Awards

• Short-listed for Athenaeum of Philadelphia Literary Award 2023

Overview

Every animal on Earth begins life as a single cell. From this humble origin, the nascent creature embarks on a risky journey fraught with opportunities for disaster—yet with astounding regularity, it reaches its destination intact. From One Cell illuminates this epic transformation—still one of nature’s most mysterious feats—to show where we all come from and where we’re going. Through the eyes of the scientists unraveling the secrets of development, we see how all the information needed to build a human fits into a fertilised egg, and how the trillions of cells that emerge know what to become and where to go. We learn how this growing understanding may one day allow us to address some of our most persistently confounding medical challenges, from cancer to degenerative disease. Popular science at its best, From One Cell celebrates the beauty and almost limitless potential of our collective beginnings.

Full Product Details

9781324005421

Table of Contents

Reviews

Fascinating from beginning to end, Ben Stanger's From One Cell takes us through the most important journey in all of our lives. Stanger is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable tour guide through the science that will impact our lives in the future. -- Neil Shubin, paleontologist and author of Your Inner Fish From the scientific quest to understand how a minuscule fertilized egg becomes a whole person, a universe of human biology opens up, leading to big new ideas for medicine. An inspiring, masterful, and authoritative account of this vital scientific frontier-rendered in brilliant, beautiful prose-From One Cell is about you, your beginning, and your future. -- Daniel M. Davis, author of The Beautiful Cure and The Secret Body Showing the erudition and leaps of imagination of a writer who is deeply immersed in both scientific research and the rich history of human culture, From One Cell is a pleasure to read-elegant, accessible, and endlessly exciting. -- Robert A. Weinberg, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, author of The Biology of Cancer One of the great mysteries in all of science is how individual fertilized eggs transform into the beautiful, exceedingly complex forms of life we see in nature and in ourselves.... In this knowledge lie seeds that will someday bear fruit in revolutionizing human health. Lucid and engrossing, From One Cell is a wondrous journey into the marvel of how life develops and the future of regenerative medicine. -- Cliff Tabin, professor and chair of genetics, Harvard Medical School From One Cell tells the remarkable story of the discoveries that have led to our current understanding of developmental biology, cellular reprogramming, cancer, and regenerative medicine. As a developmental biologist and medical geneticist myself, I picked up the book already familiar with many of these tales, but Stanger brings them and the scientists to such vivid life that I could hardly put it down. A fascinating read. -- Tony Wynshaw-Boris, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine From One Cell marvels in some of the highlights of the field of developmental biology, a discipline whose significance touches so many other areas in the life sciences. A gifted writer, Ben Stanger describes how we came to be from a single cell, emphasizing the incredible good fortune behind each step in this process and employing wonderful metaphors to explain complex phenomena. If you're even the tiniest bit interested in how all cells in our body came from a single cell, I highly recommend that you read this book. -- William Anderson, Director of Education, Harvard Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology

From One Cell marvels in some of the highlights of the field of developmental biology, a discipline whose significance touches so many other areas in the life sciences. A gifted writer, Ben Stanger describes how we came to be from a single cell, emphasizing the incredible good fortune behind each step in this process and employing wonderful metaphors to explain complex phenomena. If you're even the tiniest bit interested in how all cells in our body came from a single cell, I highly recommend that you read this book.--William Anderson, Director of Education, Harvard Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology From One Cell tells the remarkable story of the discoveries that have led to our current understanding of developmental biology, cellular reprogramming, cancer, and regenerative medicine. As a developmental biologist and medical geneticist myself, I picked up the book already familiar with many of these tales, but Stanger brings them and the scientists to such vivid life that I could hardly put it down. A fascinating read.--Tony Wynshaw-Boris, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Fascinating from beginning to end, Ben Stanger's From One Cell takes us through the most important journey in all of our lives. Stanger is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable tour guide through the science that will impact our lives in the future.--Neil Shubin, paleontologist and author of Your Inner Fish From the scientific quest to understand how a minuscule fertilized egg becomes a whole person, a universe of human biology opens up, leading to big new ideas for medicine. An inspiring, masterful, and authoritative account of this vital scientific frontier--rendered in brilliant, beautiful prose--From One Cell is about you, your beginning, and your future.--Daniel M. Davis, author of The Beautiful Cure and The Secret Body One of the great mysteries in all of science is how individual fertilized eggs transform into the beautiful, exceedingly complex forms of life we see in nature and in ourselves.... In this knowledge lie seeds that will someday bear fruit in revolutionizing human health. Lucid and engrossing, From One Cell is a wondrous journey into the marvel of how life develops and the future of regenerative medicine.--Cliff Tabin, professor and chair of genetics, Harvard Medical School Showing the erudition and leaps of imagination of a writer who is deeply immersed in both scientific research and the rich history of human culture, From One Cell is a pleasure to read--elegant, accessible, and endlessly exciting.--Robert A. Weinberg, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, author of The Biology of Cancer

"""Fascinating from beginning to end, Ben Stanger’s From One Cell takes us through the most important journey in all of our lives. Stanger is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable tour guide through the science that will impact our lives in the future."" -- Neil Shubin, paleontologist and author of Your Inner Fish ""From the scientific quest to understand how a minuscule fertilized egg becomes a whole person, a universe of human biology opens up, leading to big new ideas for medicine. An inspiring, masterful, and authoritative account of this vital scientific frontier—rendered in brilliant, beautiful prose—From One Cell is about you, your beginning, and your future."" -- Daniel M. Davis, author of The Beautiful Cure and The Secret Body ""Showing the erudition and leaps of imagination of a writer who is deeply immersed in both scientific research and the rich history of human culture, From One Cell is a pleasure to read—elegant, accessible, and endlessly exciting."" -- Robert A. Weinberg, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, author of The Biology of Cancer ""One of the great mysteries in all of science is how individual fertilized eggs transform into the beautiful, exceedingly complex forms of life we see in nature and in ourselves.… In this knowledge lie seeds that will someday bear fruit in revolutionizing human health. Lucid and engrossing, From One Cell is a wondrous journey into the marvel of how life develops and the future of regenerative medicine."" -- Cliff Tabin, professor and chair of genetics, Harvard Medical School ""From One Cell tells the remarkable story of the discoveries that have led to our current understanding of developmental biology, cellular reprogramming, cancer, and regenerative medicine. As a developmental biologist and medical geneticist myself, I picked up the book already familiar with many of these tales, but Stanger brings them and the scientists to such vivid life that I could hardly put it down. A fascinating read."" -- Tony Wynshaw-Boris, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine ""From One Cell marvels in some of the highlights of the field of developmental biology, a discipline whose significance touches so many other areas in the life sciences. A gifted writer, Ben Stanger describes how we came to be from a single cell, emphasizing the incredible good fortune behind each step in this process and employing wonderful metaphors to explain complex phenomena. If you’re even the tiniest bit interested in how all cells in our body came from a single cell, I highly recommend that you read this book."" -- William Anderson, Director of Education, Harvard Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology"

Author Information

Ben Stanger is the Hanna Wise Professor in Cancer Research and a professor of medicine and cell and developmental biology at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also a practicing gastroenterologist with Penn Medicine. He lives in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

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