Review : Life and nothing but

It’s a tall order: explain all the important concepts of biology in
a
215-page paperback aimed at an educated, but science-illiterate reader.
Boyce
Rensberger chooses biodiversity, heredity, cells, the human body, energy
cycles,
the interdependence of life, and evolution as these key ideas, and
presents them
in simple prose in Instant Biology: (Fawcett Columbine,
$10, ISBN 0 449
90701 5). Terms are defined, some modest photos and diagrams help to
illustrate
structures and systems. The language is bright and engaging, though there
are a
few too many little jokes.