The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher

Physician Lewis Thomas collects short essays first published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which won the National Book Award. He reflects on cells, organisms, societies, language, music and the earth itself, arguing that life is deeply interconnected and cooperative. Written with wonder and wit, the essays connect biology to broader questions about humanity's place in nature. Each essay is only a few pages long.

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Shane Parrish: “Another shorter book this week – this one by the biologist Lewis Thomas, who died in 1993. Lives of a Cell is one of three collections of his essays written for the New England Journal of Medicine in the ’60s and ’70s (another being The Medusa and the Snail).”