Understanding Living Systems

Life is definitively purposive and creative. Organisms use genes in controlling their destiny. This book presents a new understanding of how living systems function, showing how organisms generate purposive behaviour. For general readers interested in evolutionary biology, systems biology, genetics, and history and philosophy of science.

Raymond Noble is Honorary Associate Professor at the Institute for Women's Health, University College London. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and chartered biologist, writing extensively on biological theory and philosophy, working extensively on how organisms sense their environment. He held a Rockefeller Senior Research Fellowship with a joint appointment at University College London, where he became Deputy Dean of Life Sciences and Graduate Tutor in Women's Health.

Part I. Introduction: 1. The gene delusion; 2. Replication, reproduction and variation; 3. What evolves?; 4. Purpose in life; 5. Cry of the wolf; 6. Learning from the wood mouse; 7. Artificial intelligence; 8. Culture and cooperation; 9. People of the forest summary of common misunderstandings; References and Further reading; Figure credits; Index.