The Living Clock: The Orchestrator of Biological Rhythms

Book Description

This book is an introduction to a basic property of life, one mostly unknown to science and the public until the latter half of the last century: Humans, plants, and animals have within their bodies a kind of clock that synchronizes much of what they do throughout their lives to the time of day and the seasons, and in the case of the sea-dwelling organisms, the tides. This timepiece performs its service autonomously - it rules silently within us without us giving a thought to it. Three chapters are devoted to the human clock: its disruptive action in transmeridional travel and shift work, its oversight in most every aspect of our physiology, and how doctors being aware of its action can save lives. Other major subjects describe the role in piloting birds in homing and migration, guiding the seasonal reproduction of plants and animals, and its influence on shore dwellers. The book closes with a description of the clockworks' escapement.

Customer Reviews:

Fairly entertaining book about scientific discovery........2003-07-18

Palmer explains that he wrote this book because so many people he encountered were interested in what he does as a marine biologist. In truth it is a book about scientific curiosity and the process of discovery. I won't give away the ending, found in the last chapter. Had Palmer's objective been an exposition on biological clocks, the last chapter would have been first. Unfortunately, I already knew what was in the last chapter, so my appreciation for the book was somewhat dulled. Still, it is a short, well written, fairly entertaining book. Palmer does an excellent job in describing experiments and making them interesting, and in showing how often a verification of the obvious led instead to new paths of discovery. Not least, while Palmer's sense of humor is not terribly creative, he can be fun.

Wide Awake at 3: 00 A.M.: By Choice or by Chance

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Bruce P Benyo

Wide Awake at 3: 00 A.M.: By Choice or by Chance
Richard M. Coleman
Manufacturer: W H Freeman & Co (Sd)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0716717964

Customer Reviews:

Bruce P Benyo.......2001-01-26

Most people who wrestle with getting to sleep on a regular basis are totally unaware that they are not really "insomniacs" at all! They just need to "adjust their internal clock." In Wide Awake at 3am, Dr Coleman brings real scientific research to bear on the twin problems of insomnia and sleep-deprivation. Bottom line... The book is extremely informative and entertaining. But the most thrilling part is this: 1)The descriptions of the problems caused by insomnia are exact, 2) the diagnoses put forth by Dr. Coleman make sense, and 3) the treatments proposed in the book really work! I would suggest this book to anyone who has problems with sleep or fatigue, even on an irregular basis.

Biological Rhythms in Human and Animal Physiology

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Biological Rhythms in Human and Animal Physiology
Gay Gaer Luce
Manufacturer: Dover Publications, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JVDDUE

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Biological Rhythms in Human and Animal Physiology.
Gay Gaer Luce
Manufacturer: Dover Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Winston Churchill's Afternoon Nap: A wide-awake inquiry into the human nature of time

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A very informative book, will change your world view.
Fascinating!

Winston Churchill's Afternoon Nap: A wide-awake inquiry into the human nature of time
Jeremy Campbell
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Liar's Tale: A History of Falsehood

ASIN: 0671475479

Customer Reviews:

A very informative book, will change your world view........1998-04-16

It has been a few years since I read this book. I remember the cover notes saying that I would never look at the world in the same way again and I must say that it fundamentally changed my world view. It is a very intelligent book that is wide ranging in scope but uses time as a central theme. The author convinces us that nothing exists alone and that there are clocks and cycles everywhere. I recommend to any science reader.

Fascinating!.......1997-08-28

A fascinating, and largely undiscovered masterpiece purportedly addressing the Nature of Time. If you've read Grammatical Man, don't let that turn you off. This one reads like a different author

When Time Breaks Down: The Three-Dimensional Dynamics of Electrochemical Waves and Cardiac Arrhythmias

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Aging Well

When Time Breaks Down: The Three-Dimensional Dynamics of Electrochemical Waves and Cardiac Arrhythmias
Arthur T. Winfree
Manufacturer: Princeton Univ Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Biorhythms | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

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Customer Reviews:

