Do genes explain life? Can advances in evolutionary and molecular biology account for what we look like, how we behave, and why we die? In this powerful intervention into current biological thinking, Brian Goodwin argues that such genetic reductionism has important limits. Drawing on the sciences of complexity, the author shows how an understanding of the self-organizing patterns of networks is necessary for making sense of nature. Genes are important, but only as part of a process constrained by environment, physical laws, and the universal tendencies of complex adaptive systems. In a new preface for this edition, Goodwin reflects on the advances in both genetics and the sciences of complexity since the book's original publication.

Relates how the leopard got his spotted coat in order to hunt the animals in the dappled shadows of the forest.

"Spots of a leopard" is a quest into manhood. When journalist Aernout Zevenbergen moved to Kenya, he had no idea that his encounters with life would inspire him unto a journey of self-discovery. What is love? When is a man a good father? Can friendship conquer loneliness?Zevenbergen asks questions few have dared to ask men. Faced with their honesty, the author gets to confront his own demons too.

Winner of the Sherwood Anderson Foundation Fiction Award Honorable Mention for the PEN/Hemingway Award "F. Scott Fitzgerald meets Wes Anderson" (The Village Voice) in this inventive and witty debut about a young man’s quest to become a writer and the misadventures in life and love that take him around the globe—from the author of Why We Came to the City As early as he can remember, the narrator of this remarkable novel has wanted to become a writer. From the jazz clubs of Manhattan to the villages of Sri Lanka, Kristopher Jansma’s hopelessly unreliable—yet hopelessly earnest—narrator will be haunted by the success of his greatest friend and literary rival, the brilliant Julian McGann, and endlessly enamored with Evelyn, the green-eyed girl who got away. A profound exploration of the nature of truth and storytelling, this delightful picaresque tale heralds Jansma as a bold, new American voice.

Follow 14 African animals as they attempt to find out how many spots their leopard friend has. This funny, and frustrating, tale is highly interactive, engaging children to count along with the characters.

In The Leopard’s Spots, Gerrit J. Dimmendaal discusses the interaction between language, cognition, and culture in an African context with special focus on the cultural construction of meaning through language. Such constructions are constrained by our cognitive system, but leave lots of space for culture-specific interpretations and thereby for tremendous typological diversity between languages. This variation reflects the adaptive nature of human language in the same way that the spots of the leopard reflect selective advantages for its natural habitat. But whereas science has essentially one explanation for the rosettes of the leopard, the non-scientific mind may attach meaning to his or her cultural environment by way of language through a plethora of strategies.

An illustrated collection of twelve folk tales, ten African and two Jewish.

Lies are everywhere, but we can see the truth if we try really hard. Following up on the success of her first philosophical book, Pray without Ceasing, Robin P. Currie leads readers on a humorous adventure into the grey area between truth, lies, and manipulations. She seeks to answer questions such as: • What happens when we live outside of our core truths and values? • What secrets do we keep tucked away deep inside ourselves? • What benefits can we realize by converting to a more fluid way of approaching life’s ups and downs? The author’s purpose is to dispel and refute limiting beliefs, but she also questions whether limiting beliefs are real at all. Are we told we have limiting beliefs, when in fact, we have none? Could the entire concept be a profound untruth that, when believed, places upon us a predestined measure of suffering? Join the author as she exposes ridiculous deceptions, hilarious lies, and the irony of our own beliefs in A Leopard Can’t Change Its Spots.