What defines who we are? For decades, the biological answer has
been our genes. In The Master Builder, leading biologist Alfonso
Martinez Arias breaks with decades of scientific and popular
tradition to make a bold argument: what defines us is our cells.
Drawing on new research from his lab and others, Martinez Arias
reveals that we are composed of a thrillingly complex, constantly
rearranging symphony of cells that know how to count, feel, and
ultimately give form to our bodies. While DNA is important, Richard
Dawkins's vision of the selfish gene that controls everything is
not a good description of how biology actually works. As Martinez
Arias shows, nothing in your genes explains why your heart is on
the left side of your body, why you have five fingers and not ten,
or why genetically identical twins have different sets of
fingerprints and why it's possible for a mother to apparently share
no DNA with the children to whom she gave birth! At the heart of it
all is not simply gee-whiz science, but a powerful new conception
of the essence of life. Our identities are shaped not simply by our
genes, but by the interconnections between all our cells, working
as a sort of symphony-cooperative, and creating something greater
than its parts could on their own-and the unbroken lineage of cells
that connects us to the first fertilized egg from which we
developed-and in turn, back through the billions of years of our
planet's history, to the very first cell in the history of all life
on Earth. A sweeping revision of both the present and history of
life, The Master Builder puts forward a new paradigm for
understanding biology, one rooted in cellular cooperation, not
selfish genes. Engaging and ambitious, it will transform our
understanding of where we come from, what shapes us, and where we
are going, as individuals, a species, and the community of life
itself.
General
Imprint: |
John Murray Publishers Ltd
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
August 2023 |
First published: |
2023 |
Authors: |
Alfonso Martinez Arias
|
Dimensions: |
234 x 153mm (L x W) |
Pages: |
352 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-399-80993-1 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
1-399-80993-8 |
Barcode: |
9781399809931 |
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