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Very Short Introductions #101
Molecules: A Very Short Introduction
The processes in a single living cell are akin to that of a city teeming with molecular inhabitants that move, communicate, cooperate, and compete. In this Very Short Introduction, Philip Ball explores the role of the molecule in and around us--how, for example, a single fertilized egg can grow into a multi-celled Mozart, what makes spider's silk insoluble in the morning dew, and how this molecular dynamism is being captured in the laboratory, promising to reinvent chemistry as the central creative science of the century.
184 pages, Paperback
First published November 27, 2003
16 people are currently reading
921 people want to read
About the author
Philip Ball
65 books492 followersPhilip Ball (born 1962) is an English science writer. He holds a degree in chemistry from Oxford and a doctorate in physics from Bristol University. He was an editor for the journal Nature for over 10 years. He now writes a regular column in Chemistry World. Ball's most-popular book is the 2004 Critical Mass: How One Things Leads to Another, winner of the 2005 Aventis Prize for Science Books. It examines a wide range of topics including the business cycle, random walks, phase transitions, bifurcation theory, traffic flow, Zipf's law, Small world phenomenon, catastrophe theory, the Prisoner's dilemma. The overall theme is one of applying modern mathematical models to social and economic phenomena.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
April 3, 2017
ول كتاب من سلسلة مقدمة قصيرة جدا اعطيه 5/5 . ( الكتب الي قراتها من السلسلة حتى الان اعطيتها 4/5) .
كتاب الجزيئات مقدمة قصيرة جدا كتاب ممتع لم ياخذنا فقط في رحلة نحو عملها و وجودها بل تطرق الى دورها في حياتنا. ستتغير افكارك عندما تنهي الكتاب انا متاكد من ذلك .
كما ايضا تطرق الى اهم من اسسوا و تعمقوا في علم الجزيئات كيف فعلوا ذلك و ما المطلوب منا لنكمل ما بدؤوه .
نعم انها تُشْبِه الخلية الحية، من حيث العمليات التي تَجري داخلها، المدينةَ الصاخبة، بَيْدَ أن قاطِنِي هذه المدينة هم جزيئاتٌ تتحرك وتتواصل وتتعاون وتتنافس فيما بينها. يستكشف فيليب بول دورَ الجزيئات في كلِّ ما يدورُ حولَنا؛ على سبيل المثال: كيف تنمو بويضةٌ مُخصَّبةٌ إلى شخصٍ بالغٍ متعددِ الخلايا مثل موتسارت؟ ولماذا لا يذوبُ حريرُ العنكبوت في ندى الصباح؟ كما يستكشف أيضًا الكيفية التي تتجسد بها هذه الديناميكية الجزيئية في المعامل؛ على نحوٍ يَعِد بإعادةِ تقديمِ الكيمياء لتصبحَ العلمَ الإبداعيَّ المحوريَّ في هذا القرن.
كتاب الجزيئات مقدمة قصيرة جدا كتاب ممتع لم ياخذنا فقط في رحلة نحو عملها و وجودها بل تطرق الى دورها في حياتنا. ستتغير افكارك عندما تنهي الكتاب انا متاكد من ذلك .
كما ايضا تطرق الى اهم من اسسوا و تعمقوا في علم الجزيئات كيف فعلوا ذلك و ما المطلوب منا لنكمل ما بدؤوه .
نعم انها تُشْبِه الخلية الحية، من حيث العمليات التي تَجري داخلها، المدينةَ الصاخبة، بَيْدَ أن قاطِنِي هذه المدينة هم جزيئاتٌ تتحرك وتتواصل وتتعاون وتتنافس فيما بينها. يستكشف فيليب بول دورَ الجزيئات في كلِّ ما يدورُ حولَنا؛ على سبيل المثال: كيف تنمو بويضةٌ مُخصَّبةٌ إلى شخصٍ بالغٍ متعددِ الخلايا مثل موتسارت؟ ولماذا لا يذوبُ حريرُ العنكبوت في ندى الصباح؟ كما يستكشف أيضًا الكيفية التي تتجسد بها هذه الديناميكية الجزيئية في المعامل؛ على نحوٍ يَعِد بإعادةِ تقديمِ الكيمياء لتصبحَ العلمَ الإبداعيَّ المحوريَّ في هذا القرن.
