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Biology Today
''Biology Today'' is a college-level biology textbook that went through three editions in 1972, 1975, and 1980. The first edition, published by Communications Research Machines, Inc. (CRM) and written by a small editorial team and large set of prominent "contributing consultants", is notable for its lavish illustrations and its humanistic approach. It was significantly rewritten by David L. Kirk and others for the second and third editions, which were issued by Random House.
==First edition==
The 1972 first edition of ''Biology Today'' had no principal author but was written by fifty-four contributing consultants, many of whom were leading figures in biology (and seven of whom were Nobel laureates). Visually, it features numerous artistic interpretations of biological topics as well as striking diagrams and photographs. Many of these images, such as a surreal depiction of the injection of heroin, a series of diagrams showing how to use a contraceptive diaphragm, and a painting titled ''Noah's Ark'' depicting copulating humans and animals, proved controversial and led to few adoptions of the textbook. By 1981, a reviewer of a later, much-changed edition wrote that the original "might now be considered a 'classic' for it is hardly likely that such a fine humanistic biology textbook will be published again. (If you have a copy, hold on to it.)"
In the preface, John H. Painter, Jr.—leader of the editorial team and credited as the book's publisher—explains that "science is a peculiarly human endeavor that seeks to newer and better solutions to the problems plaguing us all"; that modern biological sciences are rooted in work of physicists who turned to biology after World War II; that understanding life at the molecular level allows science to find "solutions to problems of immediate concern", rather than earlier biological studies that "floated disconnectedly above the physical and chemical substrate of life"; and that information processing is at the core of many biological advances.〔''Biology Today'' (1972), p. v〕
The introduction is an illustrated essay, "What Is Life?", by Albert Szent-Györgyi—a Nobel Prize-winning biochemist and, as the essay's biographical tag explains, a protester against "the irrational pursuit of war and politics that characterizes our Western culture" as well as an advocate of using technology "to create a psychologically and socially progressive world where humanistic values are paramount". The essay explains Szent-Györgyi's outlook on the fundamental problems of biology, the relationship between biological and physical sciences, and reasons for pursuing biology. Szent-Györgyi concludes that "To express the marvels of nature in the language of science is one of man's noblest endeavors. I no reason to expect the completion of that task within the near future."〔''Biology Today'' (1972), pp. xx-xxxi〕
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