Books

Books : reviews

Michael C. Gerald, Gloria E. Gerald.
The Biology Book: from the oigin of life to epigenetics, 250 milestones in the history of biology.
Sterling. 2015

Are animals altruistic?
Why does the heart beat?
What do the smallest microbe and the largest mammal have in common?

These are just a few of the thought-provoking questions addressed in this beautifully illustrated book. Join authors Michael C. Gerald and Gloria E. Gerald as they explore 250 of the most significant and interesting biology milestones from roughly 4 billion BCE to modern times. Along with odd and perplexing marvels like mummification and the coelacanth “living fossil,” this timeline covers such diverse topics as agriculture, animal migration, natural selection, nature versus nurture, germ theory of disease, global warming, probiotics, cholesterol metabolism, and the human genome project. Key scientists and other influential individuals—including Aristotle, William Harvey, Charles Darwin, Claude Bernard, Rachel Carson, and James Watson and Francis Crick—are also featured,

Chronologically organized, the entries each consist of a short summary and a stunning full-color image, while the “Further Reading” section provides resources for more in-depth study. “It is our hope,” writes Gerald, “that readers of The Biology Book will come away with a vastly enriched appreciation of the world around them.”