September 20, 2022
Originally published as Stories of the Invisible: A Guided Tour of Molecules in 2001 before reappearing as a VSI, Philip Ball's Molecules: A Very Short Introduction holds up pretty well in 2022. As other reviewers have pointed out, the book's emphasis is heavy on biochemistry. This isn't a flaw in itself, as every reader is likely to be a human built from biomolecules, and without biochemistry the book and its audience do not exist. Even so, the title is more general than the book's content. I didn't find this annoying but I imagine some might.
The book has plenty of overlap with other VSIs, such as most if not all of the chemistry series, as well as the biology series and medicine series. So if reading all the science VSIs is on your bucket list (and why wouldn't it be?), you'll feel this one slotting nicely into the cognitive structure.
Even so, a science book tends to fall behind the march of science after two decades. Here is my pick for the passage most needing an update:
I suspect Ball's implied argument (that because genes code for proteins, anything which is not a protein is not encoded in genes) was already misleading at best in 2001. "There is no gene for bone, for tooth enamel" - sure, but you have teeth and bones, and an earthworm or a spider does not, because your genes differ from theirs. Surely even way back in 2001 Ball must have known enough about developmental biology (later VSI'ed as Developmental Biology: A Very Short Introduction in 2011) to know that an organism's genome encodes its developmental program which, in combination with buffeting from the environment, gives rise to all its traits. Including those teeth and bones for which there are no single genes, but which nonetheless are specified in a complex code distributed across many different chunks of DNA. Since 2001, we've had the genomics revolution, which gave us GWAS, revealing numerous links between individual genotypic and phenotypic variation, including behavioral variation. (For example there are even genetic links for coffee drinking.) For details, see Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are by Robert Plomin.
Ball's analogy between a genome and a dictionary is inapt, since a single dictionary contains the words from which all works in a given language may be written, but doesn't encode any particular work (such as Waiting for Godot). To get from a dictionary to a book requires a large infusion of information, from an author, which is not in the dictionary. In contrast, your DNA contains the information necessary to construct you, but not to construct any other human (save for your identical twin, if you have one), let alone any other species. So your genome is not much like a dictionary. It is rather more like Plomin's blueprint, albeit with nothing like the straightforward geometric mapping of a construction blueprint.
Ball corrects this passage somewhat in the rest of the book, where he mentions that many of those proteins directly encoded by genes are enzymes, which then go on to do (i.e. to catalyze) many other wondrous things, such as helping to orchestrate the deposition of minerals in our teeth and bones. For more on the marvels of enzymes, regarded by some as primary candidates for the molecules of life, I recommend Enzymes: A Very Short Introduction.
The book has plenty of overlap with other VSIs, such as most if not all of the chemistry series, as well as the biology series and medicine series. So if reading all the science VSIs is on your bucket list (and why wouldn't it be?), you'll feel this one slotting nicely into the cognitive structure.
Even so, a science book tends to fall behind the march of science after two decades. Here is my pick for the passage most needing an update:
Incautious things are said about the project to map the human genome. One hears, for instance, that a sufficiently skilful engineer could make a human from the information therein. This is nonsense. The body is full of molecules that are not encoded in the genome – it encrypts only proteins, and even those in somewhat garbled and incomplete form. The genome tells us nothing about the lipids that make up cell membranes, let alone about how they are driven by physical forces to aggregate into sheets, loops, and spheres. The genes will not tell us how neural signalling works, how the brain encodes thoughts and sensations in delicately timed trains of electrical pulses. There is no gene for bone, for tooth enamel. The genome is the book of the cell in much the same way as the dictionary is the book of a performance of ''Waiting for Godot''. It is all in there, but you will not deduce one from the other.
I suspect Ball's implied argument (that because genes code for proteins, anything which is not a protein is not encoded in genes) was already misleading at best in 2001. "There is no gene for bone, for tooth enamel" - sure, but you have teeth and bones, and an earthworm or a spider does not, because your genes differ from theirs. Surely even way back in 2001 Ball must have known enough about developmental biology (later VSI'ed as Developmental Biology: A Very Short Introduction in 2011) to know that an organism's genome encodes its developmental program which, in combination with buffeting from the environment, gives rise to all its traits. Including those teeth and bones for which there are no single genes, but which nonetheless are specified in a complex code distributed across many different chunks of DNA. Since 2001, we've had the genomics revolution, which gave us GWAS, revealing numerous links between individual genotypic and phenotypic variation, including behavioral variation. (For example there are even genetic links for coffee drinking.) For details, see Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are by Robert Plomin.
