The logic of life : a history of heredity. The possible and the actual / François Jacob ; translated by Betty E. Spillmann.

  • François Jacob
Date:
1989
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Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: The logic of life : a history of heredity. The possible and the actual / François Jacob ; translated by Betty E. Spillmann. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Two classic accounts of the nature of life by a supreme - and Nobel Prize-winning — scientist. ‘François Jacob is an erudite and perceptive historian of genetics, as well as a brilliant modern practitioner of the subject. The sound of nails being smartly struck on the head rings through his pages’ — Richard Dawkins, author of The Blind Watchmaker THE LOGIC OF LIFE A full and authoritative history of heredity — and theories about living organisms since earliest times — this is a masterpiece of intellectual history. In exploring the parallels between the logic of scientific thought and the logic of the gene, Professor Jacob confronts — and throws fresh light on — the most profound issues of all in today’s life sciences. ‘The most remarkable history of biology that has ever been written’ - Michel Foucault in Le Monde ‘Brilliant’ - Jeremy Bernstein in the New Yorker ‘Simply astonishing... a great story’ - Lewis Thomas in Harpers ‘It seizes and stimulates the imagination’ - Science THE POSSIBLE AND THE ACTUAL Without the theory of evolution, claims the author, ‘there is little hope to understand where we come from and why we are as we are’. In a dazzling essay that ‘deals with genes and men, with sex, aging and molecules’, he has produced a challenging study of the theory’s limitations and extraordinary power. ‘Professor Jacob’s beautifully written essay is as clear and compelling an exposition of the essence of biology and the nature of science as one could hope to read’ - Douglas J. Futuyma, editor of Evolution Cover illustration: Fotomas Index A PEREGNNE BOOK U.K £9.99 hüST. $19 95 íiecemmeítóifi] ISBN 0-14-055242-1