Life's Devices: The Physical World of Animals and Plants

By Steven Vogel

Book Overview

An entertaining and informative book that explores how living things contend with nonbiological reality

Life on Earth is subject to the pull of gravity, the properties of air and water, and the behavior of diffusing molecules, yet such physical factors are constraints that drive evolution and offer untold opportunities to creatures of all sizes. In this lively introduction to the science of biomechanics, Steven Vogel invites you to wonder about the design of the plants and animals around us. You will learn why a fish swims more rapidly than a duck can paddle, why healthy trees more commonly uproot than break, how sharks manage with such flimsy skeletons, and why a mouse can easily survive a fall onto any surface from any height. With an illuminating foreword by Rob Dunn, this Princeton Science Library edition of Life's Devices includes examples from every major group of animals and plants along with illustrative problems and suggestions for experiments that require only common household materials.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691270589
• ISBN13: 9780691270586
• Release Date: May 2025
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 384 Pages

Customer Reviews

Explains "Animal Design" in a Remarkably Readable Style

One of the most readable biology books I've ever come across. While it can easily be used for an undergraduate course in animal physiology and evolution, Vogel's text is humorous, (obscure references, funny quotes, and puns abound, adding to the text rather than detracting from it), but also covers a wide range of topics with clear explainations. The chapters are well structured and the table of contents suggests some of the more interesting highlights: why an ant might bite but can't hit, reinflating squid, plumbing the common features of the pipes within organisms, etc. While there is a strong emphasis on fluids in biology, (the author's specialty), it's an amazingly readable, well-written, and informative book on the entire subject of the physical constraints on animals for the interested laymen or undergrad. Table of contents: Constraints & Oppertunities, A Variety of Variables, Size & Shape, Dimensions Gradiaents & Summations, Gases & Liquids, Viscosity & Flow, Pressure & Flow, Diffussion vs Convection, A Matter of Materials, Arranging Structures, Insinuations About Curves, Systems of Support, Mechanics of Mobility, Staying Put & Getting Away, Energy & Afterthoughts. Also has an extensive and well-prepared bibliography, a great jumping off point for further adventures in the field.

An interesting journey to where Biology and Physics meet!

This is an excellent book for those that are interested in learning more about how life developed on this planet. It engages the reader with a variety of examples, stimulating thought as how complexs life is and how it's bound to our physycal universe. I recommend it!