Overview

In its essence, science is a way of looking at and thinking about the world. In The Life of a Leaf, Steven Vogel illuminates this approach, using the humble leaf as a model. Whether plant or person, every organism must contend with its immediate physical environment, a world that both limits what organisms can do and offers innumerable opportunities for evolving fascinating ways of challenging those limits. Here, Vogel explains these interactions, examining through the example of the leaf the extraordinary designs that enable life to adapt to its physical world. In Vogel’s account, the leaf serves as a biological everyman, an ordinary and ubiquitous living thing that nonetheless speaks volumes about our environment as well as its own. Thus in exploring the leaf’s world, Vogel simultaneously explores our own. A companion website with demonstrations and teaching tools can be found here: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/sites/vogel/index.html

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9780226104775

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Reviews

This book is a happy reminder that science can become much less daunting in the hands of an enthusiastic teacher. (London Review of Books) Steven Vogel capably demonstrates how a scientist can unite micro and macro perspectives in looking at the natural world.... His firsthand account of many of his own experiments, and the joy with which he recounts them, brings the scientific process to life. (Publishers Weekly) Steven Vogel's obvious enthusiasm for the subject and his skill at writing shine through with clarity and joy. (Library Journal) This is one of those books that powerfully, and often entertainingly, demystifies science. (Nature)

""This book is a happy reminder that science can become much less daunting in the hands of an enthusiastic teacher."" (London Review of Books) ""Steven Vogel capably demonstrates how a scientist can unite micro and macro perspectives in looking at the natural world.... His firsthand account of many of his own experiments, and the joy with which he recounts them, brings the scientific process to life."" (Publishers Weekly) ""Steven Vogel's obvious enthusiasm for the subject and his skill at writing shine through with clarity and joy."" (Library Journal) ""This is one of those books that powerfully, and often entertainingly, demystifies science."" (Nature)""

Author Information

Steven Vogel is a James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of biology at Duke University. His most recent books include Cats' Paws and Catapults and Glimpses of Creatures in Their Physical Worlds.

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