John Tyler Bonner

A series of concise essays explores the foundations of modern biology - the cell, genetics, development, and evolution - for coherent definitions of some of life's seemingly inscrutable processes. Using evolution as the central theme, it examines heredity, embryonic development, and ultimately, relations between organisms and their environment.

John Tyler Bonner makes a new attack on an old problem: the question of how progressive increase in the size and complexity of animals and plants has occurred. "How is it," he inquires, "that an egg turns into an elaborate adult? How is it that a bacterium, given many millions of years, could have evolved into an elephant?" The author argues that we can understand this progression in terms of natural selection, but that in order to do so we must consider...

"One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2007" John Tyler Bonner (1920–2019) was professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University. His many books include The Evolution of Culture in Animals and The Social Amoebae (both Princeton). Why size plays such a big role in the living world John Tyler Bonner, one of our most distinguished and creative biologists, here offers a completely new perspective on the role...