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The Stuff of Life: Profiles of the Molecules That Make Us Tick
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16 new or used available from CDN$ 6.06
Average customer review:
(3 )
Product Description
- Why are some fats worse than others?
- Is cholesterol actually good for anything?
- How does the stomach digest food?
- Why do we need to breathe and why can't we hold our breath for very long?
- How does a single carbon atom contribute to the difference between a man and a woman?
- Where does our energy come from?
The Stuff of Life answers these and many more common questions about how the body works in a concise, easy-to-read handbook complete with illustrations.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #1897347 in Books
- Published on: 2003-09-01
- Original language: English
- Binding: Paperback
- 160 pages
Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
Whether it betokens a higher power at work or a purely material impetus toward order, biochemistry is the name of the game of life, and surely few explain it as clearly and concisely as Boston University biologist Widmaier. He starts with the practical fundamentals: the structure of the atom and how that structure allows the creation of molecules, which are the machines, the fuels, and the building blocks of matter. The rest of his neat little primer explains various life-sustaining molecules in the body by function; that is, according to whether they lay down an organism's physical plan, generate energy, enable digestion, sustain proper levels of bodily fluids, use gases from outside of and within the body, build the body's structural tissues, permit reproduction and heritability, and make possible mental and physical states and exertion. If the index (unavailable for review) is as good as the text proper, this could be everybody's dandy brief reference to how humans work, at least until several of the still-mysterious purposes of body molecules are divined. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"Eric Widmaier leads the nonscientist through a compendium of molecules that influence our health, behavior, and thoughts. It is a superb introduction, with science that is up-to-date and writing that is extremely lucid." -Robert Sapolsky, author of Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers and A Primate's Memoir
Robert Sapolsky, author of A Primate's Memoir
"Widmaier leads the nonscientist through a compendium of molecules that influence our health, behavior, and thoughts . . ."
