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Facts Visually Explained
How Biology Works: The Facts Visually Explained
The simplest, most visual guide to the science of life - everHow do vaccines work? What is special about stem cells? How did we evolve from bacteria? The science of life can be dauntingly complex, and it can be hard to separate "good" science from "bad", fundamental truths from the much-hyped breakthroughs reported in the media. With clear, easy-to-understand graphics and packed with fascinating facts, How Biology Works demystifies both the core biology that may have eluded us at school, and the cutting-edge life science that makes the news, answering the questions that spark our curiosity.Building from life's fundamental ingredients, such as carbon and water, the book explains chemical processes in living cells, controlled by the ultimate biochemical, DNA. It shows how DNA is made of units called genes, which are shuffled in each generation of offspring, leading to variation and evolution. It covers topics from school biology, such as how plants work and how animals, including humans, work, and goes on to ecology and biotechnology. Beyond school science, however, it covers the background to the latest medical technology and how gene therapy works, what stem-cell research is achieving, and how our immune systems, boosted by vaccines, are in an arms race with ever-mutating viruses and other pathogens.Let How Biology Works guide you through the maze of life science.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published June 1, 2023
15 people are currently reading
217 people want to read
About the author
D.K. Publishing
9,120 books2,079 followersDorling Kindersley (DK) is a British multinational publishing company specializing in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 62 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a consumer publishing company jointly owned by Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA and Pearson PLC. Bertelsmann owns 53% of the company and Pearson owns 47%.
Established in 1974, DK publishes a range of titles in genres including travel (including Eyewitness Travel Guides), arts and crafts, business, history, cooking, gaming, gardening, health and fitness, natural history, parenting, science and reference. They also publish books for children, toddlers and babies, covering such topics as history, the human body, animals and activities, as well as licensed properties such as LEGO, Disney and DeLiSo, licensor of the toy Sophie la Girafe. DK has offices in New York, London, Munich, New Delhi, Toronto and Melbourne.
Source: Wikipedia.
Established in 1974, DK publishes a range of titles in genres including travel (including Eyewitness Travel Guides), arts and crafts, business, history, cooking, gaming, gardening, health and fitness, natural history, parenting, science and reference. They also publish books for children, toddlers and babies, covering such topics as history, the human body, animals and activities, as well as licensed properties such as LEGO, Disney and DeLiSo, licensor of the toy Sophie la Girafe. DK has offices in New York, London, Munich, New Delhi, Toronto and Melbourne.
Source: Wikipedia.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 11, 2023
How Biology Works was quite a comprehensive book. A lot of ground is covered in these pages, which would make it a very good reference guide. The PDF version I have is full of illustrations; which really helped bring some context to the writing.
Publishers Dorling Kindersley Limited are a British multinational publishing company specialising in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 63 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann.
The formatting of the book is pretty mechanical. It is almost like a long-form encyclopedia article. There is no commentary by the author, and the book both opens and closes without an intro or epilogue.
Although I enjoyed most of this presentation, there was some minor incorrect information here. I'll go through a few that stuck out to me:
1) The book says that "dangerous" levels of radioactivity in nature are relatively low. UV radiation is ionizing, and depending on where you live and how much you are exposed to it, it can be very high and is definitely dangerous. Some scientists have hypothesized that the sun's UV drives genetic mutation and evolution.
Also, radon is a uranium decay product that is naturally occurring ionizing radiation. It is commonly found in basements, as it is the heaviest of the noble gases. It is alpha radiation that kills thousands of people per year, second only to smoking.
2) The book mentions prions, and calls them misfolded proteins (which they are). It then says that prion diseases are very rare. While specific prion diseases may be rare, protein-folding disorders are not; Alzheimer, Huntington's Parkinson's, ALS, etc are all protein-folding disorders, and they are relatively common.
3) It also incorrectly states that photosynthesis directly or indirectly feeds all life. This is not true. Some bacteria live and life thrives around thermal vents in the ocean floor, and some bacteria can metabolize rock.
The book's contents are broken into the following parts:
• Types of life
• Origins of life
• Life on other planets; our solar system
• The chemistry of life
• How cells work
• Reproduction and genetics
• Evolution
• The tree of life
• How plants work
• How animals work
• Ecology
• Biotechnology
********************
How Biology Works was a great presentation. As mentioned above, it would make for an excellent quick reference guide.
5 stars.
Publishers Dorling Kindersley Limited are a British multinational publishing company specialising in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 63 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann.
The formatting of the book is pretty mechanical. It is almost like a long-form encyclopedia article. There is no commentary by the author, and the book both opens and closes without an intro or epilogue.
Although I enjoyed most of this presentation, there was some minor incorrect information here. I'll go through a few that stuck out to me:
1) The book says that "dangerous" levels of radioactivity in nature are relatively low. UV radiation is ionizing, and depending on where you live and how much you are exposed to it, it can be very high and is definitely dangerous. Some scientists have hypothesized that the sun's UV drives genetic mutation and evolution.
Also, radon is a uranium decay product that is naturally occurring ionizing radiation. It is commonly found in basements, as it is the heaviest of the noble gases. It is alpha radiation that kills thousands of people per year, second only to smoking.
2) The book mentions prions, and calls them misfolded proteins (which they are). It then says that prion diseases are very rare. While specific prion diseases may be rare, protein-folding disorders are not; Alzheimer, Huntington's Parkinson's, ALS, etc are all protein-folding disorders, and they are relatively common.
3) It also incorrectly states that photosynthesis directly or indirectly feeds all life. This is not true. Some bacteria live and life thrives around thermal vents in the ocean floor, and some bacteria can metabolize rock.
The book's contents are broken into the following parts:
• Types of life
• Origins of life
• Life on other planets; our solar system
• The chemistry of life
• How cells work
• Reproduction and genetics
• Evolution
• The tree of life
• How plants work
• How animals work
• Ecology
• Biotechnology
********************
How Biology Works was a great presentation. As mentioned above, it would make for an excellent quick reference guide.
5 stars.
May 21, 2025
Nicely explained, very clear and easy to understand.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews