The Campbell’s Biology Textbook, 7th Edition. Book Review

Book Review & Summary
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Introduction
The Campbell’s Biology Textbook, 7th Edition, provides a broad range of topics related to biology, ranging from the basic cell functions to more complex systems. It covers these topics in a manner that is quite easy to grasp due to the student-centered approach it has on virtually everything. In this paper, a detailed summary of the first six chapters of the book is provided, with a particular emphasis on how each of them contributes to the field of biology.
Chapter 1: Exploring life
This chapter provides an ‘entry’ point into biology. It starts by explaining the basic components that make up life. The chapter therefore helps explain how scientists essentially derive the global understanding of biology from the small tidbits that exist at the microscopic level. At the microscopic level are the cells and molecules of life. All these constitute what is known as the hierarchy of life. The chapter therefore identifies life from the molecules, to tissues, to organs, and up to organ systems which then make up the biosphere.
Biology is simply the scientific study of life; animals and plants. The major properties of life are; order, regulation, reproduction, growth and development, evolutionary adaptation, response to the environment, and energy processing. The cell represents the basic structure of living things. Eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells represent the two main forms of cells. All living things exist in ecosystems which affects them through interaction. Ecosystem dynamics include cycling of nutrients and flow of energy from sunlight to producers to consumers. There is a continuous flow of energy through the ecosystem, often coming in as sunlight, and exiting in form of heat. However, due to emergent of new properties, biological systems are becoming more complex.
Taxonomy groups all living things according to a system of broad and broader groups. At the highest level, there are three domains; bacteria, archaea, and eukarya. Bacteria and archaea consists of prokaryotes while eukarya includes kingdoms Fungi, Animalia and Plantae. Nevertheless, as diverse as life is, there is evidence of great unity through the history of life. For instance, natural selection enabled organisms to evolve from their common nature to diverse adaptations with respect to their environment. However, irrespective of the usefulness of life sciences, addressing supernatural phenomena is still problematic.
The chapter also addresses how these aspects have contributed to the growth of systems biology; a new frontier in the field of biology. In systems biology, there is the study of how a variation in one system can impact another system. This field encompasses technology, bioinformatics as well as a coordinated approach by various other experts from different fields.
Chapter 2: The chemical context of life
This chapter looks at the essential elements of life, which include carbon, hydrogen, oxygen as well as nitrogen. It also goes deeper to analyze the subatomic structure and components, such as neutrons, protons and electrons, in addition to the nucleus. It is the characteristics of these subatomic particles that define a given element. All organisms are made up of matter; anything that occupies space and has weight. Essential elements, which are oxygen, nitrogen, carbon and nitrogen, make up 96% of living matter while other elements make up the 4%.
These ‘other’ elements include phosphorous, sulphur, sodium and magnesium. While they might be lesser elements, they also play an important role in the lives of organisms. Deficiency of essential elements results to severe effects. For example, goiter is a result of iodine deficiency. Each element consist of atoms; the smallest unit of matter that retains properties of elements. However, atoms are composed of smaller parts called subatomic particles. Atomic number is the number of protons in an element while the atomic mass is the sum of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom.
Electron configuration and distribution define the chemical behavior of atoms. However, electrons of an atom differ in the amount of potential energy they posses. Energy levels are represented by electronic shells; first, second, and third energy level shells. In molecule formation, atoms are held together by covalent bonds. The covalent bond can either be single or double. However, through chemical reactions, these bonds can be made or broken. For instance, photosynthesis is a chemical reaction in plants. Nevertheless, a chemical equilibrium must be obtained in a chemical reaction.
The molecular structure also helps to determine how substances will relate or behave towards each o...