Understanding Living Systems (Understanding Life)

This was a very fascinating and well informed book. For me is gave insight that "free will" is not reserved to the conscious element of "life", but at the cellular level.

Important for understanding life, including human life. In particular this book provides a persuasive account of the limitations of the reductionistic gene-centred approach to biology. I would recommend reading this book in order to free oneself from the psychologically damaging reductionist approach of orthodoxy biology.

I was thinking in this way for some time too. And tried to start fresh and look at evolution sims to watch. And it makes sense that the genes are tools for the cell and collective organism to maintain homeostasis in an increasingly complex fast changing environment. There is a lot of feed back that occurs.It would be nicer if it was a larger book though, hard to see the words. So have that in mind

amazing points

A really important book for educators of ALL disciplines!!!

Creativity, purpose, and free will are reclaimed, liberated from the restrictive and increasingly obsolete materialistic framework that dominated biology for over a century. Thinkers such as Michael Polanyi, Karl Popper, and a few others in the 20th century made efforts to reintroduce the concepts of function and purpose. However, it was the monumental contributions of pioneering minds like Ray and Denis Noble that delivered a critique of materialism so compelling that it cannot be reasonably dismissed. Certain phenomena defy complete explanation through reductionist approaches, instead requiring a systems perspective—one that recognizes the organism’s capacity to exert control over its components and on and across various levels of emergent structures. The book is eloquently written, filled with fascinating examples that will captivate and enrich the reader. The authors have a talent for presenting information with such clarity and insight that you feel like a fellow explorer journeying alongside them in the field.

The book has too small prints and it's too tiresome to read esp. for old people like me. I just put it aside after reading 2 pages. These kind of books are useles to me.