Aging Well.......2001-08-27

The title is unfortunate: it gives the impression of a crank book or an overly romanticized "popular science" report. Actually this is a fairly serious scholarly monograph, standing out from the crowd only by being quite readable and nicely illustrated. But it is pretty old book. Maybe it was "ahead of its time" in 1987, but what is its value today, when Science Citations Index says it is mentioned only a couple times a month in new scientific papers. Why would anyone buy it now, years after it went out of print? One reason: It gives the clearest presentation I know of the modern alternative to the then dominant theoretical context regarding "vulnerability" of the heart beat to lethal upset by a single unfortunately-timed stimulus. The conventional view was then (and so remains still in medical textbooks) that a variety of complex mechanisms lead a propagating activation front to circulate through the heart muscle and return to parts previously activated about as soon as those parts have recovered their readiness to activate again. This book does not contradict, but provides an alternative perspective from the viewpoint of abstract topology (all done in pictures without explicit mathematics.) The merit of doing so seems to be that things looks simpler and so some far-reaching predictions could be made about how these lethal arrhythmias get started and how they can be terminated, predictions which seemed implausible in the conventional framework. Most of these were tested and confirmed a few years after publication. Accordingly, much of the theory has since matured from qualitative picture-oriented format to quantitative numerical format that promises improvements in electrical pacemakers and defibrillators. So this old book is still perhaps the most readable introduction to the basic ideas of this newer outlook, which is today maturing into a mathematically more complicated bidomain biophysics. Another thing nicely done in this picture book is the geometry, or, I should say, topology, of vortices in kinds of excitable media other than heart muscle ... mainly a simple chemical solution that has since become popular in high-school and college lab courses, and in numerical models based on equations of reaction and diffusion that one today finds illustrated at innumerable web sites. This book seems to be where much of it started. These vortices consist of something like smoke rings variously linked and knotted. At the time of this publication they were entirely figments of imagination, not yet examined for stability even in computer simulations. Today they are well established among applied mathematicians, and the causes of their stability are widely studied. None but the very simplest have yet been seen in the laboratory, though. Are there any major errors to avoid ingesting and assimilating if you look through this book? Some in the opening pages that describe circadian biological clocks (because some newly discovered features of their dynamics suggested the alternative approach to cardiology) make statements about exceptions to the usual in certain lower organisms, which exceptions have since gone away. On the other hand, it was then merely conjectured that humans would turn out to exhibit all the main features of such clockworks in other organisms, and this has since been borne out. It was suggested that the dynamics of ventricular fibrillation will be mostly figured out by the turn of the century, on the basis of some such concepts as presented here, and this seems roughly true now, but the story has become considerably more intricate. Page 221 reverses "left" left "right" twist geometry. Further nitpicking seems inappropriate in such long retrospect because the main ideas andd questions raised turned out to be fruitful. For a somewhat drier update on 15 years subsequent work in many cardiological and chemical laboratories and in supercomputers with nice graphics, look up the same author's current book here at Amazon.com. There might also be cause to supplement from his website, marley.biosci.arizona.edu/~art. Also search the web (which did not exist back then) under such keywords as "excitable media", "scroll waves", "spiral waves", "Belousov-Zhabotinsky", "fibrillation and singularities" and you will find ever more material including abundant movies.

Metronomic Society: Natural Rhythms and Human Timetables

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Metronomic Society: Natural Rhythms and Human Timetables
Michael K. Young
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0674571959

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Animal Rhythms
Orland A. Soave
Manufacturer: Austin & Winfield
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Textbook Binding

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Book Description

Soave provides an interesting study of animal (mammalian) rhythms, life patterns and their application to human existence. He presents strong physiological and psychological insights coupled with latest data. A well-known researcher, Soave is the author of "Animals, The Law and Veterinary Medicine: A Guide to Veterinary Law" (Austin & Winfield, Publishers - August 1997).

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Aspects of Human Efficiency

Manufacturer: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Physiology | Basic Science | Medicine | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0340157062

Biological Clocks and Environmental Time: (Special Issue of J. Biol. Rhythms, Vol. 4, No.2)

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Biological Clocks and Environmental Time: (Special Issue of J. Biol. Rhythms, Vol. 4, No.2)

Manufacturer: The Guilford Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Clinical Psychology | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

The application of selected scattering methods, in particular light and neutron scattering, to complex polymeric and colloidal systems is discussed. Progress in this area of condensed matter is charted and the book provides insight into the theory and practice of the techniques apploed to a number of diverse problems.