Ball's analogy between a genome and a dictionary is inapt, since a single dictionary contains the words from which all works in a given language may be written, but doesn't encode any particular work (such as Waiting for Godot). To get from a dictionary to a book requires a large infusion of information, from an author, which is not in the dictionary. In contrast, your DNA contains the information necessary to construct you, but not to construct any other human (save for your identical twin, if you have one), let alone any other species. So your genome is not much like a dictionary. It is rather more like Plomin's blueprint, albeit with nothing like the straightforward geometric mapping of a construction blueprint.
Ball corrects this passage somewhat in the rest of the book, where he mentions that many of those proteins directly encoded by genes are enzymes, which then go on to do (i.e. to catalyze) many other wondrous things, such as helping to orchestrate the deposition of minerals in our teeth and bones. For more on the marvels of enzymes, regarded by some as primary candidates for the molecules of life, I recommend Enzymes: A Very Short Introduction.
April 23, 2023
مولكول ها، علايم حيات كتابي خواندني با ترجمه خوب خانم فرهاديان هم براي كساني كه به شيمي علاقه دارند و هم براي علاقمندان علم جذاب و خواندني است
March 19, 2025
A simplified, textbook-like overview of molecular science. The explanations are clear, but the content feels dry and somewhat outdated. The dialogue setup about ‘mollycules’ felt unnecessary.
Read
June 19, 2020Molecules turned out way more biochemistry-heavy than I'd expected. I’d like to give it 4 stars, but the book is so packed with information that it wouldn’t be fair to rate something I haven’t fully grasped.
The book does get very technical – and it should – while also being wittily conversational and philosophical, thus relatable:
I liked the wide range of topics that Philip Ball discusses. If only there were more illustrations, however. Remember how your biology textbooks were filled with colorful drawings? However skilled a science writer is at explaining concepts in layman’s terms, which Philip Ball does well enough, such a dense little book for a general audience would still benefit from having a few extra illustrations :D
The book does get very technical – and it should – while also being wittily conversational and philosophical, thus relatable:
In the end, we are left with the same question: what is life? It will not be answered – or at least, not here. But Schrödinger's answer – negative entropy (see page 74) – for all its shortcomings contains a grain of truth. For it is a necessary but not sufficient characteristic of life that it imposes order on chaos. Chaos is death. If cells cannot send and receive clear messages, if they do things at the wrong time, if their membranes lose their organization, if proteins fail to fold, then life cannot be sustained. We are islands of order in a wild world.
I liked the wide range of topics that Philip Ball discusses. If only there were more illustrations, however. Remember how your biology textbooks were filled with colorful drawings? However skilled a science writer is at explaining concepts in layman’s terms, which Philip Ball does well enough, such a dense little book for a general audience would still benefit from having a few extra illustrations :D
July 12, 2019
Trying to make the invisible, visible
Almost all of this is about biochemistry where the molecules are large, complex and of overriding importance and interest to human beings. In particular Philip Ball, who is a science journalist and formerly an editor of Nature, one of the most prestigious science journals in the world, wants to show "the molecular processes that govern our own bodies are not so different from those that chemists--I would prefer to say molecular scientists--are seeking to create." His further intent in this modest little book is to counter the "negative connotations of and " in the public mind and to help us "appreciate what chemistry has to offer." Ball observes that "molecules" do not yet have negative connotations, and he wants to keep it that way. (pp. vi-vii)
Ball demonstrates just how really complex the molecular world is, and how the technology is becoming further removed from our everyday world, while the effect on our world grows enormously. The text does not consist of "stories" as such, but rather a broad survey of molecular science, including what's happening in exciting new fields such as molecular electronics, and how new uses for molecular knowledge is transforming older fields such as paleontology, computer science, information theory, forensics, etc. Ball provides some material on cellular construction and metabolism, augmented with drawings from his own hand. He gives us a feel for the invisible, tactile reality of molecular interactions, in which surface structure is paramount. He ends the book with a brief look at the prospects for molecular and DNA computers.
