ISBN978-0805371468

Vitalism is a profoundly science-ejected concept, though many CAM or 'natural health' cabals falsely claim that vitalism survives scientific scrutiny.

I quote:

"[historically] the new discipline of organic chemistry was first built on a foundation of vitalism, the belief in a life force outside the jurisdiction of physical and chemical laws. Chemists began to chip away at the foundation of vitalism when they learned to synthesize organic compounds in their laboratories [...e.g.] Wohler [...] made urea [...] Kolbe [...made] acetic acid [...] the foundation of vitalism finally crumbled after several more decades [...when] Miller [...] helped bring the abiotic (nonliving) synthesis of organic compounds into the context of evolution [...] the[se] pioneers of organic chemistry helped shift the mainstream of biological thought from vitalism to mechanism, the view that natural phenomena, including the processes of life, are governed by physical and chemical laws [...] the same rules of chemistry apply to inorganic and organic molecules alike. The foundation of organic chemistry is not some intangible life force, but the unique chemical versatility of the element carbon [p.059]."

-r.c.

I bought this book for my Introduction to Biology class. It's quite affordable and I've no intention of selling it back once my course is done. The book is quite heavy, it's got very heavy and durable covers protecting the mammoth of a book. So hauling it to class with me is not really a delight.

The CD that comes with it is alright but I rarely really look at it. Most of the content is online. You can pretty much read the whole book online, if you have the access code, which comes with this book.

The material itself is excellent. The illustrations, all are very well done. I doubt that many people are haplessly looking for a book on Biology, if you're looking at this it is probably because you need one for your class. Either way, this book is definitely worth the low price it is selling for.

Deceiving description, book was torn and highlighted all over, but description said it was in good condition, price did not match description..

Good Condition, no scratches, pages perfect, slightly bent corner of the cover but nothhing big. Fast shipping

Sometimes text books can be so fascinating that you can't wait to read the next paragraph and learn something new. This is not one of those text books. It is filled with lots of junk that only makes the book thicker and heavier but contributes nothing to your understanding. So you must actively read and take notes on the important stuff or you will fall asleep a lot. This book contains some very nice images and helpful diagrams so know them and use them as a guide when you take notes. This is just a general introductory text, so it's a shame that it's so large. Future editions should be released in cheaper smaller volumes that deal only with certain topics, or they could just cut out all of the junk. You might consider buying an earlier edition or a cheaper international paperback edition because they aren't much different from this edition. I haven't seen the latest edition, but I'm sure the only changes were the pointless interviews and some new and more expensive pictures.