Understanding Development

Developmental biology is seemingly well understood, with development  widely accepted as being a series of programmed changes through which an  egg turns into an adult organism, or a seed matures into a plant.  However, the picture is much more complex than that: is it all  genetically controlled or does environment have an influence? Is the  final adult stage the target of development and everything else just a  build-up to that point? Are developmental strategies the same in plants  as in animals? How do we consider development in single-celled  organisms? In this concise, engaging volume, Alessandro Minelli, a  leading developmental biologist, addresses these key questions. Using  familiar examples and easy-to-follow arguments, he offers fresh  alternatives to a number of preconceptions and stereotypes, awakening  the reader to the disparity of developmental phenomena across all main  branches of the tree of life.