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Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher | 
 enlarge | Author: Lewis Thomas
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
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Rating:  44 reviews
Sales Rank: 52828
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 160
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5 x 0.5
ISBN: 0140047433
Dewey Decimal Number: 301.3101
EAN: 9780140047431
ASIN: 0140047433
Publication Date: February 23, 1978
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| Customer Reviews: Read 39 more reviews...
 Forever Young April 9, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Lewis Thomas is that odd trifecta: a learned scientist; a speculative philosopher; and a master of prose both gracious and graceful.
The Lives of a Cell is a book of 29 essays originally written for the New England Journal of Medicine. They are short; they are light and airy; they are pretty; they are fun. Teenagers could enjoy them. But these essays are fundamentally serious and scientific. Lewis is always on the hunt for the cosmic insight or deeper truth.
His mind works metaphorically. He seeks interconnections. A recurring motif is to wonder whether social animals such as ants are like cells or more like human societies or perchance like the planet earth. Here is a celebrated quote:
"I have been trying to think of the earth as a kind of organism, but it is no go. I cannot think of it this way. It is too big, too complex, with too many working parts lacking visible connections. The other night, driving through a hilly, wooded part of southern New England, I wondered about this. If not like an organism, what is it like, what is it most like? Then, satisfactorily for that moment, it came to me: it is most like a single cell."
This book was a bestseller around 1975 and won the National Book Award. Everyone seemed to be reading it. I read it. I recently ordered it again because I thought it might contain a tidbit for a video I was making called How To Teach Science. No such luck, but this is a book anyone could enjoy reading twice. Most of it remains in the present. It is finally the most readable of science books. Here are two more samples:
"My cells are no longer the pure line entities I was raised with; they are ecosystems more complex than Jamaica Bay. I like to think that they work in my interest, that each breath they draw for me, but perhaps it is they who walk through the local park in the early morning, sensing my senses, listening to my music, thinking my thoughts."
"Viewed from a suitable height, the aggregating clusters of medical scientists in the bright sunlight of the boardwalk at Atlantic city, swarmed there from everywhere for the annual meetings, have the look of assemblages of social insects. There is the same vibrating, ionic movement, interrupted by the darting back and forth of jerky individuals to touch antennae and exchange small bits of information..."
For anyone thinking of writing non-fiction, this is an ultimate text book. Apparently Thomas learned his style from Montaigne. Good luck on that.
For anyone thinking of a career in science, Thomas shows the advantages of being partly a generalist, of being in your field and outside your field--the better to see some strange shadow or artifact that nobody else has noticed.
Epilogue: I ordered a used copy from an Amazon dealer in the northwest USA. Stuck in the book was an old ticket to a music concert (George Winston, solo piano; Wikipedia says he has been called The Father of New Age Music). Date of ticket: 1985. City: Norfolk, Va., where I am now. That's the sort of goofy loop that Thomas could build an essay on. What's more New Age than Amazon?
Whimsical and entertaining August 12, 2007
Lewis Thomas' essays offer the creative and whimsical perspectives of a scientist. I doubt the non-biologist would appreciate these 'notes of a biology watcher' much, but as a biologist myself, I have to say that this is one of my favorite books for light reading.
No, I don't get a great deal of new knowledge from reading Lives of a Cell, but he clearly looked at science and the world in ways that I wouldn't have thought of. I've caught myself chuckling at his wit with each and every essay - and there are quite a few in there - and I re-read them when the occasion arises (usually while passing the time during traveling).
And so, in a phrase, I'd describe this book as 'light reading and wit for biologists.' If that's what you're looking for, it's a very good book indeed.
The John D. Connection April 24, 2007
Chapter 9 of "The Lonely Silver Rain" by John D. MacDonald, Fawcett 1985, opens with McGee "...reading Lewis Thomas and for the first time he depressed me, even when he said that the glue that seems to hold mankind in some kind of lasting stasis is everyone's desire to be useful."
Did MacDonald and Thomas meet at Harvard? He was in the MBA program in 1938-39. Was Thomas in the medical school at that time? MacDonald died in 1986 while undergoing heart surgery. I guess if Thomas depressed him, he had it pretty bad.
Awe Inspiring March 10, 2007
In recommending this book to an acquaintance, I remembered how much I loved it. I read it a long time ago, perhaps 20 years ago, and still feel that it was one of the best reads of my lifetime. Contrary to reinforcing a rift between religion and science, this book seems to marry miracle to biology; it also marries macrocosm to microcosm. My reaction when I finished it, was to want to dance and sing! The content of this book is simply amazing! If you want to have your awe and curiosity piqued, I recommend it--with enthusiasm and joy!
Amazing January 9, 2007
This is truly an amazing work. Thomas's writing is beautiful and the stories fantastic with just enough humor. I have learned so much and enjoyed it all at the same time. I highly recommend this book. If you are not sure of something, look it up! Just think how smart you will become.
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