Controlling Life Jacques Loeb and the Engineering Ideal in Biology

"This highly topical and fascinating book deals essentially with the historical roots of biotechnology. Pauly weaves a rich fabric by integrating Loeb's career and his ideas into the social and political world of science and medicine in late 19th century Germany and early 20th century America [...] Recommended for college and university history of science collections."
– Choice

"A model of scholarly integrity and intuition, and will inspire historians and biologists alike."
– The Scientist

"Few scientists of the past century have excited more passion and popular interest than Jacques Loeb [...] It is remarkable that Loeb has received little attention from biographers; it is more remarkable that this, the first book-length biography of Loeb, succeeds so richly in capturing not only the details of his life but also the meaning and implications of his work [...] Pauly's ambitious and rewarding effort to understand the origins of biotechnology deserves applause and a wide readership."
– Science

"Loeb [...] expressed his mind in repeated gambles on the crucial experiment that would at one stroke reduce terribly complex problems to simple solutions [...] Fascinating biography."
– New York Review of Books

"This is a fascinating and scholarly book, that blends with sensitive contextual analysis of laboratories and university systems in the United States and Germany [...] Deserves a wide readership."
– The Times Higher Educational Supplement

"Excellent, scholarly biography."
– New Scientist