How the Leopard Changed Its Spots:
The Evolution of Complexity
Brian Goodwin

With a new preface by the author

Paper | 2001 | $25.95 / £14.95
275 pp. | 6 x 9

Shopping Cart | Reviews | Table of Contents

Do genes explain life? Can advances in evolutionary and molecular biology account for what we look like, how we behave, and why we die? In this powerful intervention into current biological thinking, Brian Goodwin argues that such genetic reductionism has important limits.

Drawing on the sciences of complexity, the author shows how an understanding of the self-organizing patterns of networks is necessary for making sense of nature. Genes are important, but only as part of a process constrained by environment, physical laws, and the universal tendencies of complex adaptive systems. In a new preface for this edition, Goodwin reflects on the advances in both genetics and the sciences of complexity since the book's original publication.

Review:

"[Goodwin's] book genuinely illuminates the mysteries of biological development."--David Papineau, New York Times

Endorsement:

"This is a brilliant book, wonderfully written. . . . Goodwin is a real scholar, of great breadth and insight. He writes beautifully, conveying difficult themes in an exciting manner."--Simon Levin, Princeton University

Table of Contents:

Preface to the Princeton Science Library Edition vii
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xix
Chapter 1 Whatever Happened to Organisms? 1
Chapter 2 How the Leopard Got Its Spots 18
Chapter 3 Life, the Excitable Medium 42
Chapter 4 Living Form in the Making 77
Chapter 5 The Evolution of Generic Forms 115
Chapter 6 New Directions, New metaphors 169
Chapter 7 A Science of Qualities 196
References 238
Further Reading 242
Index 245

Series:

• Princeton Science Library

Subject Areas:

• Biochemistry
• History of Science and Medicine, Philosophy of Science
• Cognitive Science

Hardcover published by Scribner in 1994

Paper: Not for sale in the European Union

Shopping Cart:

For customers in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Asia, and Australia
Paper: $25.95 ISBN13: 978-0-691-08809-9

For customers in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and India
Paper: £14.95 ISBN13: 978-0-691-08809-9

Prices subject to change without notice

File created: 7/1/2008

Questions and comments to: webmaster@press.princeton.edu
Princeton University Press