Gerald H. Pollack

I admire this book and really enjoyed reading it.

The thesis is that while cells are presented in most biology texts as basically bags of water, in fact the dense network of proteins pervading them gives structure to the water, the same structure that is present in gels, and that many of the characteristicbehaviors of cells are not some magic but trivial consequences of the physical chemistry of cells.

The book does a good job of introducing the essential physical chemistry and biology, and my only complaint is that the explanations were not quantitative but, to be fair, the author is trying for as general and popular a book as possible.
The book also does a good job of not being too obsessed with how the whole world is against the author's theories, simply carefully saying what it has to say.

On the other hand, that doesn't mean it's correct. It certainly sounded convincing to me, but I'm not a specialist, and know nothing of the opposing arguments. I'd love to see a book as well-written arguing the opposing viewpoint.… (mais)