Overview
Vital Forces tells the history of the 'biochemical revolution', a period of unprecedentedly rapid advance in human knowledge that profoundly affected our view of life and laid the foundation for modern medicine and biotechnology. The story is told in a clear, engaging, and absorbing manner. This delightful work relates the fascinating and staggering advances in concepts and theories over the last 200 years and introduces the major figures of the times. Vital Forces also describes the discovery of the molecular basis of life through the stories of the scientists involved, including such towering figures as Louis Pasteur, Gregor Mendel, Linus Pauling, and Francis Crick. Combining science and biography into a seamless chronological narrative, the author brings to life the successes and failures, collaborations and feuds, and errors and insights that produced the revolution in biology.
Full Product Details
Author: Graeme K. Hunter (Stanford University, Department of Biological Sciences, Palo Alto, California, U.S.A.)
Publisher: Elsevier Science Publishing Co Inc
Imprint: Academic Press Inc
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 2.50cm
, Length: 23.50cm
Weight: 0.750kg
ISBN: 9780123618108
ISBN 10: 012361810
Pages: 364
Publication Date: 07 April 2000
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Out of Print
Availability: In Print
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.
Reviews
Hunter has managed to present a complex, multidimensional ensemble of discoveries in diverse biological specialties extending over two centuries as a coherent, linear, unidimensional story. As far as I know, no comparably intelligent and comprehensive account of the Biochemical Revolution is available. --Gunther S. Stent, Dept of Molecular and Cell Biology, UC Berkeley, in BIOESSAYS (September 2001) Well documented with many personal vignettes, this is an engaging and intelligent book. The author is to be commended for capturing the sense of intellectual development as well as the excitement of discovery. --Eugene A. Davidson, Georgetown University School of Medicine, in DOODY'S HEALTH SCIENCES BOOK REVIEW JOURNAL (2001) This [book] should be required reading for students in this area and can surely be of value to even the most experienced investigator. Well documented with many personal vignettes, this is an engaging and intelligent book. --CHOICE
The casual reader might belive that a history of science book is likely to be very dull reading. This is not the case here... The flow of ideas take center stage and for those with any interest in science, the author displays with elegance and skill the development of many of the key ideas that currently dominate biological research. This should be required reading for students in this area and can surely be of value to even the most experienced invesetigator. Well documented with many personal vignettes, this is an engaging and intelligent book. The author is to be commended for capturing the sense of intellectual development as well as the excitement of discovery. Anyone interested in modern biology would be interested in this book. - Choice 2001
Author Information
Graeme Hunter studied biochemistry at the University of Glasgow, graduating with the degree of Ph.D. in 1980. He carried out post-doctoral research at Stanford University and the University of Toronto. In 1988, Dr. Hunter became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Oral Biology at the University of Alberta. Since 1991, he has held the position of Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Western Ontario.Dr. Hunter's current research interests are in the areas of biomineralizatin and the history and philosophy of biology.
