The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher
| The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher | |
|---|---|
 Front cover of unknown edition |
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| Author(s) | Lewis Thomas |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject(s) | Biology |
| Publisher | The Viking Press |
| Publication date | 1974 |
| Media type | |
The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher is a 1974 collection of 29 essays written by Lewis Thomas for the New England Journal of Medicine during the preceding three years. The pieces are loosely based around the premise that the Earth is perhaps best understood as a cell. The final paragraph of the titular essay reads as follows:
| “ | Item. I have been trying to think of the earth as a kind of organism, but it is a no go. I cannot think of it this way. It is too big, too complex, with too many working parts lacking visible connections. The other night, driving through a hilly, wooded part of southern New England, I wondered about this. If not like an organism, what is it like, what is it most like? Then, satisfactorily for that moment, it came to me: it is most like a single cell.[1] | ” |
From this, Thomas touches on subjects as various as biology, anthropology, medicine, music (showing a particular affinity for Bach), etymology, mass communication, and computers. Within lively and lucid prose, he reveals a certain prescience. In the essay titled "Your Very Good Health," Thomas says:
| “ | Just recently, to correct some of the various flaws, inequities, logistic defects, and near-bankruptcies in today's health-care delivery system, the government has officially invented new institutions called Health Maintenance Organizations, already known familiarly as HMOs, spreading out across the country like post offices, ready to distribute in neat packages, as though from a huge, newly stocked inventory, health.[1] | ” |
[edit] Awards
The Lives of a Cell won the U.S. National Book Awards for "Arts and Letters" and "The Sciences" in 1975 (both awards were split).[2] It is also ranked 11th on the Modern Library's "100 Best Nonfiction" books of the 20th century list [1].
[edit] References
- ^ a b Thomas, Lewis (1974). The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher. The Viking Press, Inc, New York, pp 5, 82.
- ^ "National Book Awards – 1975". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-05.
(With acceptance speech by Thomas.)
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