{"title":"Dorion Sagan","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"acquiring-genomes-book-dorion-sagan-9780465043927","title":"Acquiring Genomes","description":"How do new species evolve? Although Darwin identified inherited variation as the creative force in evolution, he never formally speculated where it comes from. His successors thought that new species arise from the gradual accumulation of random mutations of DNA. But despite its acceptance in every major textbook, there is no documented instance of it. Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan take a radically new approach to this question. They show that speciation events are not, in fact, rare or hard to observe. Genomes are acquired by infection, by feeding, and by other ecological associations, and then inherited.  Acquiring Genomes  is the first work to integrate and analyze the overwhelming mass of evidence for the role of bacterial and other symbioses in the creation of plant and animal diversity. 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Experiments are showing that sustainable mini-biospheres are a possibility - complete ecological systems in which life is possible. The author argues that it is time we stopped thinking of ourselves as a super-species. Human beings and all our inventions are just part of nature, helping the Earth to produce new species. In this book the author pioneers biospherical experiments giving us a glimpse into the future not just of our species but of the planet as a whole.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49651422494993,"sku":"GOR005852169","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52109078003985,"sku":"GOR010788208","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52958654234897,"sku":"GOR004686603","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0140193154.jpg?v=1750693912"},{"product_id":"notes-from-the-holocene-book-dorion-sagan-9781933392325","title":"Notes from the Holocene","description":"In a thought-provoking, humorous, and engaging style, Dorion Sagan combines philosophy, science, and an understanding of illusion to probe the deep questions of existence. Operating on the precept that the universe is far weirder than we might imagine, Sagan n son of acclaimed scientists Carl Sagan and Lynn Margulis n uses his knowledge of philosophy, science, sleight-of-hand magic, and the fantastical writings of Philip K. Dick to explore some of the deepest questions we face on Earth. He provides fresh insights as to why we are here, the nature of technology, the prognosis for humanity, the living nature of our planet, and a reasoned explanation to why our universe is probably just one of an infinite number. Notes from the Holocene is a prime example of the writing coming from a new generation of scientific writers. It will inspire readers to think for themselves while leaving them chuckling with tongue-in-cheek anecdotes - a rare combination that Sagan delivers with ease. And yes, as geneticist J.B.S. Haldane says, ithe universe is not only stranger than we imagine, but stranger than we can imagine.i","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49655975903505,"sku":"GOR007047204","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50394805502225,"sku":"CIN1933392320G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1933392320.jpg?v=1751431708"},{"product_id":"cosmic-apprentice-book-dorion-sagan-9780816681358","title":"Cosmic Apprentice","description":"In the pursuit of knowledge, Dorion Sagan argues in this dazzlingly eclectic, rigorously crafted, and deliciously witty collection of essays, scientific authoritarianism and philosophical obscurantism are equally formidable obstacles to discovery. As science has become more specialized and more costly, its questing spirit has been constrained by dogma. And philosophy, perhaps the discipline best placed to question orthodoxy, has retreated behind dense theoretical language and arcane topics of learning.   Guided by a capacious, democratic view of science inspired by the examples set by his late parents-Carl Sagan, who popularized the study of the cosmos, and Lynn Margulis, an evolutionary biologist who repeatedly clashed with the scientific establishment-Sagan draws on classical and contemporary philosophy to intervene provocatively in often-charged debates on thermodynamics, linear and nonlinear time, purpose, ethics, the links between language and psychedelic drugs, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and the occupation of the human body by microbial others. Informed by a countercultural sensibility, a deep engagement with speculative thought, and a hardheaded scientific skepticism, he advances controversial positions on such seemingly sacrosanct subjects as evolution and entropy. At the same time, he creatively considers a wide range of thinkers, from Socrates to Bataille and Descartes to von UexkÜll, to reflect on sex, biopolitics, and the free will of Kermit the Frog.    Refreshingly nonconformist and polemically incisive, Cosmic Apprentice challenges readers to reject both dogma and clichÉ and instead recover the intellectual spirit of adventure that should-and can once again-animate both science and philosophy.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ LIKE_NEW \/ SBYB","offer_id":50369746174225,"sku":"CIN081668135XLN","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52109194592529,"sku":"GOR010950922","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53047146774801,"sku":"GOR007874741","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53478263816465,"sku":"CIN081668135XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/081668135X.jpg?v=1764842269"},{"product_id":"lynn-margulis-book-dorion-sagan-9781603584463","title":"Lynn Margulis","description":"Tireless, controversial, and hugely inspirational to those who knew her or encountered her work, Lynn Margulis was a scientist whose intellectual energy and interests knew no bounds. Best known for her work on the origins of eukaryotic cells, the Gaia hypothesis, and symbiogenesis as a driving force in evolution, her work has forever changed the way we understand life on Earth. When Margulis passed away in 2011, she left behind a groundbreaking scientific legacy that spanned decades. In this collection, Dorion Sagan, Margulis's son and longtime collaborator, gathers together the voices of friends and colleagues to remark on her life and legacy, in essays that cover her early collaboration with James Lovelock, her fearless face-off with Richard Dawkins during the so-called 'Battle of Balliol' at Oxford, the intrepid application of her scientific mind to the insistence that 9\/11 was a false-flag operation, her affinity for Emily Dickinson, and more.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50385514201361,"sku":"CIN1603584463G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1603584463.jpg?v=1750926410"},{"product_id":"biospheres-book-dorion-sagan-9780553288834","title":"Biospheres","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51332366336273,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51332374659345,"sku":"CIN0553288830VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0553288830.jpg?v=1751136470"},{"product_id":"biospheres-book-dorion-sagan-9780070544260","title":"Biospheres","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51713817051409,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51713818067217,"sku":"CIN0070544263G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0070544263.jpg?v=1751101076"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-dorion-sagan.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}