There is unfortunately a kind of veil-like quality thrown between the molecular world and the reader's perception of that world by the very fact of its invisibility that I don't think Ball's text overcomes. It is curious, but it is not a question of readability so much as a question of how to present these very complex structures and ideas in a way that the reader can absorb in some concrete fashion. Ball begins with some dialogue from a fiction set in a Dublin pub about "mollycules"; however this does not help. Indeed I could not see the point of the exchange. At any rate Ball abandons it after the first few pages.
The exposition following that, about what molecules are and how they differ technically from atoms, was one of the strengths of the book. However much of the rest of the book is like a first year survey course of various topics in molecular science, a very diverse subject, but without any insistence on the mastery of fundamentals. This is good, I suppose, and Ball's intent, but since I know little about chemistry, I was left not really appreciating a lot of the text. I express this as more a failing on my part than a criticism of Ball's efforts, and to warn the reader that some serious interactive and imaginative work will be required! Ball does indeed go to great lengths to make the visible real, not only with his drawings, but with "photos" from the "scanning tunnelling microscope" while using other "representations" to make the technically invisible, "visible."
One thing that I felt very strongly in reading this book was the sense of frustration that molecular engineers and others in the world of nano technology must feel when dealing with objects so very, very small. I had the sense that somebody was crying out, "My world for a pair of molecular tweezers!" I suspect when they get those tweezers, our world is going to change enormously.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “Understanding Evolution and Ourselves”
Almost all of this is about biochemistry where the molecules are large, complex and of overriding importance and interest to human beings. In particular Philip Ball, who is a science journalist and formerly an editor of Nature, one of the most prestigious science journals in the world, wants to show "the molecular processes that govern our own bodies are not so different from those that chemists--I would prefer to say molecular scientists--are seeking to create." His further intent in this modest little book is to counter the "negative connotations of and " in the public mind and to help us "appreciate what chemistry has to offer." Ball observes that "molecules" do not yet have negative connotations, and he wants to keep it that way. (pp. vi-vii)
Ball demonstrates just how really complex the molecular world is, and how the technology is becoming further removed from our everyday world, while the effect on our world grows enormously. The text does not consist of "stories" as such, but rather a broad survey of molecular science, including what's happening in exciting new fields such as molecular electronics, and how new uses for molecular knowledge is transforming older fields such as paleontology, computer science, information theory, forensics, etc. Ball provides some material on cellular construction and metabolism, augmented with drawings from his own hand. He gives us a feel for the invisible, tactile reality of molecular interactions, in which surface structure is paramount. He ends the book with a brief look at the prospects for molecular and DNA computers.
There is unfortunately a kind of veil-like quality thrown between the molecular world and the reader's perception of that world by the very fact of its invisibility that I don't think Ball's text overcomes. It is curious, but it is not a question of readability so much as a question of how to present these very complex structures and ideas in a way that the reader can absorb in some concrete fashion. Ball begins with some dialogue from a fiction set in a Dublin pub about "mollycules"; however this does not help. Indeed I could not see the point of the exchange. At any rate Ball abandons it after the first few pages.
The exposition following that, about what molecules are and how they differ technically from atoms, was one of the strengths of the book. However much of the rest of the book is like a first year survey course of various topics in molecular science, a very diverse subject, but without any insistence on the mastery of fundamentals. This is good, I suppose, and Ball's intent, but since I know little about chemistry, I was left not really appreciating a lot of the text. I express this as more a failing on my part than a criticism of Ball's efforts, and to warn the reader that some serious interactive and imaginative work will be required! Ball does indeed go to great lengths to make the visible real, not only with his drawings, but with "photos" from the "scanning tunnelling microscope" while using other "representations" to make the technically invisible, "visible."
One thing that I felt very strongly in reading this book was the sense of frustration that molecular engineers and others in the world of nano technology must feel when dealing with objects so very, very small. I had the sense that somebody was crying out, "My world for a pair of molecular tweezers!" I suspect when they get those tweezers, our world is going to change enormously.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “Understanding Evolution and Ourselves”
December 1, 2018
I read Molecules as a follow up to Philip Ball's Elements : A Very Short Introduction. Once again, Philip does a great job of providing a understandable synoptic view of a complex subject - a subject which is right up there in modern scientific areas of research and development. Be it simple human biology, or molecular biology, genetic engineering, nanotechnology or Material science, he does a very good job of introducing the world of molecules and wanting us to know more. It took a long time to read 150 pages of a small book but it was a worthwhile read. I enjoyed it.
