Commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of Erwin Schrödinger's celebrated work What is Life?, in which today's eminent scientists outline their viewpoints on the central problems currently facing biology. The list of contributors includes Stephen Jay Gould, Roger Penrose, Jared Diamond, John Maynard Smith and Lewis Wolpert.
1. What is life? The next fifty years: an introduction Michael P. Murphy and Luke A. J. O'Neill; 2. What will endure of twentieth-century biology? Manfred Eigen; 3. What is Life? as a problem in history Stephen Jay Gould; 4. The evolution of human inventiveness Jared Diamond; 5. Development: is the egg computable or could we generate an angel? Lewis Wolpert; 6. Language and life John Maynard Smith and Eors Szthmary; 7. RNA without protein or protein without RNA? Christian de Duve; 8. What is life?: Was Schrodinger right? Stuart A. Kauffman; 9. Why do we need a new physics of the mind? Roger Penrose; 10. Do the laws of nature evolve? Walter Thirring; 11. New laws to be expected in the organism: synergetics of brain and behaviour,J. A. Scott Kelso and Herman Haken; 12. Order from disorder: the thermodynamics of complexity in biology Eric D. Schneider and James J. Kay; 13. Reminiscences Ruth Braunizer.
'... a thought provoking book...'. Science and Christian Belief 'Given the galaxy of contributors it could hardly fail. It hasn't... a stimulating book.' A. G. Cairns-Smith, Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere 'The authors are among the most illustrious and distinguished scientists of today ... an enjoyable ... journey through the outer reaches of biology.' Robert Foley, Annals of Human Genetics '... if you want one slim book that contains as many stimulating ideas as a small library, this is it.' Alan Anderson, New Scientist