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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher |
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THE MASTER BUILDER
How the New Science of the Cell is Rewriting the Story of Life
In Master Builder, Alfonso Martinez Arias, a leading developmental biologist, argues that it is the cells, not DNA, that holds the key to understanding history, present, and future of life.
He shows that the physical reality of the cell - beginning with the fertilized eggs from which we all developed - is at least as important to creating every life form on Earth as DNA.
What defines who we are? For decades, the answer has seemed obvious: our genes, the "blueprint of life." In The Master Builder, leading biologist Alfonso Martinez Arias breaks with decades of scientific and popular tradition to make a bold argument: what defines us is our cells. Drawing on new research from his lab and others, Martinez Arias reveals that we are composed of a thrillingly intricate, constantly moving symphony of cells. While DNA is important, Richard Dawkins's vision of the selfish gene that controls everything is not a good description of how biology actually works. As Martinez Arias shows, nothing in your genes explains why the heart is on the left side of the body, how many fingers we have, or even how our cells manage to reproduce. At the heart of it all is a powerful new conception of the essence of life. Our identities are shaped not simply by our genes, but by the interconnections between all our cells, working as a sort of symphony - cooperative, and creating something greater than its parts could on their own - and the unbroken lineage of cells that connects us to the first fertilized egg from which we developed - and in turn, back through the billions of years of our planet's history, to the very first cell in the history of all life on Earth.
A sweeping revision of both the present and history of life, The Master Builder puts forward a new paradigm for understanding biology, one rooted in cellular cooperation, not selfish genes. Engaging and ambitious, it will transform our understanding of where we come from, what shapes us, and where we are going, as individuals, as a species, and the community of life itself.
Alfonso Martinez Arias is ICREA Research Professor in the department of systems bioengineering of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. The recipient of numerous awards, he is coauthor of the biology textbook Principles of Development, which was awarded the Royal Society of Biology book prize. He lives in Barcelona, Spain.
What defines who we are? For decades, the answer has seemed obvious: our genes, the "blueprint of life." In The Master Builder, leading biologist Alfonso Martinez Arias breaks with decades of scientific and popular tradition to make a bold argument: what defines us is our cells. Drawing on new research from his lab and others, Martinez Arias reveals that we are composed of a thrillingly intricate, constantly moving symphony of cells. While DNA is important, Richard Dawkins's vision of the selfish gene that controls everything is not a good description of how biology actually works. As Martinez Arias shows, nothing in your genes explains why the heart is on the left side of the body, how many fingers we have, or even how our cells manage to reproduce. At the heart of it all is a powerful new conception of the essence of life. Our identities are shaped not simply by our genes, but by the interconnections between all our cells, working as a sort of symphony - cooperative, and creating something greater than its parts could on their own - and the unbroken lineage of cells that connects us to the first fertilized egg from which we developed - and in turn, back through the billions of years of our planet's history, to the very first cell in the history of all life on Earth.
A sweeping revision of both the present and history of life, The Master Builder puts forward a new paradigm for understanding biology, one rooted in cellular cooperation, not selfish genes. Engaging and ambitious, it will transform our understanding of where we come from, what shapes us, and where we are going, as individuals, as a species, and the community of life itself.
Alfonso Martinez Arias is ICREA Research Professor in the department of systems bioengineering of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. The recipient of numerous awards, he is coauthor of the biology textbook Principles of Development, which was awarded the Royal Society of Biology book prize. He lives in Barcelona, Spain.
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Book
Published 2023-08-01 by Basic Books |
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Book
Published 2023-08-01 by Basic Books |