August 6, 2024
Stories of the Invisible: A Guided Tour of Molecules, Philip Ball, 2001, 204 pages, ISBN 0192802143, Dewey 541.22
A little biochemistry.
Ball says, "molecules," as "chemicals" has become pejorative. p. vi.
Mitochondrial Eve lived 200,000 years ago in Africa, according to Allan Wilson in 1987. p. 56.
About 1/10 the mass of our liver, and 1% of our muscle, is glycogen. p. 95.
Persisting despite an explosion that killed his brother, Alfred Nobel mixed nitroglycerin with clay, and called it dynamite. p. 111.
A little biochemistry.
Ball says, "molecules," as "chemicals" has become pejorative. p. vi.
Mitochondrial Eve lived 200,000 years ago in Africa, according to Allan Wilson in 1987. p. 56.
About 1/10 the mass of our liver, and 1% of our muscle, is glycogen. p. 95.
Persisting despite an explosion that killed his brother, Alfred Nobel mixed nitroglycerin with clay, and called it dynamite. p. 111.
May 8, 2018
كتاب شيق وقصير يتحدث بشكل خاص عن الجزيئات البيولوجية بشكل خاص ودورها في منظومة الحياة من ناحية كيميائية جزيئية ومستقبل هذا العلم
September 29, 2018
Книга очень с сильным фокусом на молекулярной биологии. Часть примеров достаточно сложна для понимания. В общем чтение не из легких.
October 23, 2024
Nice short book which is a good introduction to molecular chemistry
October 22, 2010
Previously sold as 'Stories of the Invisible', this is not so much an introduction to molecules as an introduction to biochemistry, the molecules of life. This is something Ball states from the outset, and with the boundary between chemistry and biology becoming ever more blurred, it's an understandable approach to take. We are, after all, now using natural molecules in technology as well as synthetic molecules to preserve what we deem 'natural'.
The book starts with the very basics - how atoms are joined together and why we can't 'see' them in the traditional sense, before quickly advancing to biochemistry and the complex molecules so vital to the body. As the author himself says, molecular biology is not difficult in the way that theoretical physics is difficult - the concepts are not unfamiliar, abstract or mathematically hard. The difficulty arises because there is so much going on all at once, and so many levels to the hierarchy.
So while Ball's writing is, for the most part, clear and full of personality, some of the processes he describes are unavoidably complicated and a lot to take in. As a non-specialist, I came away remembering the gist, if not all the detail. One of the reviews (Chemistry in Britain) described Ball's science as 'encyclopaedic'. That's definitely a word that springs to mind.
The choice of topics is good, and if, like me, you're new to the subject, you'll find it mind-boggling to learn just how finely-tuned our bodies are - all the checkpoints, safety mechanisms, back-up plans and careful record-keeping that occurs. All in all, this is an impressive attempt by Ball to lead the non-specialist reader through a labyrinthine but vital area of science. You may not keep it all in your head, but you'll come away with a better sense of the kind of finely-tuned processes required to keep the big things functioning normally.
The book starts with the very basics - how atoms are joined together and why we can't 'see' them in the traditional sense, before quickly advancing to biochemistry and the complex molecules so vital to the body. As the author himself says, molecular biology is not difficult in the way that theoretical physics is difficult - the concepts are not unfamiliar, abstract or mathematically hard. The difficulty arises because there is so much going on all at once, and so many levels to the hierarchy.
So while Ball's writing is, for the most part, clear and full of personality, some of the processes he describes are unavoidably complicated and a lot to take in. As a non-specialist, I came away remembering the gist, if not all the detail. One of the reviews (Chemistry in Britain) described Ball's science as 'encyclopaedic'. That's definitely a word that springs to mind.
The choice of topics is good, and if, like me, you're new to the subject, you'll find it mind-boggling to learn just how finely-tuned our bodies are - all the checkpoints, safety mechanisms, back-up plans and careful record-keeping that occurs. All in all, this is an impressive attempt by Ball to lead the non-specialist reader through a labyrinthine but vital area of science. You may not keep it all in your head, but you'll come away with a better sense of the kind of finely-tuned processes required to keep the big things functioning normally.
