So Simple a Beginning

By Raghuveer Parthasarathy,

Book cover of So Simple a Beginning: How Four Physical Principles Shape Our Living World

Book description

A biophysicist reveals the hidden unity behind nature's breathtaking complexity

The form and function of a sprinting cheetah are quite unlike those of a rooted tree. A human being is very different from a bacterium or a zebra. The living world is a realm of dazzling variety, yet a shared…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

2 authors picked So Simple a Beginning as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Elegant, deep—I learned many things here. 

This book will help you develop your own good ideas because the author respects you too much to give a jumble of just-so stories wrapped in glib human interest. Instead, he explains, often with brilliant metaphors from everyday experience. I especially liked the chapters on embryos, organs, the microbiome, and scaling, which are particularly fresh, insightful, and beautifully clear.

Also, unlike so many popularizations, this one is full of graceful but precise illustrations that pull you in and actually clarify key points—not just eye candy. This book will help you have your own ideas…

From Philip's list on have your own science or math ideas.

So Simple A Beginning (the title is from the last sentence of Darwin’s The Origin of Species) is beautifully and elegantly written and is accessible to a wide audience.

This book has no math but instead focuses on explaining four physics principles that shape the living world: self-assembly, regulatory circuits, predictable randomness, and scaling. I’m jealous of Raghu Parthasarathy because he is a wonderful artist as well as an author; his book is full of his charming illustrations.

This book highlights the “simplicity amid complexity” that is the main reason you need physics to understand biology. 

From Brad's list on physics in medicine and biology.

If you love So Simple a Beginning...

Ad

Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up…

Want books like So Simple a Beginning?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like So Simple a Beginning.

Browse books like So Simple a Beginning

Book cover of QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter
Book cover of The Joy of X: A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity
Book cover of Life in Moving Fluids: The Physical Biology of Flow

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,954

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like So Simple a Beginning, you might also like...

Book cover of Genomics: A Revolution in Health and Disease Discovery

Genomics by Whitney Stewart,

Over the past 50 years, scientists have made incredible progress in the application of genetic research to human health care and disease treatment. Innovative tools and techniques, including gene therapy and CRISPR-Cas9 editing, can treat inherited disorders that were previously untreatable, or prevent them from happening in the first place.…

Book cover of Activating Our 12-Stranded DNA: Secrets of Dodecahedral DNA for Completing Our Human Evolution

Activating Our 12-Stranded DNA by Ruslana Remennikova,

In this vibrant guidebook, sound healer and former corporate scientist Ruslana Remennikova reveals how, through vibration and intention, you can shapeshift DNA from the standard double helix to its 12-stranded, dodecahedral form—unlocking your spiritual potential and opening the way for deep healing of the past, the present, and the future…

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in physics, biology, and genes?

Physics 154 books
Biology 226 books
Genes 27 books