Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The advances in both molecular biology and the physics of irreversible processes have offered hope for understanding living systems in terms of the known physical laws, and thus we shall be able to see life as one of the many phenomena displayed by the universe in its evolution. This book is an attempt to introduce physicists and physically-oriented students of the biological sciences to this view. An introductory discussion of the definition of "living" is followed by an overview of the properties of living systems as we know them. Then selected topics, chosen because of their fundamental importance to our understanding of living systems, are presented in greater detail. This book is therefore not a complete text of biophysical or biochemical topics. The subjects chosen for discussion are related to the origin of life, the physical requirements for ordered living systems, and the physical and chemical bases for the most fundamental phenomena displayed by living systems such as photosynthesis, energy transfer and storage, and reproduction. It is hoped that this will stimulate the interest and furnish the knowledge necessary to further explore these topics in the current literature.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

In this work, Cerdonio and Noble attempt to present a dynamic view for the physical basis of life processes, including the formation of the cell membrane, the production and utilization of energy, and basic metabolism. They conclude with a simplified physical approach to production of molecules intrinsic to the origin of life. Therein lies the problem. As indicated by the authors in the preface, the biological descriptions are presented in an introductory manner. The book may appeal to a very select audience. The biochemistry is mostly rudimentary and at the level of an advanced freshman, but an understanding of the physics requires an extensive background in math. This book would most likely appeal to an upper-division undergraduate physics student with an interest in biological systems.-R. Adler, University of Michigan-Dearborn