July 29, 2010
I'm quickly becoming a fan of Philip Ball's elegant science writing. if you have a major in chemistry or biology, you'll probably not learn anything new, but it's a short read in which many of the more difficult concepts are explained clearly and eloquently. those that have little interest or are a little afraid of science, may disagree however, since the nomenclature of the molecular world can be a little intimidating. despite this, it is fun to speculate on the possibilities of where our scientific works and "discoveries" have and will take us. the best part is that Ball infuses a sense of wonder and awe into our tiniest invisible world, making it easy to see why the words "miraculous" and "magical" would and do apply.
April 7, 2011
My training is in Physics, and I have not had a chance to read-up on Chemistry in a long while. I decided to read this book in order to get a better bird's eye view of what the modern Chemistry is up to these days. As such, this book was a great introduction, and brought me up to speed with some of the more recent developments. Thanks to this book and some other info I got, I was able to piece things together and figure out what some of the more advanced research in the conventional explosives is all about.
September 7, 2015
I really enjoy biology but was extremely bored by this book. It took me a full three weeks to finish, not because it was large, but because it was so stinking boring. I'd almost compare it to the dryness of a college textbook but that wouldn't be fair because I actually enjoy reading those. Would love to find a heavy hitting popular science book on biochemistry (see https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...) so if anyone could send me any suggestions I would be eternally grateful.
July 12, 2014
I've got to be honest - this book wasn't what I expected and I didn't really enjoy it. It's essentially a primer in biochemistry and I found myself wishing I could get through it faster so I could get on to the next book. It's not badly written and there's plenty of interest in it, but for me the subject matter is not that compelling. In particular, I found that there was too much detail on how certain biochemical processes work (eg. energy production in the cell).
February 7, 2020
Pretty interesting and mostly very readable and well-written. Also, it is short enough that reading it is not a big commitment. It serves as a nice overview of many of the most interesting aspects of chemistry, molecular biology, and nanotechnology. There were a few places where he got bogged down with too many terms and details, and there were some places where I suspect the book is out of date, but overall it is short and interesting.
March 3, 2022
Chapter 1: Engineers of the invisible: making molecules
Chapter 2: Vital signs: the molecules of life
Chapter 3: Take the strain: materials from molecules
Chapter 4: The burning issue: molecules and energy
Chapter 5: Good little movers: molecular motors
Chapter 6: Delivering the message: molecular communication
Chapter 7: The chemical computer: molecular information
Chapter 2: Vital signs: the molecules of life
Chapter 3: Take the strain: materials from molecules
Chapter 4: The burning issue: molecules and energy
Chapter 5: Good little movers: molecular motors
Chapter 6: Delivering the message: molecular communication
Chapter 7: The chemical computer: molecular information
June 15, 2012
Engaging and enertaining, but I found it a big heavy going in spots. I had an easier time with Ball's companion volume on the elements. Some of the material is surely obsolete by now, particularly the chapter on nanotechnology.
Published Friday, 15 June 2012
Published Friday, 15 June 2012
December 26, 2012
An interesting look at molecules, although too closely related to biochemistry for my preference. I very much enjoyed the section on chemical computing at the end, and I wish there was a "part 2" that went more into detail there.
Overall, not a bad read, but a little dry.
Overall, not a bad read, but a little dry.
January 27, 2025
Good explanations of biochemistry, explosives etc. and it doesn't dwell too much on topics you can read from elsewhere like the concept of entropy or the structure of DNA.
January 28, 2020
ehhh--wouldn't revisit this one. Like a textbook in prose form. . .
December 15, 2017
كل ما يمكننا أن نراه وما لا يمكننا رؤيته بالعين المجردة، مؤلف من تجمعات هائلة من الذرات التي ترتبط مع بعضها البعض لتكون الجزيئات التي تصطف بدورها لترفد الطبيعة بأشكال مختلفة من الأحياء والجمادات.. أستُخدمت الكيمياء ولازالت تُستخدم في مختلف المجالات، في الصناعة والزراعة والطب كأداة طبية لإنقاذ الأرواح و ايضاً كسلاح حرب لسلب الأرواح. يعتمد هذا كله على نوع و طريقة ربط الجزيئات مع بعضها لنكون ما نريد أن نكونه سواء كان ضاراً أو نافعاً. بين التاكسول الذي يستعمل كمثبط لإنقاسم الخلايا السرطانية و بين TNT شديد الإنفجار لك حق الأختيار . ليست الأسلحة الكيميائية وحدها التي أكتسحت الساحة الحربية بل هنالك نوع آخر أخطر بكثير وأشد فتكاً. أستُخدم منذ القدم وتطور أستخدامه في الحربين العالميتين ألا وهو الأسلحة البيولوجية. فنشر الأمراض والأوبئة بين صفوف العدو خير وسيلة للتخلص منه..
