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Life: The Science of Biology

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PLEASE This title is distributed and sold by W. H. Freeman/Macmillan Learning.

With roots 10 editions deep, The Science of Biology blends carefully reviewed content and an emphasis on experiments with a contemporary approach to active learning in the classroom. Throughout, we focus on three driving

Life is ENGAGING
We want students to come away from the introductory biology course with a sense of wonder and an ability to pursue biological questions. To that end, we keep the writing lively, the examples modern and exciting, and the emphasis on how we know what we know.

To help students engage with the course, an Investigating Life thread weaves through each chapter. Each individual part of the thread appeals to students, inspires them to ask questions, and keeps them wanting to know, "What next?" The beauty of the thread is that it gives students an authentic
scientific experience beyond just reading about someone's research results.

Life is ACTIVE
With the help of the Advisory Board, we've developed a series of pedagogical features that integrate tools for instructors with those for student independent study. Students work their way toward real understanding of biological principles. We don't just ask them to memorize information--we invite
them to actively participate in the process of discovery.

For instructors wanting to make active learning a part of their classroom, we've created an Active Learning Guide , with start-up material, ideas, and a complete guide to all the Life activities that are ready to add to your in-class repertoire.

Life is FOCUSED ON SKILLS
We want students to feel comfortable as they learn to manipulate and interpret data. The various types of problem-solving exercises in Life help them develop practical, analytical, and quantitative skills--skills that will benefit them whether they continue in biology or not. Exercises vary in skill
level, type, and approach, with answers in the back of the book.

The response to our Work with the Data boxes has been so consistently positive that we now include at least one in every chapter. This feature asks students to analyze data from original scientific experiments, and includes questions in the text plus, now, a corresponding set of alternative
exercises online in LaunchPad. We also provide an appendix, Making Sense of A Statistics Primer , to help students prepare for the quantitative work they'll be doing.

Experience Life through LAUNCHPAD

With this edition's LaunchPad , Life is more than ever a truly integrated text/media resource. LaunchPad gives students everything they need to prepare for class and exams, while giving instructors everything they need to set up a course, customize the content, craft presentations, assign homework,
assess students, and guide the progress of individuals and the class as a whole.

1268 pages, Hardcover

First published December 5, 2006

62 people are currently reading
479 people want to read

About the author

David E. Sadava

129 books4 followers
David E. Sadava is the Pritzker Family Foundation Professor of Biology, Emeritus, at the Keck Science Center of Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, and Scripps, three of The Claremont Colleges. In addition, he is Adjunct Professor of Cancer Cell Biology at the City of Hope Medical Center. Twice winner of the Huntoon Award for superior teaching, Dr. Sadava has taught courses on introductory biology, biotechnology, biochemistry, cell biology, molecular biology, plant biology, and cancer biology. In addition to Life: The Science of Biology, he is the author or coauthor of books on cell biology and on plants, genes, and crop biotechnology. His research has resulted in many papers coauthored with his students, on topics ranging from plant biochemistry to pharmacology of narcotic analgesics to human genetic diseases.

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5 stars
83 (38%)
4 stars
69 (32%)
3 stars
38 (17%)
2 stars
16 (7%)
1 star
8 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
Profile Image for Ami Iida.
547 reviews309 followers
May 12, 2015
Great book of molecular biology
Required reading
And to read molecular biology core text from beginner
Profile Image for Dana.
Author 3 books6 followers
February 9, 2009
I'm being optimistic. Of course, if I don't get at least a B- in this class, it's the books fault not mine which will justify a revision of my current rating from five starts to three.
Profile Image for Ozan Selçuk.
3 reviews
January 9, 2018
Biyoloji hakkında çoook geniş bir kitap, en olarak. Ama güzel okunuyor.
35 reviews2 followers
December 21, 2023
Before this book, my little exposure to biology was when I was in high school about 15 years back.

I did not read the complete book as it is too big to be finished in a year. I went through the biochemistry and genomics sections to build my background for a study of bioinformatics.

This book is great! My favourite part of this book is how it builds up a context around each concept, as in, how was it discovered, which experiments were performed to study it, and which people were involved. As you read the book, you work your way up to the present. It's a wonderful introduction to how science is done and in particular, how research in biology is done.

I cannot think of any downside of this book.

I supplement reading this book with these lectures https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/7-016-int...
Profile Image for Ky Son.
7 reviews
November 17, 2023
Good, but not perfect. Chapter 7 should be organize after Chap 16. Cell signalling can only be really appreciate after knowing about the big picture of DNA to protein.
Profile Image for Ben.
263 reviews4 followers
May 5, 2024
A very good introductory text for organismal biology. Just the right amount of detail for a freshman-level course. Diagrams were occasionally very busy, making it difficult to parse.
Profile Image for Maria.
281 reviews33 followers
May 10, 2007
Nice figures. I only scanned a bunch of this one because I was bored in the class but the figures were helpful.
Profile Image for Audrey.
328 reviews42 followers
May 7, 2011
I read Volumes 2 and 3 for Biology 2. Biology 1 (Intro to Cell and Molecular Biology) used a different textbook.
Profile Image for Sallyanna.
4 reviews2 followers
June 4, 2012
Helped Aced my bio class, and many more to come.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews

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