Digital Biology

Rating:
Summary: Too basic and not well written
Review: This book was as primer on how biological structures are being implemented into computer software. The biology sections were generally weak - for example, there are no explanatory diagrams, which I think would have been very helpful to the reader, at least if biology textbooks are trustworthy in their pedagogical methods. Admittedly, there were a few color plates stuck in the middle of the book, but these were more of the gee-whiz variety rather than informative support for the prose. Also Bentley does a lot of name dropping, but does little to specifically outline the projects of those he mentions, sometimes giving merely a paragraph to researchers who are apparently doing "cutting-edge" work in digital biology. Finally, the writing style is inconsistent. Sometimes Bentley writes as if he's a researcher, sometimes as if he's a magazine writer, sometimes as if he's playing short-story fiction writer. This was very distracting. I think the audience that would find this book useful are people who are starting at ground zero in their investigations into computer modeling / implementation of biological structures into computer software. Those with more advanced interests are advised to look elsewhere (cf. Steven Johnson's book on Emergence).