Reinventing Life: A Guide to Our Evolutionary Future - Softcover

Coker, Jeffrey Scott

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1937109003 ISBN 13: 9781937109004

Publisher: Blue Helix, The, 2012

Synopsis

During the 21st century, humans will make choices that will profoundly impact the future of life. Will we restore ecosystems or continue to degrade them? Could regenerative medicine allow us to live for hundreds of years? How might we enhance ourselves through genetics or robotics? Should we resurrect extinct species? Will we spread life to other worlds? What should be our role in nature? Reinventing Life – A Guide to Our Evolutionary Future is a captivating tour of how humans are rapidly and radically changing the biology of life, our options for the future, and our responsibilities as stewards of evolution. “Jeffrey Coker has been able to finally accomplish what so many others have tried to describe—he shows us how our lives, biology and the environment are all interconnected, and how we can influence our future in so many ways. Reinventing Life is a must read, from students to CEOs—basically, everyone who is interested in how they can impact and benefit from our world’s inevitable changes.” — Anthony Atala, director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine “Coker analyzes the intersection between evolution, biotechnology, and ecosystems to see how people live in harmony—or disharmony—with the planet. From a child's stuffed teddybear to resurrection of extinct woolly mammoths, Coker brings home the theme of personal responsibility of humans past, present, and future, for the lives we construct.” — Pamela Hines, senior editor of Science Magazine “Reinventing Life is absolutely essential reading for anyone aspiring to informed and effective twenty-first century citizenship. For it convincingly shows that the continuing revolution in the life sciences has given humans the opportunity to be masters of their own destiny as well as those of all other species, and it succinctly outlines in nontechnical language the wide range of choices they face in exercising that role.” — Kenneth Harris, secretary of the World Future Society “By putting our lives into an evolutionary context, this book is an essential reminder that our daily actions and inactions have profound, far-reaching effects. Within us we determine the fate of those who lie before us; read this book for them.” — Mary Williams, senior research fellow at the University of Glasgow and features editor of The Plant Cell

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Jeffrey Scott Coker is Associate Professor of Biology and the Director of General Studies at Elon University in North Carolina. He has published widely on biology and education, appearing in The Futurist, American Biology Teacher, Biotechniques, Charlotte Observer, News and Observer, Writer’s Journal, Physiologia Plantarum, and many other newspapers and academic journals. He has also led educational efforts for several state and national scientific societies. Reinventing Life originated as his popular science course at Elon University.

Review

"So you think reading a scientific book might be boring?  Think again.  Jeffrey Coker has written one that keeps your attention and interest as well as any good mystery story.  Once you start, you won't want to stop... Bookreview.com rates "Reinventing Life" excellent and considers it a Must Read."
        - Bookreview.com

"Reinventing Life would be the textbook for an introductory course on humanity's near future."
        - San Francisco Book Review

"Thought-provoking book describing the role we are playing in the evolutionary future of ecosystems on the planet... recaptures the wonder and splendor of nature while explaining that all of nature--animate and inanimate--is interconnected."
        - NSTA Recommends (National Science Teacher's Association)

"Great popular science book."
        - Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education)

Recommended on "A Futurist's Summer Reading List" (World Future Society)

Edition details

• Publisher: Blue Helix, The
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1937109003
• ISBN 13: 9781937109004
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 224