This entertaining and informative book describes how
living things bump up against non-biological reality. "My immodest aim, " says the author, "is to change how you view your immediate surroundings." He asks us to wonder about the design of plants and animals around us: why a fish swims more rapidly than a duck can paddle, why healthy trees more commonly uproot than break, how a shark manages with such a flimsy skeleton, or how a mouse can easily survive a fall onto any surface from any height.The book will not only fascinate the general reader but will also serve as an introductory survey of
biomechanics. On one hand, organisms cannot alter the earth's
gravity, the properties of water, the…
One of the most readable biology books I've ever come across. While it can easily be used for an undergraduate course in animal physiology and evolution, Vogel's text is humorous, (obscure references…
Misemer Pharmaceuticals Inc