Nobel laureate Erwin Schr dinger's What is Life? is one of the great science classics of the twentieth century. A distinguished physicist's explora...
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Jan 11, 2011
Mangoo
rated it: 
"What is life?" e' un testo che ha ispirato molti importanti scienziati del secolo scorso. E' una incursione del Nobel per la fisica Schroedinger (quello della celeberrima equazione alla base della meccanica quantistica) nel campo della biologia. E che incursione, visto che nelle sue argomentazioni, che risalgono al 1944, prefigura in buona parte le caratteristiche di quel "cristallo aperiodico" alla base di quel processo termodinamicamente scandaloso che e' la vita, ovvero i
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Sep 27, 2011
Alexander
rated it: 
Erwin Schrödinger
What is Life?*
Mind and Matter**
Autobiographical Sketches***
Cambridge University Press, Paperback, 2010.
8vo. [viii]+184 pp. Canto reprint. Foreword by Roger Penrose, 1992 [p. viii]. Preface by the author, September 1944 [pp. 1-2]. Contains also Mind and Matter [pp. 93-164] and Autobiographical Sketches [pp. 165-184].
What is Life? first published, 1944.
Mind and Matter first published, 1958.
First published combined, More...
What is Life?*
Mind and Matter**
Autobiographical Sketches***
Cambridge University Press, Paperback, 2010.
8vo. [viii]+184 pp. Canto reprint. Foreword by Roger Penrose, 1992 [p. viii]. Preface by the author, September 1944 [pp. 1-2]. Contains also Mind and Matter [pp. 93-164] and Autobiographical Sketches [pp. 165-184].
What is Life? first published, 1944.
Mind and Matter first published, 1958.
First published combined, More...
Aug 16, 2011
Jason
rated it:
I had been meaning to read this for a long time. The book is not nearly as exciting as it must have been in the 1940s, many of the ideas are reasonably familiar. And some of the interest one gets is watching Schrodinger grope around the concept of Gene's and digital, discrete information without the benefit of knowing about DNA and how it functions. But other than mistaking the source of gene's for a protein, he did not miss much and another 60 years of molecular biology would have added relativ
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Mar 24, 2011
Rajat
rated it:
A naive physicist honestly ponders upon the mysteries of life, he just happens to be Erwin Schrodinger. However a word of warning, this book may be disconcerting to the truly naive physicist. Schrodinger admits the inability of physics to comprehend the living organism, the need for extra-physical laws to explain life as it is.
However, he lays a groundwork based on existing physical laws to come to terms with life and going along his train of thought also happens to predict the exis More...
However, he lays a groundwork based on existing physical laws to come to terms with life and going along his train of thought also happens to predict the exis More...
Dec 14, 2010
Austin
rated it:
Nobel-prize-winning physicist Erwin Schrödinger published the essay "What is Life?" in the 1940s, before the elucidation of the structure of DNA, and in it he conjectures about the molecular structure of the matter in our chromosomes, which he presumes to be an "aperiodic crystal." Physicist Roger Penrose tells us that Francis Crick (one of the scientists who actually uncovered the structure of DNA a decade later) "admitted to being strongly influenced by ... the broad-
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Apr 05, 2010
Gendou
rated it:
A well thought out paper by a brilliant physicist.
Would have given it five stars, but it happened to be remedial for me, but it may be more informative to you, so check it out!
It's sort of eerie to hear Schrodinger contemplate with fascination and wonder something so obvious today as the nature of the DNA molecule.
He gets a lot of stuff right, considering he's going on very limited evidence.
Sometimes he plays devil's advocate in too convincing a way, a befuddl More...
Would have given it five stars, but it happened to be remedial for me, but it may be more informative to you, so check it out!
It's sort of eerie to hear Schrodinger contemplate with fascination and wonder something so obvious today as the nature of the DNA molecule.
He gets a lot of stuff right, considering he's going on very limited evidence.
Sometimes he plays devil's advocate in too convincing a way, a befuddl More...
Oct 20, 2010
DoctorM
rated it:
A science-lit classic. Schroedinger's little "What Is Life" is derived from lectures he gave at Dublin during WW-2--- a physicist looks at molecular biology, and what happens when we try to define "life". Thoughtful and wonderfully crafted. Schroedinger is part of that lost Mitteleuropa milieu where science and literature and philosophy were all the common heritage of any cultivated person, and he manages to consider "life" not just as a question of molecules and th
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Dec 22, 2009
DJ
rated it:
I love reading explanations of biology from physicists; what once were magic and collections of 'just-so' stories become explanations of how and why processes occur the way they do. This book was single-handedly responsible for convincing dozens of physicists to chase issues biological and given I already had the bug, I figured it would be interesting to see what sparked it in so many others.
Here's the conversation that runs through my brain when I think about this book:
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Here's the conversation that runs through my brain when I think about this book:
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3 comments
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(8 people liked it)
Nov 15, 2011
Benjamin
rated it: 
The title essay is interesting and well-written and a classic and so on. I found the second essay less engaging.
my favorite quote: "A continuous range of frequencies is always disagreeable, whether offered as a sequence, as by a siren or a howling cat, or simultaneously, which is difficult to implement, except perhaps by a host of sirens or a regiment of howling cats."
my favorite quote: "A continuous range of frequencies is always disagreeable, whether offered as a sequence, as by a siren or a howling cat, or simultaneously, which is difficult to implement, except perhaps by a host of sirens or a regiment of howling cats."
Aug 01, 2009
Chris
rated it:
This along with Heisenberg's "Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern Science" and "Philosophical Problems of Quantum Physics" are what you want to read instead of "The Tao Of Physics" and "Dancing Wu Li Masters."
Apr 13, 2009
Mario
rated it:
Great book, even if I'm not a expert in biology or chemistry it gives me a great overview of the beginning of the molecular biology. His observations are incredibly fascinating and deep.
Dec 17, 2009
Amir-massoud
rated it:
I enjoyed reading this short book.
The book is written by a big physicists, and is about the reasons the life-like forms can emerge from simple physical laws. Schrodinger suggested some idea like DNA in this book which would proved to be correct several years later.
This book is definitely an old one. You should not read it if you want to know what the current stage of knowledge in physics of biology is. It mostly has a historical importance. But it is a good read anyway.
The book is written by a big physicists, and is about the reasons the life-like forms can emerge from simple physical laws. Schrodinger suggested some idea like DNA in this book which would proved to be correct several years later.
This book is definitely an old one. You should not read it if you want to know what the current stage of knowledge in physics of biology is. It mostly has a historical importance. But it is a good read anyway.
Nov 29, 2011
I read this in high school one afternoon but can't recall any of its content. That may not bode well for a book with such a lofty title.
Mar 23, 2008
Nick
rated it:
Pound-for-pound, quite possibly the most exciting book (outside of math/CS textbooks) I've ever read. Every home should have a copy.
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