نحن نبني المصانع ونجهزها بالآلات و المكائن اللازمة للعمل و لإنتاج ما يمكنها أنتاجه من مواد أو طاقة. و كذلك جسم الإنسان عبارة عن مصنع يحتوي على أجهزة فائقة الدقة تعمل ليلاً و نهاراً دون أن نشعر بها و بآليات معقدة و متوازنة و محددة. ما علينا إلا إن نأكل ونشرب لتقوم هذه الأجهزة بعملها دون أستشارتنا (مو بحالنه) تفرز الأنزيمات، تهضم، تمتص، تخزن، تحرر الطاقة... وهذا كله ليس بالسهولة التي قد نتصورها فدورة التحلل السكري وحدها مكونة من عشرة تفاعلات وعلى مرحلتين ودورة كربس مكونة من ثمانية تفاعلات ... ( سحلتنا بالبايو كيمستري)
وغيرها الكثير والكثير من الآليات التي يستخدمها الجسم لتنظيم محيطه ولتوفير الطاقة التي يحتاجها الإنسان للقيام بأفعاله الحيوية. أي خلل في عمل الإنزيمات أو الغدد أو الأجهزه أو النواقل العصبية التي ترسل الإيعازات لهذه الغدد و الأجهزة...الخ يسبب خلل في توازن ونظام عمليات الجسم و بالتالي يسبب أمراض ما أنزل الله بها من سلطان ...
نحن مدينون للنجوم أولاً لما زودتنا به من عناصر كاربون ونيتروجين وأوكسجين وحديد ... في تلك الحقبة الماضية من عمر الكون و ايضاً مدينون لهذه الذرات التي أجتمعت بطريقة ما أو بقدرة إلهية مدهشة، لِتُولد الحياة بهيئتها هذه.
هذا الكتاب قد يبدو صعباً على غير المطلعين أو المختصين في علم الكيمياء و علم الأحياء ..
نحن نبني المصانع ونجهزها بالآلات و المكائن اللازمة للعمل و لإنتاج ما يمكنها أنتاجه من مواد أو طاقة. و كذلك جسم الإنسان عبارة عن مصنع يحتوي على أجهزة فائقة الدقة تعمل ليلاً و نهاراً دون أن نشعر بها و بآليات معقدة و متوازنة و محددة. ما علينا إلا إن نأكل ونشرب لتقوم هذه الأجهزة بعملها دون أستشارتنا (مو بحالنه) تفرز الأنزيمات، تهضم، تمتص، تخزن، تحرر الطاقة... وهذا كله ليس بالسهولة التي قد نتصورها فدورة التحلل السكري وحدها مكونة من عشرة تفاعلات وعلى مرحلتين ودورة كربس مكونة من ثمانية تفاعلات ... ( سحلتنا بالبايو كيمستري)
وغيرها الكثير والكثير من الآليات التي يستخدمها الجسم لتنظيم محيطه ولتوفير الطاقة التي يحتاجها الإنسان للقيام بأفعاله الحيوية. أي خلل في عمل الإنزيمات أو الغدد أو الأجهزه أو النواقل العصبية التي ترسل الإيعازات لهذه الغدد و الأجهزة...الخ يسبب خلل في توازن ونظام عمليات الجسم و بالتالي يسبب أمراض ما أنزل الله بها من سلطان ...
نحن مدينون للنجوم أولاً لما زودتنا به من عناصر كاربون ونيتروجين وأوكسجين وحديد ... في تلك الحقبة الماضية من عمر الكون و ايضاً مدينون لهذه الذرات التي أجتمعت بطريقة ما أو بقدرة إلهية مدهشة، لِتُولد الحياة بهيئتها هذه.
هذا الكتاب قد يبدو صعباً على غير المطلعين أو المختصين في علم الكيمياء و علم الأحياء ..
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