Description
Book SynopsisOffers a fresh perspective on the role of size in biology. This title explores the universal impact of being the right size. By examining stories ranging from "Alice in Wonderland" to "Gulliver's Travels", it shows that humans have always been fascinated by things big and small.
Trade ReviewOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2007 "Bonner argues that size is a driving force for all of biology... [H]e demonstrates convincingly, size dictates everything from an animal's shape and appearance to its locomotion, speed, voice and social organization."--Wray Herbert, Washington Post Book World "From giant dinosaurs to cellular clockworks, people are astonished by the large and fascinated by the small. But as this diminutive book describes with elegant simplicity, size is far more important than mere curiosity- it 'drives the form and function of everything that lives.' ... Drawing parallels from physics, engineering, and human (and animal societies), Bonner vividly illustrates how something apparently so simple as size is actually so fundamentally important."--Choice "Bonner's main argument in Why Size Matters is that changes in size are not the result of changes in shape... Bonner has written a book in a friendly voice that enlarges the picture of how everyone, big and small, thinks of size and why it matters very much."--Biology Digest "A masterful and engaging work, elegant in its simplicity despite its subject's complexity."--Susan Lumpkin, Zoogoer "[Bonner] examines the largest and smallest creatures on Earth. Size, asserts Bonner, determines five important biological features: strength, surface area, complexity, rate of metabolism, and organism abundance. In this diminutive book, he explains each feature and how it relates to the others. He concludes, size matters."--Science News "The important point made by Bonner ... is that differences in magnitude affect biological and physical properties directly, exposing the organisms to the action of different selection pressures... Why Size Matters will be of major interest for readers from different disciplines, just as the topic and the principles discussed by Bonner apply to diverse scientific areas."--Andre J. Riveros TRENDS in Ecology and Evolution
Table of ContentsPreface ix Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: The Human View of Size 7 Chapter 3: The Physics of Size 28 Chapter 4: The Evolution of Size 62 Chapter 5: Size and the Division of Labor 79 Chapter 6: Size and Time 116 Chapter 7: Envoi 147 Notes 153 Index 157
