Why size plays such a big role in the living world
John Tyler Bonner, one of our most distinguished and creative
biologists, here offers a completely new perspective on the role of size
in biology. In his hallmark friendly style, he explores the universal
impact of being the right size. By examining stories ranging from Alice
in Wonderland to Gulliver's Travels, he shows that humans have always
been fascinated by things big and small. Why then does size always
reside on the fringes of science and never on the center stage? Why do
biologists and others ponder size only when studying something
else--running speed, life span, or metabolism?
Why Size Matters, a pioneering book of big ideas in a compact size,
gives size its due by presenting a profound yet lucid overview of what
we know about its role in the living world. Bonner argues that size
really does matter--that it is the supreme and universal determinant of
what any organism can be and do. For example, because tiny creatures are
subject primarily to forces of cohesion and larger beasts to gravity, a
fly can easily walk up a wall, something we humans cannot even begin to
imagine doing.
Bonner introduces us to size through the giants and dwarfs of human,
animal, and plant history and then explores questions including the
physics of size as it affects biology, the evolution of size over
geological time, and the role of size in the function and longevity of
living things.
As this elegantly written book shows, size affects life in its every
aspect. It is a universal frame from which nothing escapes.
