Living at Micro Scale: The Unexpected Physics of Being Small

by David B. Dusenbery

Kermit the Frog famously said that it isn’t easy being green, and in Living at Micro Scale David Dusenbery shows that it isn’t easy being small—existing at the size of, say, a rotifer, a tiny multicellular animal just at the boundary between the visible and the microscopic. “Imagine,” he writes, “stepping off a curb and waiting a week for your foot to hit the ground.” At that scale, we would be small enough to swim inside the letter O in the word “rotifer.” What are the physical consequences of life at this scale? How do such organisms move, identify prey and predators and (if they’re so inclined) mates, signal to one another, and orient themselves? In clear and engaging prose, Dusenbery uses straightforward physics to demonstrate the constraints on the size, shape, and behavior of tiny organisms. While recounting the historical development of the basic concepts, he unearths a corner of microbiology rich in history, and full of lessons about how science does or does not progress. Marshalling findings from different fields to show why tiny organisms have some of the properties they are found to have, Dusenbery shows a science that doesn’t always move triumphantly forward, and is dependent to a great extent on accident and contingency.

448 pages, Hardcover

First published February 15, 2009

Reviews

[Ugh]

This was in the popular science section of the book shop, but I don't think it can really be classed as pop sci. A very hefty chunk of it is devoted to manipulating equations, and even though some dude from Scientific American calls it "accessible" on the back cover, for someone who last tried to get their head around physics about 8 years ago it was a bit of a slog. I'm not complaining: I knew exactly what to expect before I laid out my cash. In fact, I decided against buying it when I first discovered it for precisely the reason that it looked too much like hardcore physics/maths/engineering for my poor atrophied brain. But, a week later, I was still thinking about how interesting the topic was, and a second trip to the book shop soon followed.

Anyway, I've now read the whole thing, but I have to confess to skimming the last few chapters, and to giving up on trying to follow the equations about half way through. At times it was very interesting (for example, did you know that the sperm being much smaller than the egg helps with the approach, because it reduces the amount of fluid that needs to be displaced in order for contact to occur), but for me to be able to say that I found the whole thing interesting it would have had to have been a bit more pop, a bit less sci. That's my failing, not the book's, hence the lack of a score.

Apologies, but someone else will have to tell you whether it's good or not - I really enjoyed what I understood, but I'm a poor tour guide for this particular outing.

[Mike Lisanke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book much more than taking a biophysics course with a less descriptive and less motivating book. I know the professor well, so; if I come across an opportunity I will mention this book covered all the same material but with a zeal for explaining Why we care about diffusion and and why microbes may swim and search for food/sex.