Mutants On Genetic Variety & the Human Body

The philosophical classics of Aristotle loom large over the history of Western thought, but the subject he most loved was biology. He wrote vast volumes about animals. He described them, classified them, told us where and how they live and how they develop in the womb or in the egg. He founded a science. It can even be said

that he founded science itself.

In The Lagoon, acclaimed biologist Armand Marie Leroi recovers Aristotleand#8217;s science. He revisits Aristotleand#8217;s writings and the places where he worked. He goes to the eastern Aegean island of Lesbos to see the creatures that Aristotle saw, where he saw them. He explores Aristotleand#8217;s observations,

his deep ideas, his inspired guessesand#151;and the things he got wildly wrong. He shows how Aristotleand#8217;s science is deeply intertwined with his philosophical system and reveals that he was not only the first biologist, but also one of the greatest.

The Lagoon is both a travelogue and a study of the origins of science. And it shows how a philosopher who lived almost two millennia ago still has so much to teach us today.

and#160;

"A marvelous accomplishment. A good look a the amazing prospect before us as we decode the human genome..."andnbsp;andmdash;The Seattle Times

"A marvelous accomplishment. A good look a the amazing prospect before us as we decode the human genome..."andnbsp;andmdash;The Seattle Times

and#160;

and#8220;Armand Marie Leroi opens Aristotleand#8217;s classical cabinet of curiosities to discover the genesis of science inside. In elegant, stylish and often witty prose, he probes the near-legendary, almost primeval lagoon, which inspired the ancient Greekand#8217;s Historia Animalium and animates it anew with his own incisive observations. From snoring dolphins to divine bees, Leroi shows us how Aristotle invented taxonomy two and a half millennia before Linneaus. That, in fact, out of poetry and metaphysics, blending the mythic with the mundane, Aristotle foresaw our contemporary dilemmas of definition and description. The Lagoonand#160;is a heroic, beautiful work in its own right, an inquiring odyssey into unknown nature and the known world, which science has created out of it.and#8221;and#160; and#8212;Philip Hoare, author ofand#160;Leviathan, or The Whaleand#160; and#160;

and#8220;Armand Marie Leroiand#8217;s reappraisal of [Aristotle], The Lagoon, is one of the most inspired and inspiring I have read . . . Leroiand#8217;s ambitious aim is to return Aristotle to the pantheon of biologyand#8217;s greats, alongside Charles Darwin and Carl Linnaeus. He has achieved it.and#8221;and#160; and#8212;Natureand#160; and#160; and#8220;A remarkable recovery of an ancient thinkerand#8217;s daringly original enterprisesand#8212;and mind-set.and#8221;and#160; and#8212;Booklist (Starred Review)and#160; and#160; and#8220;Leroi calls on his expertise and his experience as a BBC science presenter to explain why Aristotleand#8217;s writings on science are still relevant today . . . A wide-ranging, delightful tour de forceand#8221;and#160; and#8212;Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)and#160; and#160; and#8220;Leroi lovingly rescues the reputation of Aristotleand#8217;s alternately meticulous and bizarre studies of animal behavior from the ruins left in the wake of derision during the Scientific Revolution. Leroi brings modern sensibility to, yet evokes an air of timelessness with, his gorgeous descriptions . . . and#8221;and#160; and#8212;Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)and#160;

Visit Armand Marie Leroi on the web: http://armandleroi.com/index.html

Stepping effortlessly from myth to cutting-edge science, Mutants gives a brilliant narrative account of our genetic code and the captivating people whose bodies have revealed itandmdash;a French convent girl who found herself changing sex at puberty; children who, echoing Homerandrsquo;s Cyclops, are born with a single eye in the middle of their foreheads; a village of long-lived Croatian dwarves; one family, whose bodies were entirely covered with hair, was kept at the Burmese royal court for four generations and gave Darwin one of his keenest insights into heredity. This elegant, humane, and engaging book andldquo;captures what we know of the development of what makes us humanandrdquo; (Nature).

Visit Armand Marie Leroi on the web: http://armandleroi.com/index.html

Armand Marie Leroi has lived in South Africa, Canada, and the United States. Since 1996, he has been a lecturer in evolutionary genetics at Imperial College, London. He has published widely in technical journals on evolutionary and developmental genetics and writes occasionally for the London Review of Books.

Prologue

I. Mutants (An introduction) 3

II. A Perfect Join (On embryos) 23

III. The Last Judgement (On first parts) 65

IV. Cleppies (On arms and legs) 105

V. Flesh of my Flesh, Bone of my Bone (On skeletons) 137

VI. The War with the Cranes (On growth) 169

VII. The Desire and Pursuit of the Whole (On gender) 217

VIII. A Fragile Bubble (On skin) 247

IX. The Sober Life (On ageing) 297

X. Anthropometamorphosis (An epilogue) 335

Acknowledgements 357

Notes 359

Bibliography 389

Index 421