Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Inquiry into Life

Rate this book
Dr. Sylvia Mader’s text Inquiry into Life was originally developed to reach out to science-shy students. The text now represents one of the cornerstones of introductory biology education. Inquiry into Life was founded on the belief that teaching science from a human perspective coupled with human applications would make the material more relevant to the student. This text along with the Inquiry Into Life 15.1 edition represent an ongoing project in the development of a continuously-updated textbook. As scientists and educators the authors of this text are well aware that scientific discovery is a dynamic process. Fortunately the advances in digital publishing are allowing authors to update content on an ongoing basis which in turn is promoting the ability to update content on a regular basis. This text represents the prototype of those efforts

832 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1976

22 people are currently reading
152 people want to read

About the author

Sylvia S. Mader

533 books26 followers
In the past, Sylvia S. Mader, Ed.D. has written numerous biology textbooks for WCB/McGraw-Hill in addition to her most famous book, Inquiry Into Life, 16th edition. Her 30-year relationship with the company has yielded such titles as Human Biology, 16th edition; and Biology, 13th edition.

A brilliant and prolific writer, Dr. Mader was a respected and well-loved biology instructor before she began her writing career. In fact, she developed some of her well-known teaching and learning techniques while helping science-shy students appreciate and learn biology at Lowell University and Massachusetts Bay Community College.

Now, Sylvia is writing romance novels and has written Water Lily Blooms.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
21 (21%)
4 stars
25 (25%)
3 stars
25 (25%)
2 stars
22 (22%)
1 star
7 (7%)
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
Profile Image for Elizabeth  Chang.
630 reviews12 followers
July 11, 2017
I'm sorry....I love biology...but this book....I don't have very fond memories associated to it. Sure, the book itself was fine. Had everything (I think) it should have. But...I dunno, really....I feel like...I didn't bond with it as much as I did with my English Literature textbook. But I suppose that makes sense because....literature! Of course there are feelings associated with it...biology is just...all...information....technical stuff.

Where does one start when reviewing their biology textbook?!

Oh, and by the way...this isn't the right cover....my cover was different, but this was the closest one I could find! *insert sad face here*
Profile Image for Berlyn.
29 reviews
August 2, 2011
i didn't finish the whole book, just the class. and i'm not giving it four stars b/c i really liked it. i believe it's a well written, fairly easy to understand text book and i would recommend it for a beginning bio student ( or for a teacher deciding what text to use for that matter).
4 reviews
July 6, 2009
I have learned that one should not try to shove a 10 week course in to a 5 week time span!
Profile Image for Jessie.
571 reviews6 followers
September 4, 2014
A Survey of Entry level biology. I will keep on my shelves for future reference. Lots of colourful pictures to help illustrate the complex bio systems.
Profile Image for Heather.
492 reviews1 follower
July 15, 2015
Very good for a bio class 101. In detail but not overwhelming. I like the diagrams and the pictures.
Profile Image for Geri.
11 reviews
April 7, 2009
This is my very confusing jargon-filled biology textbook... my teacher is so much better at explanation and application. Seriously, who bothers to write these things?
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.