ScienceWeek Bookshelf

THEORETICAL BIOLOGY

Theoretical biology is a field that involves the use of quantitative tools in biology. Many separate areas of biology fall under the concept of theoretical biology according to methods of study. The ultimate goal of the theoretical biologist is to explain the biological world using mainly mathematical and computational tools. Alhough it is ultimately based on observations and experimental results, the theoretical biologist's product is a model or theory, and it is this that chiefly distinguishes the theoretical biologist from other biologists.

CLASSIC BOOKS IN THEORETICAL BIOLOGY

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Lewontin: The Triple Helix 1998

Maynard Smith: The Problems of Biology 1986

Williams: Adaptation and Natural Selection 1966

Goodwin and Saunders: Theoretical Biology 1989

Kull and Tiivel: Lectures in Theoretical Biology 1988

Ho and Saunders: Beyond Neo-Darwinism 1984

Waddington: Towards a Theoretical Biology (4 vols.) 1968-1972

Waterman and Morowitz: Theoretical and Mathematical Biology 1965

Barbieri: The Organic Codes 2001

Israel: La mathematisation du reel 1996

Williams: Natural Selection 1992

Thom: Apologie du Logos. In: Connes: Mathematical Research Today and Tomorrow 1990

Bertalanffy: Modern Theories of Development (1928) 1961