Life Cycles: Reflections of an Evolutionary Biologist

by John Tyler Bonner

Within a single captivating narrative, John Bonner combines an intensely personal memoir of scientific progress and an overview of what we now know about living things. Bonner, a major participant in the development of biology as an experimental science, draws on his life-long study of slime molds for an understanding of the life cycle-the foundation of all biology. In an age of increasing specialization and fragmentation among subfields of biology, this is a unique work of reflection and integration.

Genres: Science

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 3, 1995

About the author

John Tyler Bonner is the George M. Moffett Professor Emeritus of Biology at Princeton University, a pioneer in the use of cellular slime molds to understand evolution and development, and one of the world's leading experts on cellular slime molds.

Reviews

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have a good handle on biological terminology and you enjoy the topic, I would highly recommend this book. The main premise is how adaptations of organisms need to focus on the entire life cycle of said organism. So if you think of a dog, you would naturally think of an adult dog, but if presented with a geriatric dog or a puppy, you would likely acknowledge these as dogs as well. But, you might not consider the embryo of a dog to be a dog. The author, an evolutionary biologist, contends you have to consider the embryo of the dog a dog, because it is indeed a dog and you have to consider the full life cycle of an organism if you are looking at adaptations of an organism over time. He focuses principally on slime molds in his explanations of adaptations that have occurred in an organism and how they were driven by different stages in a life cycle, but also addresses interesting examples in more complex organisms as well.

Part autobiographical as well as informational, this was an educational and entertaining read. While many biological concepts are simplified, the reader should have a healthy understanding of biological terms if they hope to keep up.

On a side note, the author does not make religious comment in the book but is an ardent Darwin supporter so my guess is he is not a religious man. I say this to preempt the counter argument that the following comments are religious ones. If one is acknowledging that the embryo of a dog has to be a dog, should we not also do as much when making the case for the embryo of a human being? These comments are mine and not something addressed in the book, but it did strike me as I was reading this. From a strictly scientific perspective, the embryo of any animal can only yield that animal, humans included. If we're placing value on that embryo in the case of adaptations of an organism and natural selection, then that embryo does have worth and is indeed already that organism not simply a collection of cells. It is human.

I'll leave my comments as they are, because I'm sure you get where I'm going with this. But please do read this book. Such controversial topics as I just brought up are not discussed. Just science and funny anctedotes about life cycles, Einstein, and slime molds.

[Jack C. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I don't enjoy the mixing of personal biography with (admittedly very exciting) science. That or the author's braggart style turned me off.

[Mo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slime molds! SLIME MOLDS. Why aren't there more books about slime molds? This could've used more slime molds too, but it had lots of other cool stuff so good marks from me anyway.