Life Itself: Exploring the Realm of the Living Cell (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Clouds of cold fog billow up through a circular hatch in the top of a stainless steel tank as Rob Hay pulls out the lid..." (more)
Key Phrases: motor molecules, true embryo, actin meshwork, United States, University of California, Woods Hole (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

A book so clear and exciting that one keeps turning pages as in a novel, to see what will happen next. His book captures the thrill of scientific discovery and the power of the questions that remain. -- Anndee Hochman, The Philadelphia Inquirer, December 12, 1999

Review

"Life Itself is a wonderfully readable digest of everything currently known about the mechanisms by which living cells perform their myriad tasks."--The New York Times Book Review
"Rensberger's wonderment and enthusiasm...literally leaps off the page....it is hard to imagine a better way to convey to students the thrill of looking down a microscope at a living cell ."--Nature

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; Trade edition (December 17, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195125002
• ISBN-13: 978-0195125009
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #153,759 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #48 in	Books > Science > Biological Sciences > Biology > Cell Biology

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Who Is In Charge Here?, May 24, 2000

By	Robert Derenthal "bucherwurm" (California United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

For most of us the cells that make up our bodies are as well known as aliens from another galaxy. I took college biology back in an era that seemed not far distant from when Leeuwenhoek developed the microscope. In that time cells seemed to be blobish creatures that led mysterious, ill-defined lives. Boyce Rensberger brings us a fascinating, up to date, tale of who these little people are. I say "little people", because in the telling of it you can't but wonder if these smallest parts of biological existence don't lead an almost sentient life. I found myself developing a personal theory that millions of years ago a group of cells got together and decided to build some big creatures that would go out and hunt food for them. They are in charge, not us.

Our cells have ports in their membranes that require a special key to get in. If a morsel of cell food (glucose) arrives in a little boxcar (vesicle) it must have a key that fits in the membrane receptor. Vesicles travel around the cell cytoplasm on microtubules, which are like so many train tracks. A seven step process takes place that changes the glucose to pyruvate which is then shipped to little organelles called mitochrondia which change this substance to ATP which is the universal cell food. The marvelous thing is that things are moved, and acted on by various protein molecules. How do little things like molecules dash about carrying out various assignments? In another part of the book the author describes the replication of the chromosomes. Not only do molecules carry out this assignment, but another molecule checks the finished work for accuracy. Throughout the book I kept saying over and over, "but how can these molecules actually do this?" How do cilia and sperm cells wag? Essentially a protein molecule holds on to a stiff fiber, reaches over to another fiber and bends it towards the first fiber. Incredible.

I'm just a layman, but this is one of the most exciting science books that I have ever read. Mr. Rensberger makes it very accessible by providing diagrams, and by using extremely useful analogies to help you understand a most complex life form. I've also taken a college course in human physiology, but these little microscopic life forms seem much more fascinating and complex than the operation of the human body itself.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific, October 23, 1999

By A Customer

This is one of the very best biology books I've ever read, in a league with Dawkins. Beautifully clear explanations. Makes things concrete and visualizable. Good quotes and interesting historical perspectives. Just technical enough that you are getting the real stuff not some dumbed-down substitute but minus detail of interest only to people going into the field(s). You actually get a perspective on the topic you *don't* get from the textbooks (the publishers should make the textbook writers study how this guy does it). The first Amazon reviewer complained about the ageing chapter -- yeah, it wasn't that strong on evolution of ageing, but overall this is still a better book than Austad's book on ageing and vastly more engaging than Rose (if you're looking for biology of ageing, Halliday is better than either in my opinion).

I have only one serious complaint here: I would have liked ten times as many illustrations and some in color but I'm sure that would have raised the price a lot.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent book for the general reader, June 16, 2000

By	"prettygoodreviewer" (USA) - See all my reviews

After reading another reviewer's complaints about the author's treatment of the biology of aging, I went back and reread that section. I think I have become so accustomed to "reading around" such wording in evolutionary writing that I didn't even notice it until I looked for it. Sure enough, the author does sound as if he is making group selection arguments, but I don't think that is what he means. I think he is just being a bit sloppy with his language. If the Hayflick limit offers no insights into organismal aging, as the earlier reviewer claims, it nonetheless is a curious observation that average species lifespan correlates closely with the allowable number of cell divisions for the species. As a non-biologist scientist, I found the book a fascinating update to my highschool biology course (ancient history).While it gives a clear explication of the workings of the cell, it is written engagingly and simply enough that I am having my middle school children read it as an introduction to biology before they take it in high school. A book this size and at the level it is written obviously can't do justice to the full depth and breadth of cellular biology and biochemistry, but it does provide a sound introduction and certainly whets the appetite of the scientifically inclined.