Biology: The Unity and Diversity of Life / Edition 12

by Cecie Starr, Ralph Taggart, Christine Evers, Lisa Starr

Overview

Respected and loved by students and professors alike, BIOLOGY: THE UNITY AND DIVERSITY OF LIFE, Ninth Edition presents the key concepts and applications of biology in an engaging, logical, and clear manner. Known for its superior writing and visually effective art program, this best-selling book provides students with one of the most readable and engaging introductions to biology in print. Respected for the way it maintains scientific accuracy while it presents information at an appropriate level for today's undergraduate nonmajors, the book has been thoroughly updated to reflect the latest research in biology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780495557920
Publisher:	Cengage Learning
Publication date:	08/05/2008
Series:	Available Titles CengageNOW Series
Edition description:	Older Edition
Pages:	1040
Product dimensions:	9.40(w) x 10.80(h) x 1.50(d)
Lexile:	1110L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 Months

About the Author

For the past two decades, Cecie Starr has been known as one of the best-selling biology textbook authors. Her texts, appreciated for their clarity in both the written word and the visual representation of biological concepts, include multiple editions of BIOLOGY: THE UNITY AND DIVERSITY OF LIFE, BIOLOGY: CONCEPTS AND APPLICATIONS, and BIOLOGY TODAY AND TOMORROW. Her original dream was to become an architect. Instead of building houses, she now builds, with care and attention to detail, incredible texts based on this philosophy: "I invite students into a chapter through an intriguing story. Once inside, they get the great windows that biologists construct on the world of life. Biology is not just another house. It is a conceptual mansion. I hope to do it justice."

Ralph Taggart, Former Chair of Biological Sciences at Michigan State University, Ralph Taggert is now the chair of Geological Sciences. Professor Taggart, known for his outstanding research in Paleobotany, has taught the general biology course for over 20 years.

Christine Evers has been creating multimedia and Web-based materials to supplement Starr and other science texts for ten years. She earned her B.S. in Biology from SUNY Stony Brook. After working as a research assistant studying the developmental biology of slime mold, she was awarded an N.S.F. fellowship to attend Yale, where she studied evolutionary biology and honeybee behavior. She has a strong interest in science education and serves as a member of her local school board.

Table of Contents

This fourth collection of essays by Paul Ruffin highlights his idiosyncratic wit and practiced storytelling skills in memorable autobiographic pieces ranging from the comic to the confessional. The first section, "Things Literary, More or Less," includes the title essay, in which Ruffin takes the reader on a rollicking tour with iconic Southern writer George Garrett, which ends with the two men locating the ghostly remains of an obscure Texas hamlet called Ben Hur and talking with an eccentric representative of the town's handful of inhabitants. In other essays Ruffin workshops a cowboy poem with a couple of deputy sheriffs, reveals aspects of Edgar Allan Poe's life never before published, reviews some unusual books, and shares the story of a boy who speaks only in hymns. Ruffin concludes the section with the tale of an invigorating flight to San Juan in an old DC-6. In the next section, "On Likker and Guns," Ruffin summarizes his drinking career, transcribes the conversation between two rats that destroy his university office, and tells the tale of a bowhunter who asked him for his deer bladder. He also introduces the reader to a sharpshooter who, while trying to demonstrate his prowess with an old rifle, kills an old man's tractor. Finally Ruffin takes the reader on a trip to a Texas gun show to meet the menacing Boram, the clueless Billy Wayne, and a vigilant wife dedicated to preserving the family budget. The book ends with an excerpt from Ruffin's unpublished memoir, "Growing Up in Mississippi Poor and White but Not Quite Trash," in which the author recalls his agonizing boyhood quest to unlock the mysteries of sex: "Never under this sun was there a child more ignorant of the act, the organs involved, or its marvelous potential for pleasure and fulfillment. And never was there a child who tried harder to understand." Through Ruffin's sly vision of himself and his surroundings and his ability to focus attention on life's curious, defining moments, these essays reflect some of the best aspects of contemporary literary nonfiction. Every tale is vibrantly alive with the sincere voice, crisp details, bold images, and distinctive dialogue that readers have come to relish in Ruffin's myriad writings.