At the crossroads of philosophy and science, the sometimes-dry topics of evolution and ecology come alive in this new collection of essays ñ many never before anthologized. Learn how technology may be a sort of second nature, how the systemic human fungus Candida albicans can lead to cravings for carrot cake and beer, how the presence of life may be why thereís water on Earth, and many other fascinating facts.
The essay ìMetametazoaî presents perspectives on biology in a philosophical context, demonstrating how the intellectual librarian, pornographer, and political agitator Georges Bataille was influenced by Russian mineralogist Vladimir Vernadsky and how this led to his notion of the absence of meaning in the face of the sun ñ which later influenced Jacques Derrida, thereby establishing a causal chain of influence from the hard sciences to topics as abstract as deconstruction and postmodernism.
ìIn Dazzle Gradually we have one of the great iconoclastic biologists of our time and her son, both excellent writers, firing ideas at us, reflecting, asking questions, making connections. ëTruthís superb surpriseí is their gift to us.î Roald Hoffman, Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, from the Foreword
ìThis book is a thrilling account of deep insights into life and its evolution, and will likely influence fundamental research in biology and environmental sciences.î Zoltan Toroczkai, Associate Professor of Physics, University of Notre Dame
ìReading Dazzle is like journeying into two of the most original and creative scientific minds of our time. Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan discuss their most revelatory and complex ideas in concise essays with accessible language, making this book a must-read foray into their broad academic and intellectual interests.î Alan Berger, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, Harvard University, and author of Drosscape
ìHere is a certain slant of light, a profound exploration exposing false hierarchies and convenient dualisms and illuminating the continuities of biology, literature, physics, and philosophy. Margulis and Sagan make a dazzling team.î Joseph Coulson, author of The Vanishing Moon and coeditor of The Nature of Life: Readings in Biology
Foreword by Roald Hoffmann
Acknowledgements
Part I ñ Mnemosyne: Red Shoe Conundrum (Lynn Margulis); Truth of My Father (Dorion Sagan); The Uncut Self (Dorion Sagan and Lynn Margulis).
Part II ñ Chimera: Power to the Protoctists (Lynn Margulis); Prejudice and Bacterial Consciousness (Lynn Margulis); All for One (Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan); Speculation on Speculation (Lynn Margulis); Spirochetes Awake ñ Syphilis and Nietzscheís Mad Genius (Lynn Margulis); From Kefir to Death (Lynn Margulis); Welcome to the Machine (Dorion Sagan and Lynn Margulis); The Transhumans Are Coming (Dorion Sagan and Lynn Margulis);j Alien Enlightenment ñ Michael Persinger and the Neuropsychology of God (Dorion Sagan).
Part III ñ Eros: The Riddle of Sex (Dorion Sagan and Lynn Margulis); An Evolutionary Striptease (Dorion Sagan); Vive la Difference (Dorion Sagan); Candidiasis and the Origin of Clowns (Dorion Sagan with Lynn Margulis).
Part IV ñ Gaea: The Atmosphere, Gaiaís Circulatory System (Lynn Margulis and James E. Lovelock); Gaia and Philosophy (Dorion Sagan and Lynn Margulis); The Global Sulfur Cycle and Emiliania huxleyi (Dorion Sagan); Descartes, Dualism, and Beyond (Dorion Saga, Lynn Margulis, and Ricardo Guerrero); What Narcissus Saw ñ The Oceanic ìEyeî (Dorion Sagan); The Pleasures of Change (Dorion Sagan and Eric D. Schneider).
Readings
Figure and table list
Index
Enlightening, argumentative, and passionate reflections from a lifetime of debate about science, sex, and society. A fine personal summing up by mother and sonótwo of the finest creative thinkers and writers in the literature.--Greg Bear
This is a ripsnorting intellectual barnstorm of a book, a sort of chimeric hybrid of mental genes from Dorion Sagan, his genius mother Lynn Margulis, and his dead father Carl Sagan--surely one of the smartest families on the planet. The result is a remarkably coherent and blazingly original proposal for the next grand narrative of our civilization (now that we have pretty much burned out the Cartesian one). --Frederick Turner, author of Natural Classicism and The Culture of Hope
Brilliant and fascinating, Dazzle Gradually unrolls for us the scroll of life on earth. These essays show us the intricate complexities of microbes; an atmosphere that performs self-maintenance; our own minds. Margulis and Sagan do not blink at the big questions or hard answers, and their writing is lively, precise, entertaining, and provocative, their passion for science everywhere evident and persuasive. Anyone who has ever wondered where we came from, who we are, and where we may be headed will delight in this extraordinarily exciting book. --Kelly Cherry, author of Hazard and Prospect: New and Selected Poems
In Dazzle Gradually we have one of the great iconoclastic biologists of our time and her son, both excellent writers, firing ideas at us, reflecting, asking questions, making connections. ëTruthís superb surpriseí is their gift to us ñ Roald Hoffman
Lynn Margulis
Lynn Margulis, renowned biologist and proponent of the Gaia Theory, is author, editor or co-author of chapters in more than 40 books. She has published or been profiled in many journals, among them:
Natural History, Science, Nature, Scientific American, and
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. She has made numerous contributions to the primary scientific literature of microbial evolution and cell biology.
Lynn Margullis
Lynn Margulis is Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She has been elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and received the Presidential Medal of Science in 1999. Margulis lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Renowned Spanish science writer Eduardo Punset wrote El Viaje a la Felicidad (The Happiness Trip), a number- one bestseller in Spain.
Dorian Sagan
Writer, editor, and sleight-of-hand artist Dorion Saganís articles have appeared in Wired, The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, Natural History, The Sciences, Pabular, Cabinet, and other magazines. His books include What is Life, Origins of Sex, and Into the Cool.
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