Lives of a Biologist: Adventures in a Century of Extraordinary Science [Hardcover]

John Tyler Bonner (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0674007638 | ISBN-13: 978-0674007635 | Publication Date: May 24, 2002

Beginning with the discovery of genes on chromosomes and culminating with the unmasking of the most minute genetic mysteries, the twentieth century saw astounding and unprecedented progress in the science of biology. In an illustrious career that spanned most of the century, biologist John Bonner witnessed many of these advances firsthand. Part autobiography, part history of the extraordinary transformation of biology in his time, Bonner's book is truly a life in science, the story of what it is to be a biologist observing the unfolding of the intricacies of life itself.

Bonner's scientific interests are nearly as varied as the concerns of biology, ranging from animal culture to evolution, from life cycles to the development of slime molds. And the extraordinary cast of characters he introduces is equally diverse, among them Julian Huxley, J. B. S. Haldane, Leon Trotsky, and Evelyn Waugh. Writing with a charm and freshness that bring the most subtle nuances of science to life, he pursues these interests through the hundred years that gave us the discovery of embryonic induction; the interpretation of evolution in terms of changes in gene frequency in a population; growth in understanding of the biochemistry of the cell; the beginning of molecular genetics; remarkable insights into animal behavior; the emergence of sociobiology; and the simplification of ecological and evolutionary principles by means of mathematical models. In this panoramic view, we see both the sweep of world events and scientific progress and the animating details, the personal observations and experiences, of a career conducted in their midst.

In Bonner's view, biology is essentially the study of life cycles. His book, marking the cycles of a life in biology, is a fitting reflection of this study, with its infinite, and infinitesimal, permutations. (20020315)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This charming and unduly modest book is part memoir, part distillation of 20th-century biology, as told by an eminent researcher, writer and teacher who witnessed much of it firsthand. Bonner (Morphology), a former Princeton University developmental biologist and lifelong devotee of cellular slime molds, invokes life cycles and development, his specialties, to talk about the last century!s gigantic steps forward in biology. He covers advances in biochemistry, population genetics and embryology; the discovery of DNA structure; and the human genome project. Against this parade of discoveries, Bonner considers his own career, which included studying everything from animal social behavior to evolution. (May)
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

At 13, Bonner was already an avid bird-watcher who divided his spare time between looking for birds in the parks of London, to which his family had lately moved from New York, and studying the bird gallery at the Natural History Museum. Fearing that his son was narrowing his prospects, Bonner's father gave him a copy of H. G. Wells, Julian Huxley, and G. P. Wells' popular The Science of Life--a gift that opened the youngster's eyes completely. Now 81, Bonner has devoted much of his imaginative and creative biological research of the intervening years to cellular slime molds, which lead fascinating and, before Bonner's work, previously largely unexplained lives. His accounts of his and his graduate students' thinking and experiments convey much of the scientific approach to problems lucidly, and those of his travels, his vacations in Nova Scotia over the course of 40 years, and the many amusing and illuminating incidents in his life reflect a refreshing open-mindedness. This is one scientist's autobiography that manages to be simultaneously delightful and strikingly informative. William Beatty
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 238 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (May 24, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674007638
• ISBN-13: 978-0674007635
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,365,736 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Gentle Memoir of a Lifelong Passion, June 26, 2002

By 

Ricky Hunter (New York City, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lives of a Biologist: Adventures in a Century of Extraordinary Science (Hardcover)

John Tyler Bonner's lifelong passion with slime molds makes for more interesting and delightful reading than one would at first expect in Lives of a Biologist (Adventures in a Century of Extraordinary Science). His life story includes many wonderful anecdotes that go beyond the world of science and include such a unusual assembly of characters as Trotsky, Harpo Marx and Evelyn Waugh. The joy of this book, though, is the biological experiences and this will be a pleasure regardless of one's level of biological background. The excitement of discovery and learning comes through clearly in these pages and the amazing transitions in this field over the past century are presented in a readable and fascinating manner. This is a light, friendly read and a gentle glimpse into the sometimes cloudy world of biological research.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars science in a fortunate era, August 18, 2002

By 

Karen Sampson Hudson "Karen Sampson Hudson" (Reno, NV United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lives of a Biologist: Adventures in a Century of Extraordinary Science (Hardcover)

John Tyler Bonner's career as a biologist spans an incredible era of ever-accelerating advances and complexity in science. Divided into chapters covering two decades each, his account mixes personal memoir with the story of his research. He specialized in slime molds, although his interest roamed throughout all biological disciplines.

Young scientists reading Bonner's book will both smile and grimace. His account of his reports fifty years ago to the NSF regarding his grant will surely produce both reactions at the same time: "Things have not worked out well. I have tried this, that, and the other, and nothing has really worked." The reply was, "Don't worry about it---this is the way research goes sometimes. Maybe next year you will have better luck." My husband, a cloud physicist for over twenty-five years, is utterly astonished at such an exchange.

Bonner writes clearly and sometimes jokily, in true scientific fashion, without much color and brio to hold a reader's interest. Nevertheless he has lived in a fascinating time, has seen the germination and flowering of many ideas that have revolutionized biology, and for this reason alone his book is worth reading.