The Touchstone of Life: Molecular Information, Cell Communication, and the Foundations of Life

Author: Loewenstein, Werner R

Brand: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Binding: hardcover

Format: Import

Number Of Pages: 366

Release Date: 07-01-1999

Details: Product Description
By applying today's information theory to molecular biology, an internationally prominent biologist investigates the sources of nature's organization, from the smallest cell to the human brain, revealing the intricate communication that transpires among cells.

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Amazon.com Review
"If there were something like a guidebook for living creatures, I think the first line would read like a biblical commandment:
Make thy information larger. And next would come the guidelines for colonizing, in good imperialist fashion, the biggest chunk of negative entropy around."
Werner Loewenstein, a cell biologist at Woods Hole Biological Laboratories, has written a remarkably engaging book tying together information theory, thermodynamics, molecular biology, and the structure of cells. The subject is not one to which the human brain is well suited, but with Loewenstein's guidance you may get a better grasp on concepts like entropy than you've ever had before.
Loewenstein describes life as a circus: "Flowing in from the cosmos, information loops back onto itself to produce the circular information complex we call Life.... To those who are inside the Circus, it will always seem the greatest show on Earth, though I can't speak for the One who is outside it."
The Touchstone of Life covers some of the ground surveyed in Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach and Kauffman's At Home in the Universe, but with an even stronger sense of the physical realities constraining the "Circus." It should prove fascinating for anyone interested in biology, consciousness, physics, or the future of computing. --Mary Ellen Curtin
Review
...those prepared to immerse themselves in the wonderful specifics of the precise circuitry put together by evolution will find nothing more authoritative than this book. --
The New York Times Book Review, George Johnson

In The Touchstone of Life, Werner Loewenstein, who is world-renowned for his discoveries in cell-cell communication, offers a fascinating insight into the mystery of life. He argues that the prime mover of life is not energy, but molecular information flowing in circles....The book is written for scientists and physicians, but it also provides the background material that non-specialists need in order to follow the story. --
Maria Papadaki, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology, November/December 1999
About the Author

Werner R. Loewenstein was Professor of Physiology and Director of the Cell Physics Laboratory at Columbia University and is presently Director of the Laboratory of Cell Communication at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts. He lives in Woods Hole and Key Biscayne, Florida.

EAN: 8580000035056

Package Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches

Languages: English