Book Description

Since her debut in 1989, A. M. Homes has been among the boldest and most original voices of her generation, acclaimed for the psychological accuracy and unnerving emotional intensity of her storytelling. Her ability to explore how extraordinary the ordinary can be is at the heart of her touching and funny new novel, her first in six years. This Book Will Save Your Life is a vivid, uplifting, and revealing story about compassion, transformation, and what can happen if you are willing to lose yourself and open up to the world around you.

Customer Reviews:

Amateur and uninspired........2007-09-06

This book really is , as Michiko Kakutani said in her review, dreadful.
You will learn more about LA in one paragraph by Raymond Chandler than in the whole 300 pages of this book.
She's no Patricia Highsmith but I suspect that she'd like to be that good.
Homes just doesn't have the talent or the wickedness to bring it off.
The action scenes (hole-horse-helicopter) are laughable ( not funny).
The prose is flat , dull and without life.
The observations are mostly just cliches and very poor ones at that.
Her comments about LA contemporary life (47 varieties of orange juice) are just student level old-hat gripes.
She thinks you can put a late Rothko in the boot of a car. That's some car. Most of them wouldn't go in a building.
The worst thing is - I expected more.
I saw all the blurbs on the back of the paperback and 2 or 3 pages of them inside the front cover. Mind you most are from some regional US paper and not by some respected critic , just the book guy. I should have been warned by that.
The real surprise for me was that by page 8 I was shocked by how bad it was.

Left me Hanging.......2007-08-08

I could relate to some of this man's pain, but in some ways he is hard to understand. Still, the book had good moments, yet I am not sure of the ending. What really happened? I don't want to give it away, yet I
am not certain myself. I think the story had the potential for greatness, but just misses the mark. Some of the characters seem self-centered and shallow. Then, there is the feeling that this is a case of
too little, too late. In spite of everything, I have to say I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it.

Recommended for all middle aged professionals .......2007-08-05

First, before I pour on the star shine the reader has to adopt a sense of stereoscopic vision. Best to don your movie shades. Should this be a screen play? No doubt. Is it a commentary. I certainly hope so. Do you have to be a rich middle aged stock trader to believe in this book? Never the matter. Never the mind. What Holmes does here is intertwine everyday characters with an exteremely likable protagonist, Richard Novak.

The opening of the book with the dual scene; Richard working out and watching the swimmer condensed with the normal trappings of the day, not normal for most people, housekeepers, nutritionists, movie stars next door; but something really clicks here. Holmes expertly sets up shop in Richards soul and leads the reader patiently through the heartache that he has experienced, and been forced to push asunder in search of ....life really. If Richard hadn't been able to closet his emotion he would have been a destroyed man and wouldn't have lived to get where he is today. That he remained detached throughout the years was merely his best survival tool. Anyone who has experienced a marriage falling apart, choosing to sink or swim, or losing a son or daughter to another parent will appreciate this book. It is a wise book. The rest of the characters, Cynthia, Anhil, Nic, Tad, and even Judy all take a back seat to the real story champions Ben and Richard. Its a book about a father who lost a son to a bad marriage partner, a cold selfish woman who couldn't see past her own needs and wants to give more to a man she had pledged her life to, and its about a father who realized he was drowning and in order to survive needed to get out; and then we have Ben the son who was lost at sea. Ben goes on of course, as is not always the case, to be a successful son and who is surrounded by loving family, still, losing a father carries the force of running aground an ice berg. The two come together later in such a bittersweet confrontation, and Richard finally breaks through to Ben. This book is about the goodness of strangers, its about everyday people coming together. Its about reunion in the truest sense of the word. Reunion with society, with family, with self.

