

“[A] highly provocative book. . . . Loomis is a careful and clear guide to the historical, social and political aspects of biology, making this overview both thorough and daring.”
— Publishers Weekly
“Fascinating.”
— Nature
“Wide-ranging, easily accessible and thought-provoking. . . . This profound and beautifully explained celebration of life deserves wide readership.”
— New Scientist
“A timely book. . . . Recommended.”
— Choice
"This book is an enjoyable and thought-provoking 'My Dinner With Bill Loomis'. He shows how respect for human life means acknowledging its ecological and evolutionary contexts. Molecular biology, he writes, is like Prometheus, giving us incredible tools for good or evil—and it's time that we grow up."—Scott F. Gilbert, Howard A. Schneiderman Professor of Biology, Swarthmore College

"A wonderful journey through the very basis of life and how we live."—Lewis Wolpert, Professor of Biology as Applied to Medicine, University College, London

"Advances in biology increasingly impinge on our everyday lives, challenging us with new interventions and ideas of what it means to be human. In this book, the distinguished scientist Bill Loomis takes us effortlessly through the biology we need to understand to come to our own opinions about these issues of great importance to each of us and to society as a whole."—Paul Nurse, President of Rockefeller University, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine