Product Description
Hidden in a nondescript red-brick building in Rockville, Maryland, is the most unusual warehouse in the world, a bank of living cells called the American Type Culture Collection. Here, at 321 degrees below zero--a temperature at which life abandons its vital dance and enters limbo, but without dying--are some 30,000 vials holding 60 billion living forms in suspended animation, including mouse kidney cells, turkey blood cells, armadillo spleen cells, and some 40 billion human cells. These cultured cells are essential to modern biological research--in fact, cells today are the most intimately studied life forms in all of science, for both practical and philosophical reasons. For one, all disease--from cancer and the common cold, to arthritis and AIDS--stems from cells gone awry. And cell research not only promises a cure for a wide variety of disease--it also holds the key to the mystery of life itself.
In Life Itself, Boyce Rensberger, science writer for The Washington Post, takes readers to the frontlines of cell research with some of the brightest investigators in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology. Virtually all the hottest topics in biomedical research are covered here, such as how do cells and their minute components move? How do the body's cells heal wounds? What is cancer? Why do cells die? And what is the nature of life? Readers discover that--contrary to what we may have concluded from pictures in our high school textbooks--cells teem with activity and that, inside, they "are more crowded with components than the inside of a computer." We learn that scientists now know of at least ten molecular motors that move things about inside the cell--in most cells, this motion is short because the cell is tiny, but in the single-celled nerve fibers that run from the base of the spinal cord to the toes (measuring three or four feet in an adult human), molecular motors can take several days to make the trip. Rensberger describes the many fascinating kinds of cells found in the body, from "neural crest cells" (early in embryonic development, these cells crawl all over the embryo to the sites where they will pursue their fate--as nerve cells, or cartilage, or skin), to "dust cells" (nomadic cells in the lung that swallow and store indigestible particles, then migrate to the gullet where they themselves are swallowed and digested), to "natural killer cells" (millions of which roam the body looking for cancerous cells). We meet many of the scientists who have pioneered cell research, such as Rita Levi-Montalcini--an Italian who, shut out of her lab during World War II, continued to experiment in her bedroom at home, making the discovery ("nerve growth factor") for which she won the Nobel Prize--and American Leonard Hayflick, who proved that all human cells (except cancer cells) invariably die after about fifty divisions. Rensberger also provides an illuminating discussion of AIDS--revealing exactly why this virus is so difficult to defeat--and of cancer, explaining that before cancer can start, a whole series of rare events must occur, events so unlikely that it seems a wonder that anyone gets cancer at all.
The solutions to the most pressing challenges facing scientists today--from the efforts to conquer disease to the quest to understand life itself--will be found in the innermost workings of the cell. In Life Itself, Boyce Rensberger paints a colorful and fascinating portrait of modern research in this vital area, an account which will enthrall anyone interested in state-of-the-art science or the incredible workings of the human body.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 16 reviews)

Life Itself by Boyce Rensberger

Life Itself: Exploring the Realm of the Living CellThis book gives an interesting and easy to follow overview to the complex workings of the cell. The book has been written for people who are not conversant with biological terms and so it is very useful for those starting out on a biological course, for people who have contact with the health services or biological sciences and do not understand how cells work and for biology teachers. Teachers can see how biology can be taught to be really interesting.
March 24, 2008

The best of all biology books

I have been looking for this book my whole life! Rensberger connects the most basic chemical reactions to how we're alive as human beings. I just read the description of human conception and it gripped me like a thriller novel, even though I know how it turns out. This book is my new "foundation" recommendation for friends who know I'm a biology buff and want to know where to start.

The only hesitation I have is the date; the book is eight years old, and some of the information is notably dated. I am reading a library copy and holding out for an updated edition.
September 16, 2006

Very detailed, yet clear and absorbing.

This is a remarkable book on the biology of the human cell in that it goes into a level of detail you would expect only in a textbook - without boring or confusing the reader, and in a relatively short book. How does Rensberger pull this off? Certainly with logical organization and clear writing, but there is more to it. He eliminates all but a whiff of organic chemistry. He takes advantage of the fact that evolution so often utilizes existing molecules and pathways to do new things: if you ignore some of the minor chemical modifications, one description covers many different processes. Most human cells can function on their own in a cell culture; a recurrent theme of the book is that human cells retain most of the capabilities of their free living ancestors, yet are coordinated into a single effective organism. From previous reading, I do know that Rensberger omitted some very interesting material on the learning and sensory capabilities of individual cells; e.g. many all over the body are sensitive to light. This topic would have benefited from his talent, and if necessary there is other material which could have been omitted. Development of the embryo is certainly interesting, but I don't quite see how it fits in with the rest of the book (as contrasted to cell reproduction); also, perhaps there was a little too much on molecular motors. The field of cellular biology is very dynamic, and Rennsberger gives the reader a good historical perspective, historical being like 20 years, to better appreciate what we now know. While theoretically this book requires no background, I would suggest it only for readers who already have some superficial knowledge of DNA and genetics - and who are truly interested in the subject area.
May 18, 2005

A GREAT SUPPLEMENTAL TEXT!

A great text to supplement boring textbook descriptions of the cell organelles. Honors/AP Bio students have truly enjoyed reading about the inner workings of the cells, the molecular motors that drive movement, and the genetic basis of life. A great book that brings contemporary biology to life. Highly recommended!
October 27, 2003

More of a review of Trueskeptic

I must compliment the oxymoronically titled "trueskeptic" (I think "trueseptic" would be more appropriate) for a wonderful review. I doubt I will enjoy the book half as much as the entertaining, but a little amateurish, exercise in rhetoric. One can practically imagine trueskeptic rubbing his/her hands together in glee, thinking, "I will use their jargon against them!" It is interesting hearing masturbatory statements like "But the further one reads, the more the skeptical mind is inclined to question, "How," "When," and "Why"." This statement is meant to show that our hard-line skeptic/scientific mind in question (cough, cough) objects to being presented the theory of evolution without hardcore support for all positions. This leads one to wonder why our favorite fiery sword of reason is reading what is essentially a popularization of science, instead of a hardcore graduate level exposition of the "how", "when", and "why" evidence for evolution. My humble guess, based on the reviewers previous reading (Darwin's Black Box), is that the reviewer is not quite up to par with that level of scientific reading, and instead bases their reasoning on appeals to authority (Darwin's Black Box, a book that is, to say the least, without a spotless scientific reputation) and sad attempts to pass himself/herself as some sort of skeptical authority.
November 17, 2002

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

The Way of the Cell: Molecules, Organisms, and the Order of Life
by Franklin M. Harold

Instant Biology: From Single Cells to Human Beings, and Beyond
by Boyce Rensberger

The Way Life Works: The Science Lover's Illustrated Guide to How Life Grows, Develops, Reproduces, and Gets Along
by Mahlon Hoagland, Bert Dodson

One Renegade Cell: The Quest For The Origin Of Cancer (Science Masters)
by Robert A. Weinberg

Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body
by Neil Shubin