IF this isn't a movie, it should be a movie. I say this only because then more people would experience the beauty of this tale, which I personally feel is something everyone could learn at least a little something from. Richards life unfolds true, in a grand fashion of someone who has been insulated from society and suddenly realizes that he is a part of it too and needs to take part; however, one need not be rich in order to gain insight from this novel. This book WILL save your life if you have been distracted with the mundane, if you have looked away from the reality in order to just move on through the easier, the less painful, this book will affect you, if you let it. Let it.
The ending paragraph is without eclipse, and my heart began to beat anew.
Read it. 'Nuff said.

(2.5): Not Quite There..........2007-07-06

I'm not sure how to go about reviewing this book considering the fact that what Homes intends to do is incredibly ambitious - trying to satirize the life of a middle-aged wealthy financier undergoing a physical and spiritual crisis - yet the finished product can be described as luke warm at best. Many writers have done an admirable job delving into the mindset of this particular subset of individuals, but few have done it in a modern setting (the closest I can think of is Delillo in "Cosmopolis," an equally luke warm novel). The novel follows the life of Richard Novak, a wealthy trader who "plays" with money while being isolated from the world, and the events directly after a pain and/or panic attack he has in his large L.A. home. He comes out of the hospital realizing how alone he is and goes ahead and tries to reforge relationships with his estranged son and make new ones with an unlikely cast of characters - a wife who feels trapped in her marriage and goes to the supermarket to get away from it all, a do-it-all actor, a J.D. Salinger type writer who happens to be friends with Bob Dylan, a coffee shop owner who is a source of wisdom to all who come to him...the list goes on. Many of the episodes are funny and entertaining, yet at no point do you ever see through this thin and somewhat weak attempt at looking at the pain isolation brings on those around you and inevitably to yourself. In many respects, the novel reminds me of some of Bret Easton Ellis's early work - especially the Informers - because of the money and the drug/Hollywood lifestyle Homes writes about. There is something extravagant in the way the characters live, yet in many instances, they don't notice at all. This may be the only fully successful part of the novel in that you can describe all of the characters as tragic in some way. Unfortunately, although they have interesting attributes and designations, they're all kind of cookie-cutter in their own way. You almost get bored reading about them and go ahead and wait for a resolution that is so unsatisfying that it overshadows the strength of Homes's prose, one thing that is a carryover from her short fiction (where, incidentally, I think she should remain). All in all, this is the kind of book that makes you sad because you may very well have wasted a few days that could have been spent on something better.

Sensational.......2007-06-14

What a talent we have here. Breathtaking in its audacity and full of ideas Homes never puts a foot wrong. And with something new happening in literally every sentence I was amazed how she kept it all up. But she does, and with what freshness and confidence!

Cliche or no, these are characters to fall in love with (even the iffy ones) and Richard Novak is truly a hero for our times. He rises to every occasion and often in satisfyingly unpredictable ways (and if you ever enjoyed Scorcese's 'After Hours' you'll adore this).

And this is also the definitive L.A. novel (yes, the place is nuts), especially so on account of the author being a New Yorker. As the plot proceeds on its completely irresistible and helter-skelter course no detail of L.A life is spared by Homes's mordant eye and I think it's this that ultimately lifts the novel to the very highest plane. And that's on top of the author's compassion, her warmth, the sheer boldness and inventiveness of it all.

I read this book in a few days while holidaying on a Greek island (okay, okay, so it was a 'beach read' but so what, my other book was Stendhal). My experience there was enriched no end by this book and it's hard for me to imagine anything better. And, long after my return, I still can't get adorable Cynthia out of my mind . . .

Finally, amidst all the customary literary sneering at this book having been selected for Richard and Judy's Book Club, I'd like instead to add my pointed congratulations on their having had the high intelligence to have chosen it. They also chose George Hagen's stupendous 'The Laments' a while back and that book, along with this one, remains the finest American novel I've read in some years. I've never watched the show (I work), and I don't really know who Richard and Judy are, but once again I'm truly indebted to them for bringing to this marvellous book the every ounce of publicity that it deserves.

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This Book Will Save Your Life
A.M. Homes
Manufacturer: Granta Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OIK0E4

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This Book Will Save Your Life
A.M. Homes
Manufacturer: GRANTA BOOKS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000WSH80U

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