In "The Logic of Life", Francois Jacob looks at the way our understanding of biology has changed since the sixteenth century. He describes four fundamental turning points in the perception of the structure of living things: the discoveries of the functions of organs, cells, chromosomes and genes, and DNA.

“The most remarkable history of biology that has ever been written.”―Michel Foucault Nobel Prize–winning scientist François Jacob’s The Logic of Life is a landmark book in the history of biology and science. Focusing on heredity, which Jacob considers the fundamental feature of living things, he shows how, since the sixteenth century, the scientific understanding of inherited t...(展开全部)

这是一本关于生物学——特别是遗传学——的历史回顾。在书中，弗朗索瓦·雅各布重新考察了生命、时间、偶然、个体这些观念——从宏观到微观再到分子的尺度。 很久以来，人类一直依据外形对生物进行分类。十八世纪之后，人们将目光转向细胞，在细胞内寻找“隐藏的生命建筑”，直到十九世纪发现了基因，二十世纪解析了DNA的双螺旋结构，开启了分子生物学时代。在《生命的逻辑》一书中，雅各布清晰地展示了每一次大规模的认知转变都是一次智识革命，彻底改变了人类对自身在宇宙中置身何处的理解。 本书以遗传学的发展为例，诠释了关于生物系统的普适理论形成的历程，描绘了科学发展的内在逻辑，论述了知识储备、技术条件与想像力如何为科学突破做好了铺垫。 最后，雅各布探讨了我们这个时代仍在面对的若干基本问题：基因在何种程度上塑造了人类的行为？环境与人类的发育是什么关系？人类现在可以决定自己的演化了吗...(展开全部)

The animal world is full of mysteries. Why do dogs slurp from their drinking bowls while cats lap up water with a delicate flick of the tongue? How does a tiny turtle hatchling from Florida circle the entire northern Atlantic before returning to the very beach where it hatched? And how can a Komodo dragon kill a water buffalo with a bite only as strong as a domestic cat's? Thes...(展开全部)

THE UNDERCOVER ECONOMIST showed how ordinary economics explained everyday curiosities, such as the price of a cup of coffee and the traffic jam on the way to the supermarket. THE LOGIC OF LIFE shows how the new economics of rational choice theory explains much, much more. Drug addicts and teenage muggers can be rational. Suburban sprawl and inner city decay are rational. Endles...(展开全部)

http://www.timharford.com/logicoflife/ “Life often seems to defy logic. When a prostitute agrees to unprotected sex, or a teenage criminal embarks on a burglary, or a smoker lights another cigarette, we seem to be a million miles from what we would call rational behaviour. None of this makes sense – or does it? Tim Harford thinks it does. And by weaving stories from locations a...(展开全部)

Life sometimes seems illogical. Individuals do strange things: take drugs, have unprotected sex, mug each other. Love seems irrational, and so does divorce. On a larger scale, life seems no fairer or easier to fathom: Why do some neighborhoods thrive and others become ghettos? Why is racism so persistent? Why is your idiot boss paid a fortune for sitting behind a mahogany altar...(展开全部)

"A compelling biography of the eccentric genius."- Discover . Kurt Gödel was an intellectual giant. His Incompleteness Theorem turned not only mathematics but also the whole world of science and philosophy on its head. Shattering hopes that logic would, in the end, allow us a complete understanding of the universe, Gödel's theorem also raised many provocative questions: What ...(展开全部)

Considered one of the most important works of one of France's foremost philosophers, and long-awaited in English, The Logic of Sense begins with an extended exegesis of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Considering stoicism, language, games, sexuality, schizophrenia, and literature, Deleuze determines the status of meaning and meaninglessness, and seeks the 'place' where sen...(展开全部)

The Power of Logic renders balanced coverage of informal and formal logic in concise, accurate, and lively prose, making it the most accessible introductory logic text available. The text' s plentiful examples, imaginative exercises, and numerous visual aids help students develop their critical thinking skills as they put the powerful tools of logic to work.