permaculture

[Toby Hemenway <toby@patternliteracy.com>]

Mae Won Ho has done amazing, groundbreaking work in evolutionary biology. 
I've been a big fan for decades. If, as people say, that her book is as 
groundbreaking as Schrodinger's "What is Life," its going to be significant. 
I definitely want to read it. Permaculture is about living organization, too, 
so there's going to be a lot of overlap.

BTW, "What is LIfe?" is a short book and still a very good read, not too 
technical and since it's off-copyright you can download it. Schrodinger used 
what he knew about physics--which was just about everything--and applied it 
to biology. WIL set the path for the next 60 years of biology. Erwin was was 
a sharp boy; had a solid knowledge of philosophy and Buddhism that he applied 
to physics. So Mae Won Ho is in fast company.

Toby
http://patternliteracy.com



On Apr 27, 2011, at 9:03 AM, Lawrence London wrote:

> Toby Hemenway: What do you think of this book? It looks to be an important 
> work.
> ...maybe not much of a stretch to say that it should reinforce one's
> beliefs in the Gaia concept.
> 
> The Rainbow And The Worm
> http://www.i-sis.org.uk/rnbwwrm.php
> 
> "Probably the most important book for the paradigm change" now
> reprinted with CDs featuring stunning video images of live organisms.
> Buy now at the ISIS online store.
> Third Edition Available Now
> The Rainbow And The Worm
> The Physics of Organisms
> by Mae-Wan Ho
> Director, Institute of Science in Society
> 
> <>
> 
> About the Author
> After obtaining her PhD in Biochemistry, Hong Kong University, Mae-Wan
> Ho embarked on a distinguished research career that included a
> postdoctoral fellowship in Neurosciences, University of California at
> San Diego, Fellowship of the National Genetics Foundation, USA. Senior
> Research Fellow in Biochemistry, University of London, Lecturer in
> Genetics then Reader in Biology, Open University. Her research evolved
> through biochemistry to molecular genetics, non-Darwinian evolution,
> and since 1988, the physics of living organization, defining a new
> field with the present book, widely acclaimed by serious scientists
> across the disciplines and by non-scientists alike.
> 
> A serious, in-depth enquiry into Schrödinger's question, "What is
> Life?" and at the same time, a celebration of life itself
> 
> A voyage of discovery through many areas of contemporary physics from
> non-equilibrium thermodynamics to quantum optics in order to
> understand the problem of life
> 
> A rare and exquisite view of the organism, giving novel insights, not
> only into the physics, but also "the poetry and meaning of being
> alive"
> 
> Contents:
> 
>    What is It to be Alive?
>    Do Organisms Contravene the Second Law?
>    Can the Second Law Cope with Organized Complexity?
>    Energy Flow and Living Cycles
>    How to Catch a Falling Electron
>    Towards a Thermodynamics of Organized Complexity
>    Sustainable Systems as Organisms
>    The Seventy-Three Octaves of Nature’s Music
>    The Coherent Excitation of the Body Electric
>    The Solid State Cell
>    “Life is a Little Electric Current”
>    How Coherent is the Organism? The Heartbeat of Health
>    How Coherent is the Organism? Sensitivity to Weak Electromagnetic Fields
>    Life is All the Colours of the Rainbow in a Worm
>    The Liquid Crystalline Organism
>    Crystal Consciousness
>    Liquid Crystalline Water
>    Quantum Entanglement and Coherence
>    The Ignorance of the External Observer
>    Time and Freewill
> 
> Readership: General
> 
> <>
> 
> Reviews and Quotes
> 
> "A very original survey of how biology may be linked to physics
> through the concepts of coherence and of coupled processes. Although
> deeply serious, the writing has a pleasant touch of gaiety, due to the
> author’s sense of excitement in the central problem: What constitutes
> ‘being alive’?"
> 
> K.G. Denbigh, Emeritus Professor of Physical Chemistry, Queen
> Elizabeth College, and distinguished author of many books on
> non-equilibrium thermodynamics
> 
> "The layman may not understand half of this book, but he will
> understand more than he expects to or may feel he has any right to.
> The author, whether discussing ‘quantum en-entanglement’ or
> ‘energy-flow’, ‘dynamic order’ or life as ‘collective response to weak
> signals’, has the gift of making the reader dream."
> 
> P.N. Furbank, Emeritus Professor of English, Open University and
> author of many scholarly books and biographies
> 
> "..an excellent introduction to the more physically motivated
> approaches to understanding biological complexity. And there’s not a
> gel in sight."
> 
> Douglas B. Kell, Trends in Biochemical Sciences
> 
> "It is high time a good book was available to not only teach
> biologists some physics, particularly bioenergetics, but make them sit
> up and think a bit more deeply about it. This little volume is more
> readable than other drier and much weightier books on the subject."
> 
> Cell Biology International
> 
> "The book is the coming together of many highly exciting ideas of
> contemporary physics…one that draws on a range of experiment and
> theory, and illuminates Ho’s definition of life as a ‘process of being
> an organizing whole’."
> 
> American Scientist
> 
> "…’what is life?’ Mae-Wan Ho presents an interconnected system of
> proposals, experimental results and conjectures which go a large way
> towards proving an entirely new answer to this question. It is based
> on research which is mainstream in its theoretical physical
> foundations, though innovatory in some of its techniques. This makes
> the book highly important, and if she is right it would be
> revolutionary."
> 
> Network
> 
> "…a fascinating excursion towards and beyond the limits of physical
> science fifty year on from Schrödinger’s classic."
> 
> David Llyod, Binary-Computing in Microbiology
> 
> "…a truly stimulating and beautifully written book, full of new
> perspectives and researchable ideas."
> 
> Ervin Laszlo, author of many books including The Whispering Pond
> 
> "..a remarkably eclectic work, joyously written and a joy to read. I
> certainly learned a lot from it."
> 
> Geoffrey Sewell, Professor of Physics, and author of Quantum Physics
> of Collective Phenomena
> 
> "…the author clearly understands the "whys" of the world at a depth
> and breadth which no one else approaches ….clinical medicine requires
> this kind of insight."
> 
> Walter Bortz, MD, author of Dare to be 100
> 
> "The book is recommended to all scientists who are interested in
> understanding life….Fifty years after Schrödinger’s "What is Life?",
> this book is a worthy instalment, since it intensifies the original
> matter of Schrödinger."
> 
> Fritz-Albert Popp, International Institute of Biophysics, Germany
> _______________________________________________
> permaculture mailing list
> permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> Subscribe, unsubscribe, change your user configuration or find out more 
> about this list here:
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture
> permaculture forums http://www.permies.com/permaculture-forums
> Texas Plant and Soil Lab
> http://www.texasplantandsoillab.com/
> List contacts: permacultureforum@gmail.com, chrys@thefutureisorganic.net 
> and paul@richsoil.com