"The most remarkable history of biology that has ever been written."-Michel Foucault Nobel Prize-winning scientist Francois 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 traits has moved not in a linear, progressive way, from error to truth, but instead through a series of frameworks. He reveals how these successive interpretive approaches-focusing on visible structures, internal structures (especially cells), evolution, genes, and DNA and other molecules-each have their own power but also limitations. Fundamentally challenging how the history of biology is told, much as Thomas Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions did for the history of science as a whole, The Logic of Life has greatly influenced the way scientists and historians view the past, present, and future of biology.

"When Major Gideon Francois Jacobs of the British Royal Marines parachuted into the jungle of north Sumatra in the summer of 1945, he entered a world little known to Westerners. . . . It seemed to be a wild, primitive island where little of historical significance had happened or was likely to happen." So begins the Introduction to one of the most remarkable memoirs of World War II. The drama it captures is one that has been scarcely recognized in the West. Beginning with Japanese surrender to the Allies on Sumatra, the narrative details the welter of international forces that struggled for dominance on the island until native uprisings forced the establishment of the new Indonesian republic. The story is told by the very man whose assignment it was to take control of Sumatra from 80,000 vanquished Japanese troops and to oversee the liberation of all prisoner-of-war camps: G. F. Jacobs, a twenty--three-year-old major in the Royal Marines.Through the eyes of young Major Jacobs, a full view emerges of the "boiling cauldron" that was Sumatra in 1945. In spite of the official Allied victory, Jacobs had to attempt to rule Sumatra using the existing Japanese military structure until British relief arrived. He describes his dealings with the Japanese, who were reluctant to admit defeat, and his relations with other elements of the ravaged Sumatran population, which included Europeans such as the Dutch, British, and Swiss. Indonesian insurgents lurk on the horizon as the internal movement for independence begins. Jacobs's cast of characters reflects the tensions and interests of their own nations, and he must grapple with their values and attitudes along with his own.Jacobs's personal eyewitness account of the developments in Sumatra immediately after the Japanese surrender in August of 1945 combines the excitement and adventure of a fast-paced novel with a valuable record of a lost portion of history. Eclipsed by events in other parts of the world, the drives for power that surged through Indonesia after the war have never been recounted fully.This book is a historical document of a period that has left an indelible imprint upon the history of modern Asia. An introduction by the noted American military historian D. Clayton James provides a historical and political context for Jacobs's exciting story.

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."

In a new preface to this special edition of his critically acclaimed memoir, Francois Jacob recalls the events that brought him to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the early 1960's and taught him much about phage biology and the informal ways of American science. Throughout his book, Jacob demonstrates a scientist's eye for detail and a poet's instinct for the inner life, as he tells of a privileged Parisian boyhood, young love, heroism in war, and the fascination of life at the edge of scientific discovery.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ Manuel Pratique Des Jardins D'enfants De Frederic Froebel, a L'usage Des Institutrices Et Des Meres De Famille Jean Francois Jacobs Education; Preschool & Kindergarten; Education / Preschool & Kindergarten