Do genes explain life? Can advances in evolutionary and molecular biology account for what we look like, how we behave, and why we die? In this powerful intervention into current biological thinking, Brian Goodwin argues that such genetic reductionism has important limits. Drawing on the sciences of complexity, the author shows how an understanding of the self-organizing patterns of networks is necessary for making sense of nature. Genes are important, but only as part of a process constrained by environment, physical laws, and the universal tendencies of complex adaptive systems. In a new preface for this edition, Goodwin reflects on the advances in both genetics and the sciences of complexity since the book's original publication.
Author(s): Brian Goodwin
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 274
Contents......Page 5
Preface to the Princeton Science Library Edition......Page 7
Preface......Page 11
Acknowledgments......Page 19
1 Whatever Happened to Organisms?......Page 23
2 How the Leopard Got Its Spots......Page 40
3 Life. the Excitable Medium......Page 64
4 Living Form in the Making......Page 99
5 The Evolution of Generic Forms......Page 137
6 New Directions, New Metaphors......Page 191
7 A Science of Qualities......Page 218
References......Page 260
Further Reading......Page 264
Index......Page 267
