The Story of Life: Great Discoveries in Biology

by Sean B. Carroll

Biology’s great discoveries and the people who make them A unique opportunity for students to learn biology through stories told by one of the great science storytellers of our Sean B. Carroll. This enriching text follows the structure of an introductory biology course, with brief chapters that span the breadth of the life sciences. This gives maximum flexibility to assign a few stories, or all of them.

Genres: Science, Biology, Nonfiction, Evolution

336 pages, Paperback

Published March 11, 2019

About the author

Sean B. Carroll (born September 17, 1960) is a professor of molecular biology, genetics, and medical genetics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He studies the evolution of cis-regulation in the context of biological development, using Drosophila as a model system. He is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. Since 2010, he has been vice-president for science education of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Reviews

[tesia]

BEST BIOLOGY BOOK EVER. Tells the more human side of biology, from discovering things while on the toilet, to betrayal, to faffing around just for the heck of it. Carroll portrays science the way it should be told: as something purely human.

Also: chapter 14 had me cackling on an off for the better part of an hour.

[Q]

This book is a really interesting read (in an insightful way). I loved how all of the stories gave light to the other parts of all the scientists’ lives outside of their major discoveries!!

However, the pages were jam packed with information, which isn’t a bad thing, but it made reading this whole book a very long and difficult task. I found myself rereading paragraphs almost every page, just to even start comprehending what the author is explaining what the chosen scientist is doing.

Overall, if you love science, specifically biology, this is a great read!

[Dan Brock]

3.5

[Val]

Scientific advances in story form. Going to use some of these in my classes.

[Avery Elinor]

One Direction did it better.

[Sasha]

Read this for my AP Biology class summer homework but it was actually really excellent