Why Size Matters (ebook)

Argumento de Why Size Matters (ebook)

"Bonner's main argument in Why Size Matters is that changes in size are not the result of changes in shape. . . . Bonner has written a book in a friendly voice that enlarges the picture of how everyone, big and small, thinks of size and why it matters very much."--Biology Digest

"The important point made by Bonner . . . is that differences in magnitude affect biological and physical properties directly, exposing the organisms to the action of different selection pressures. . . . Why Size Matters will be of major interest for readers from different disciplines, just as the topic and the principles discussed by Bonner apply to diverse scientific areas."--Andre J. Riveros TRENDS in Ecology and Evolution

"A masterful and engaging work, elegant in its simplicity despite its subject's complexity."--Susan Lumpkin, Zoogoer

One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2007

"John Tyler Bonner's career in biology has been long, happy, and just a little larger than life. For more than sixty years, the invisible world he explores through the microscope has led him to big ideas about the nature of things. This tiny book is their summation. As you read it, the light on the stage of the microscope expands and expands until virtually everything is illuminated. In fact, after reading Why Size Matters, you may conclude that this book is the one and only place where size does not matter."--Jonathan Weiner, author of The Beak of the Finch and His Brother's Keeper

"John Tyler Bonner's latest book is a masterly summary of more than fifty years of thinking about why organisms are the size they are, and it is presented in the elegant prose we have come to expect from him. The theme is lucidly set out, developed using clear examples, and illustrated with drawings and graphs that enhance the text and his explanations of topics."--Brian K. Hall, Dalhousie University

"Why Size Matters has the usual spontaneity and insight of a book by John Tyler Bonner. It is full of interesting facts and ideas, and is fun to read-the next best thing to a conversation with the author himself. Bonner approaches the complex subject of size in biology with unabashed enthusiasm. He combines a literary flair with scientific sophistication to explain why dimension and scale so profoundly affect individual behavior and organic evolution."--Mary Jane West-Eberhard, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

"Bonner argues that size is a driving force for all of biology. . . . [H]e demonstrates convincingly, size dictates everything from an animal's shape and appearance to its locomotion, speed, voice and social organization."--Wray Herbert, Washington Post Book World

"From giant dinosaurs to cellular clockworks, people are astonished by the large and fascinated by the small. But as this diminutive book describes with elegant simplicity, size is far more important than mere curiosity- it 'drives the form and function of everything that lives.' . . . Drawing parallels from physics, engineering, and human (and animal societies), Bonner vividly illustrates how something apparently so simple as size is actually so fundamentally important."--Choice

"[Bonner] examines the largest and smallest creatures on Earth. Size, asserts Bonner, determines five important biological features: strength, surface area, complexity, rate of metabolism, and organism abundance. In this diminutive book, he explains each feature and how it relates to the others. He concludes, size matters."--Science News0Preface ix
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
Chapter 2: The Human View of Size 7
Chapter 3: The Physics of Size 28
Chapter 4: The Evolution of Size 62
Chapter 5: Size and the Division of Labor 79
Chapter 6: Size and Time 116
Chapter 7: Envoi 147
Notes 153
Index 157